ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA Fires Up Melt Shop; Calvert Site Now Fully Operational
12/10/2012 - The official startup of ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA's melt shop occurred today on the second anniversary of the Calvert, Ala., production site’s official grand opening in December 2010, fulfilling the site’s capabilities as a fully integrated stainless steel manufacturing facility.
The future looked bright today at ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA as the company officially fired up its final production line. The melt shop is the last in a series of stainless steel manufacturing processes the company has brought online over the last three years to serve its customers in the North American market. The official startup of the melt shop occurred today on the second anniversary of the Calvert production site’s official grand opening in December 2010, fulfilling the site’s capabilities as a fully integrated stainless steel manufacturing facility.
The world class site now manufactures throughout the full life cycle of stainless steel, from “cradle to grave,” by reclaiming and melting scrap metal into molten material, casting it into slabs, hot rolling it into coils, annealing and pickling the coils, cold rolling the material for strength and thickness, and finishing it according to the specifications of its North American customers. The company first launched its production at the Calvert site in September 2009 serving customers by finishing products in varying stages of the production process and working backward until the official completion of the Melt Shop today.
“Today we celebrate with our team members, customers, and community our most important milestone to date,” said CEO Michael Wallis. “The full operation of the world’s most technologically advanced stainless steel manufacturing facility is what we have all worked toward since we first announced we would make Alabama our home in May 2007. Along the way, we have created some outstanding jobs, hired some extraordinary Team Members, and worked with a state and community second to none as a place to work, to live and to do business.”
ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA has contributed significantly to economic growth over a challenging period since 2007, creating 714 of 953 permanent jobs planned by 2015.
Melt shop director Guido Stebner was pleased to report the path to startup of the melt shop has remained ahead of schedule. “Though today marks our official startup, the Team Members and I ran our first successful heat on Friday, November 16, processing 166 metric tons of stainless steel grade AISI 304. It is quite fitting 100 years after the birth of stainless steel in 1912, we accomplished our mission and achieved this significant milestone.”
Pictured below: TK Stainless USA's first heat at its new melt shop.
The activities of the Inoxum Group, part of ThyssenKrupp AG, are divided into two segments: the Stainless Steel segment stands for the worldwide production, processing and distribution of stainless steel flat products. The High Performance Alloys segment brings together the production and distribution of high-performance materials such as nickel alloys, titanium and zirconium. The Inoxum Group includes companies with plants in Germany, Italy, Mexico, China and the USA employing roughly 11,500 people. One of these companies is Calvert-based ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA LLC, which supplies stainless steel flat products in a broad range of grades, sizes and finishes. On 31 January 2012, ThyssenKrupp AG announced the combination of Inoxum and Outokumpu, a global stainless steel corporation with headquarters in Finland. The combination is subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
