9/8/21 -- Following a recent order for a new wire rod outlet, Primetals Technologies has been contracted by Kaptan Demir Çelik (Kaptan Iron & Steel) to supply the upstream mill for the Marmara Ereğlisi, Turkey production site.

A press release said that the mill will prepare the round feedstocks (intermediate sizes) to be further rolled and finished in the wire rod outlet. It will have a yearly capacity of 650,000 metric tons. High-value products will be processed such as carbon, SBQ and austenitic stainless-steel grades, catering to the engineering and automotive industries in both domestic and export markets. The hot commissioning of the complete installation is expected in mid-2022.

The upstream mill will have a maximum rolling rate of 130 tons per hour, and will process billets with square dimensions of 130, 160 and 200 mm and length of 12 meters. The diameters of the prepared feedstocks will range from 17 mm to 33 mm, as required by the roll pass design of the wire rod outlet. The layout, equipment and process of the new upstream mill will be optimized and compatible with an additional bar outlet to be added later, which will make the installation a modern combined mill of quality and austenitic stainless steel.

In other news, Bosnian steel producer ArcelorMittal Zenica d.o.o. placed an order with Primetals Technologies to replace the vessel of BOF converter #2 and supply associated equipment. An optimized design will increase the vessel volume and make production easier. ArcelorMittal Zenica is the largest producer of long steel products in the Balkans with annual production capacity of nearly one million tons per year. The company’s base product range includes rebar (in bars and coils), wire rod, mesh and lattice girders.

9/8/21 -- Central Wire President Paul From recently announced that all company employees would be required to be vaccinated by Oct. 29, barring an acceptable exemption request. Below, he shares further thoughts on this with WJI.

WJI: Just how many people does this edict cover, and what has the response been so far?
From: It covers everyone, which is approximately 700 people in 13 facilities in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. I have been overwhelmed with the positive response from employees. It surprised me. There have been some negative calls but many more positive ones. My contact info is posted in all the plants, so anyone can call me to discuss this—good, bad or indifferent—and they do. I have had some interesting conversations with people who felt that they could not speak out in favor of the vaccine inside the facility because some people would get angry. They remained uncommitted and confused about what to do. There was a lot of disinformation being pushed around and politicized, and I suspect that’s commonplace in many companies.

WJI: You didn’t have to do this, so why are you?
From: I am treating this as a health and safety threat. As president and CEO, it’s a lot easier if I apply the science and technology we would use to deal with any workplace hazard. As a virus, it can be stopped, and my job is to stop it. I have to provide the safest workplace I can, that’s my role.

WJI: Are you getting any calls from other manufacturers?
From: As of yesterday, 15, and they all are moving in this direction. All were very concerned about the ramifications but feel this is the way to go.

WJI: Could there be a legal challenge to this by employees?
From: That’s a good question. Yes, there could be, but it could be from both sides, the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. Anyone can hire a lawyer. The unvaccinated can fight it, but the courts seem already to have moved in a firm direction on this. The vaccinated can also demand companies take action to guarantee a safe workplace. I think that is just around the corner actually, and I want to be in front of it. If I can’t provide a safe work environment for the vaccinated, they have every right to challenge us. Should the virus have the capacity to mutate again, and it becomes even more transmissible and deadly, then the situation will change again. I would prefer to deal with this entire situation before that can happen.

WJI: Is your edict the same for all your operations?
From: Yes. Rules for Canada and the U.K. are somewhat different than the U.S., but what we are doing is still fine. The Canadian government just mandated vaccines for all federal employees, air travelers, train travelers and over-night vessel travelers.

WJI: What would you like to say to employees who oppose this?
From: Think of your coworkers. I know of six employees undergoing cancer treatment in our company, and I am sure there are others who have family members facing the same thing. I know of employees whose children have either received organ transplants or have disabilities and health challenges that even without Covid must be hard to cope with. We also have employees who have diabetes and other conditions that compromised their immune systems. Do you really want to expose them to this risk?
That also goes for other company owners: do you want someone inside your factory to become infected and take it home to someone not strong enough to fight this?
Freedom of choice I understand, but it goes hand in hand with a greater responsibility. Thankfully we have a number of vaccine choices. We must protect the integrity of our health care system and the professionals who are fighting a minute-by-minute battle to keep people alive.

WJI: How has this situation affected your business?
From: I was born in 1965, and this is my first pandemic. It is a struggle unlike anything I have ever experienced. There is no playbook for this. The last 18 months have been a huge struggle. I spend little time running the business in the traditional sense, buying equipment, considering acquisitions, seeing customers and suppliers, improving operations and developing a better future. I had expected that once the vaccine came out, it would greatly improve things and allow us to get back to “normal.” Now I feel further from normal than ever, but I also believe that the companies that can get past this will have achieved something great, and by doing so they will have benefitted employees, shareholders and society. I truly believe that.

9/8/21 -- LS Cable & System (LSC&S) announced that the South Korean company will expand its submarine cable capacity at its campus in Donghae City, Gangwon-do.

A press release said that LSC&S will build an additional submarine cable plant in Building No. 2 of the Donghae City campus, which is in the Gangwon Province. The site now has three plants. The fourth plant will feature the tallest power cable production tower in South Korea. When completed, the vertical continuous extraction system tower will be as tall as a 63-story apartment, the tallest structure in Donghae City. Construction will start this October and is expected to be completed by the end of April 2023. The project, estimated to cost more than $161 million, will increase LSC&S’s submarine cable production capacity more than 1.5 times. The 172-m-tall tower is expected to improve cable insulation quality and increase productivity.

LSC&S built Korea’s first submarine cable plant in Donghae City in 2008, and has invested about US$296 million to date. The existing plant, which has a total floor area of 84,000 sq m, will get an additional 31,000 sq m.

“As countries around the world are increasing investments in renewable energy to become carbon neutral, the submarine cable market is also growing,” said LSC&S President & CEO Myung Roe-Hyun. “We will contribute to the national economy by expanding domestic investments.”

9/8/21 -- Eastern Wire Products, Inc., has bought property in Jacksonville, Florida, and plans to invest $1.5 million in renovating it to produce steel wire and other products.

The company, founded in 1972, has operated elsewhere in the city in a leased multitenant building, and it is buying a 78,000-sq-ft structure that needs to be upgraded. Of that space, some 21,000 sq ft is leased to another company, and the goal is to use that space as well until the lease either expires or is terminated.
Eastern Wire Products specializes in baling wire as well as straight-and-cut wire. The family-owned company has 42 full-time employees, and expects that the expansion will eventually result in another 10 jobs.

The total project is expected to cost about $4.4 million, which includes about $3 million for the site acquisition and demolition, $500,000 for infrastructure improvements; $650,000 in building renovations; and $240,000 in machinery and equipment purchases.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to establish a home for our third-generation, wire fabrication company,” said company President Mark Yates. “My father and grandfather were both WAI lifetime members, and this is the culmination of their longtime desire to create a space for us to fabricate our products for generations to come.”

Yates said that, with the aid of grants from the city of Jacksonville, Eastern Wire will be able to create a modern facility that includes state of the art bale tie manufacturing equipment. “This should enable us to be more efficient and effective and allow us to better serve our customers.”