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Universal Stainless CEO Provides Update on North Jackson, Ohio, Investment
04/15/2013 - Dennis Oates, chairman, president and CEO of Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, provided an update of the company’s North Jackson, Ohio, investment at the 8 April 2013 dinner meeting of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.
Universal purchased the North Jackson, Ohio, facility — the assets of Patriot Special Metals, a substantially completed greenfield facility — in August 2011, making it the company’s fourth location alongside facilities in Bridgeville, Pa.; Titusville, Pa.; and Dunkirk, N.Y.
Universal, headquartered in Bridgeville, Pa., manufactures and markets semi-finished and finished specialty steels, including stainless steel, tool steel and certain other alloyed steels. Its products are used in a variety of industries, including aerospace, power generation, petrochemical and heavy equipment manufacturing.
Before the North Jackson acquisition, radial forging was being done by a third party, Mr. Oates said, but now the North Jackson facility handles that for the company. The VIM (vacuum induction melting) furnace there is now running 3–4 heats per week and four new VAR (vacuum arc remelt) furnaces are running 24/7. Heat treating and finishing is also being done at the facility.
Quality certifications are particularly important for the aerospace industry, he noted. In February 2013, the facility completed the Nadcap audit, successfully meeting all requirements for checklists AC7 102 — the general requirement for all Nadcap accredited heat treating. Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) is a worldwide cooperative accreditation program. In March 2012, the facility achieved AS 9100 certification — a quality management system for the aerospace industry based on ISO 9001:2000 supplemented by additional requirements established by the aerospace industry to satisfy Department of Defense, NASA and FAA quality requirements.
The company has received approval to install another furnace in the facility and will probably do so in 2014, he noted.
Mr. Oates also provided a specialty metals market update, noting a very mixed market right now. Inventory correction continues, particularly at the service center level, he said. Lead times are as short as he can remember and he expects the supply chain correction to continue through mid-year.
Customer approvals, which are currently in process, will be the key to growing business, he said. Approvals are expected to be finalized by 2014, including one with Rolls Royce.
