AK Steel to invest $180M to increase its production

Steel mills in Butler, Pa., and Zanesville are to receive upgrades.

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) — AK Steel will invest $180 million in equipment to lower production costs and increase capacity at two specialty steel operations in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the company said Monday.

AK Steel will replace two of its three electric-arc furnaces at the Butler Works, in Butler, Pa., with one capable of melting more than 1.45 million tons annually, about 40 percent more than is produced with a three-furnace operation.

With the additional capacity, AK could produce about 400,000 tons of carbon steel slabs a year, reducing the need to buy slabs from other producers, the company said.

A new furnace at Butler will improve the site’s melt capacity, and additional equipment in Butler and Zanesville, Ohio, will allow AK Steel to increase shipments of electrical steels, the company said.

The projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2009.

“Our grain-oriented electrical steels continue to be in high demand and short supply,” said James L. Wainscott, AK’s top executive. “The capital investments announced today will help serve the robust markets for new, highly efficient electrical transformers in the United States and elsewhere around the world.”

AK Steel Holding Corp. makes flat-rolled carbon steel, stainless and electrical steel, and carbon and stainless tubular products used in cars and appliances. Its grain-oriented electrical steels are used to make energy-efficient power generation and distribution transformers.