Up and running: Warren Steel

Warren Steel employs about 100 salaried and hourly workers.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

WARREN — Warren Steel Holdings has completed renovations at the former Copperweld Steel Co. facility and is producing steel, making it the third steel-making company in the Mahoning Valley.

Warren Steel is located at the former site of Copperweld Steel Co. (CSC) on Mahoning Avenue in Warren and Champion townships.

Other steel-making operations in the Valley are Warren Consolidated Industries (the former Republic Steel Corp.) on Pine Avenue in Warren and V&M Star on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Youngstown.

Also operating at the former Copperweld site is Ohio Star Forge, on the Champion Township side of the property. Ohio Star Forge is a steel fabricating company employing 70 to 80 people on a 10-acre site.

Warren Steel, which employs about 100 salaried and hourly workers, began production in early August. It is now fully functional, with a high-quality melt shop and casting operation producing carbon and alloy steel cast-round bars, said Wayne Smith, Warren Steel spokesman.

Warren Steel operates seven days a week, with melt and casting production currently running four to five heats per night, three nights a week.

At full production, the company is capable of producing 105 tons of molten metal every 55 minutes, with estimated annual capacity of about 800,000 tons, or approximately 1.6 million pounds, of cast product. Current size capabilities for steel cast rounds are in the range of 8.25 inches to 12.5 inches in diameter, with plans to expand these capabilities dependent on the needs of the market, Smith said.

The steel is sold to customers who turn it into seamless tubing, such as that used in the oil and gas drilling industry, he said.

Warren Steel began operations under its current ownership and management team at the end of 2006, Smith said.

The Privat Group of the Ukraine bought the facilities and 400 acres in 2001 after the former Copperweld Steel closed after filing for bankruptcy. Privat paid $6 million for the mill’s continuous caster and melt shop and $1.3 million for the rest of the property and 400 acres it sits on. Millions of dollars more were spent in refurbishing the plant, Smith said.

He said Warren Steel is now certified to ISO 9001/2000 quality standards.

“The company and its people are fully committed to the production and delivery of quality carbon and alloy continuously cast products to customers within the United States and abroad. This certification, received in October [2007], is a first milestone on our path of ever-improving quality excellence,” Smith said.

alcorn@vindy.com