Steel Warehouse Co. will invest $30 million to build a service center in Hickory, North Carolina.
Shown, its Osceola, Arkansas, service center.
April, 2024- From Italy to North Carolina, Ohio to Missouri, coil processors and those that build coil processing equipment have been keeping busy, expanding skills and geographic footprints. Here’s a roundup of recent
activities.
Steel Warehouse Co. announced March 7 that it plans to invest more than $30 million to build a new service center in Hickory, North Carolina.
Based in South Bend, Indiana, the family-owned company operates 15 locations across the United States, Mexico and Brazil and distributes more than 2 million tons of coil, sheet and plate per year. Customers include manufacturers in aerospace, agriculture, automotive, construction, energy and transportation. The latest expansion in Hickory will feature enhanced processing capabilities designed to bolster the region’s industrial supply chain.
“We are excited to put down roots in North Carolina, providing cuttingedge capabilities to support our customers in the region,” said Dave Lerman, Steel Warehouse chairman. “We view this as an attractive place to invest for the long term.”
ELECTRICAL STEEL
thyssenkrupp Steel recently commissioned a new slitting line in Motta Visconti, Italy. Among other things, the line was designed for top grades of the powercore Traction brand with particularly thin dimensions, starting from 0.20 mm, for use in energy-efficient electric motors. The line will process thyssenkrupp’s own new grade, NO25, which has magnetic properties at thickness as low as 0.25 mm.
thyssenkrupp Steel commissioned a new slitting line in Italy to process thin-gauge electrical steel
The new line can slit up to 500 meters of material per minute and will allow thyssenkrupp Steel to double the production capacity for electrical steel at the Motta Visconti plant.
The electrical steel is processed further in lamination stamping shops and ultimately installed in high-performance traction motors for electric vehicles. The line also possesses a laser-controlled measuring unit that continuously measures the material thickness and width, as well as a flexible-band brake for cutting products with particularly sensitive coatings, such as adhesive insulating varnishes.
“The new line replaces an existing one that is more than 30 years old and has been built to meet the increased demand from our customers for particularly high-quality electrical steel,” says Roberto Briano, managing director of thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel Italia. “No energy and mobility revolution [can occur] without steel. Electrical steel strips from thyssenkrupp are our contribution to sustainable and efficient mobility.”
No energy or mobility revolution can occur without steel,” says Roberto Briano at thyssenkrupp
Electrical Steel Italia
ACQUISITION
In December, the Bradbury Group, which designs and manufactures roll forming and coil processing equipment, acquired the assets of Press Room Equipment Co. (PRE), Springfield, Missouri, which builds press feed and coil handling equipment.
PRE has over four decades of experience designing and manufacturing high-quality equipment for the metal stamping and fabrication industries. The company offers a wide range of products, including stock reels, pallet decoilers, straighteners, coil upenders, press feed systems, high-speed precision servo feeds and automated processing lines. In addition to the PRE brand, the acquisition includes the Norwalk and Waddington Electronic brands.
This acquisition marks a significant step in the long-standing collaborative relationship between The Bradbury Group and PRE, with PRE supplying equipment for Bradbury’s roll forming lines for several decades. This new phase will enhance the companies’ offerings and bolster their collaborative efforts.
David Cox, CEO of The Bradbury Group, stated, “The alignment in values and the high quality of PRE’s products and the integration of Bradbury’s technology and service capabilities are anticipated to expand PRE’s product range, creating synergies and new opportunities for both entities and their customers.”
PRE General Manager Gary Moore stated that Bradbury “has been an established customer, and we have great respect for their roll forming lines and engineering excellence. By joining their team, we will share resources and industry expertise, enabling us to offer cutting-edge solutions to the stamping and coil processing markets.”
Bradbury is maintaining PRE’s operations as an independent entity, with no alterations to its management, staff or location.
COMMISSIONING
Nova Steel Inc. last year commissioned a heavy-gauge slitting line from Athader S.L., which is currently working at full production. The line installed at Nova Steel and Tube LLC in Delta, Ohio, can slit material up to 1/2-inch thick by 74 inches wide from master coils weighing up to 40 tons.
The line features automatic coil loading, automatic slitter tooling changeover and automatic separator changes that minimize production delays. A driven flattener, double-eccentric slitter heads for precise slit edge tolerances, and unique Injecta scrap chopper system helps Nova Steel and Tube to minimize downtime for chopper knife changeovers.
Nova Steel operates 18 divisions in Canada, the United States and Mexico. These facilities operate manufacturing, processing and distribution businesses under the names of Nova Steel, American Steel and Aluminum, and Cresswell Industries.
Bradbury Group, 620/345-6394, http://bradburygroup.com/
Nova Steel Inc., 866/953-7751, http://novasteel.ca/
Steel Warehouse Inc., 855/370-9049, http://steelwarehouse.com/
thyssenkrupp Steel, http://tksna.com/
