Nucor Announces Upgrades to Arkansas JV Plant Rolling Mill

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Nucor-Yamato Steel Co.- the joint venture project between Nucor and Yamata Kogyo and a leader in structural steel business announced that Germany-based SMS Group has been selected to carry out rolling mill upgrade project at its Blytheville, Arkansas heavy section mill. The upgraded facility is expected to start operations in H2 2020.

The upgrade pertains to Mill 2 of the facility, which mainly produces wide-flange beams and H-pile sections. As part of the project, SMS Group will replace the two existing rolling mill stands with new tandem-reversing mill. Incidentally, the site comprises of two rolling facilities commonly known as Mill 1 and Mill 2. It must be noted that SMS group had earlier successfully carried out an upgrade project on Mill 1. The rolling facilities have a combined production capacity of 2.5 million tons per annum of finished products including wide-flange beams, H-piling, sheet piling, standard I-beams, channels and various other structural shapes.

Thad Solomon, vice president and general manager of Nucor-Yamato Steel stated that the upgrade will help the company add new high-strength steel grades to its product portfolio and expand the production capabilities. The project will contribute to achieving its goal of growing its market leadership position in structural steel, Solomon added. Meantime, SMS Group official noted that the proposed upgrade project will further solidify the excellent relationship between the two companies.