-
Titanium Metals Corp. (Timet) has commissioned a plasma cold-hearth melt furnace at its Morgantown, Pa., operations as it aims to boost its role in the aerospace market with new melting capacity, while also installing new titanium powder capabilities.
-
Global shipments of titanium mill products, spurred by both commercial aerospace and industrial demand, will rise 7 to 10 percent this year after jumping more than 24 percent in 2011, Titanium Metals Corp. (Timet) forecast in documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
-
Demand for titanium, aluminum and other metals is expected to be strong this year and even stronger in subsequent years, based primarily on strength in the aerospace industry.
-
Rare earths usage has grown by a near double-digit compounded annual rate due to its use in high-technology and energy products.
-
Some original equipment manufacturers are turning to less-expensive, but also less-powerful, alternative ferrite magnets.
-
China has the bulk of rare earths processing capacity, with most other processing facilities having closed their doors.
-
The first-quarter reduction is somewhat larger than the decrease in the fourth quarter of 2011, which was the first surcharge cut in two years.
-
Global commercial aerospace, industrial and non-aerospace shipments—including medical and new applications—are expected to increase.
-
A quiet revolution is sweeping through the global iron ore markets, kicked off in early 2012 when Essar Steel Minnesota LLC announced that its Nashwauk, Minn., taconite property on the Mesabi Range, about 100 miles west of Lake Superior, contained far more ore-bearing rock than it had previously believed.
-
As the new year got under way, copper, iron ore and aluminum—mainstays of the minerals and metals segment of the North American economy—all seemed to be going their separate ways.
-
One of the quiet trends in North American iron ore during the past decade has been the transition from steelmaker ownership of the continent’s iron ore mines to a concentration in the hands of several large steelmakers and one major merchant producer/seller of iron ore.
-
Any attempts to assess the future success of shredders begins with a look at demand. A cursory glance at changes over the past decade suggests that the future could be rosy.
-
The upward-bound numbers in automotive production in 2011 have given scrap metal producers and processors a reason to hope that some daylight might finally be peeking through, at least in that corner of the U.S. economy.
-
When it comes to automotive scrap supply and demand, the only thing certain is the borrowing of a time-tested auto industry phrase: Your mileage may vary.
-
One development that the entire iron mining industry in North America is watching closely is a plan by India’s Essar Steel Ltd. to resume iron pellet production on Minnesota’s Mesabi Range—and using the taconite pellets to make steel in Minnesota rather than shipping them to a blast furnace elsewhere.
-
Mesabi Nugget LLC in recent years began production of a marble-sized iron pellet that observers call the most revolutionary new iron-making process in half a century.
-
Maintaining and improving sustainability in steel in the 21st Century will depend on the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the mill floor, according to many industry players.
-
While the rest of the world was fretting about global economic stagnation this summer and Wall Street uncertainty was fueling speculation about a double-dip recession, titanium industry analysts kept the faith.
-
As global markets continue to pull out of their recent slump, the head of the International Titanium Association (ITA) maintains that the industry will meet the challenge of rising demand.
-
Recession? What recession? Titanium industry players are keeping their eyes on the prize as they look to the ramp-up of the Boeing 787 and, by some estimates, overall build rates on commercial transports that by 2013 and 2014 will have surpassed by 40 percent the rates seen in 2010. Outside of aerospace, newly emerged economies such as China, India and Brazil could remain strong markets for non-aerospace industrial titanium despite economic sluggishness in the United States and Europe.
-
Stainless steel storage tanks are among the most ubiquitous pieces of metal equipment in modern society, holding everything from milk to chemicals to pharmaceuticals to lubricants. They hide in plain sight in industrial parks across the world, on the factory floor and on the highway. They keep our food safe and prevent chemicals from leaching into the ground. And they are fabricated in hundreds of plants scattered around the country, making up one of the more fragmented segments of the nation’s finished metals industry.
-
Given the fact that most stainless steel tank fabricators are small, family owned businesses, one could assume that the Great Recession and accompanying credit crunch would continue to have a significant impact on most firms’ bottom lines. But that would be wrong.
-
Stainless steel for storage tanks of all sizes, shapes and applications is made by a handful of producers in the United States. ATI Allegheny Ludlum Corp., North American Stainless Inc. and Outokumpu Oyj all make stainless plate and coil that can be fabricated into tanks.
-
Build it and the buyers will come. At least, that’s what more than a few pipe mills appear to be banking on with new or soon-to-be built oil country tubular goods (OCTG) projects in the United States.
-
Nice work, guys, but take a break. That appears to be the advice offered to companies who are building new oil country tubular goods (OCTG) manufacturing facilities or those still mulling whether to add new capacity.
-
Don’t ask some oil country tubular goods (OCTG) buyers about whether there is looming overcapacity in North America; it’s already here, they believe.
-
Over the past decade, the number of shredders operating in scrapyards across North America has skyrocketed—projected to reach 302 by the end of this year, a 56-percent increase from an estimated 193 in 2000—as supply and demand of shredded material have been locked in a mutual growth cycle.
-
The production of shredded scrap has two components: the manufacturers who build and sell equipment to handle the scrap, and the scrap operations that then process and bring the material to market.
-
Any attempts to assess the future success of shredders begin with a look at demand. Judging by changes over the past decade, that future could be rosy.
-
Sometimes, advancements in manufacturing are industry-specific and take years to be commercially licensed for general use.
-
When a customer asked the Metal Technology Group at Siemens Corp. to design a simple, robust, reliable and inexpensive method to measure the thickness of stationary aluminum plate on a hot-mill roller table, the U.S. subsidiary of the German engineering conglomerate responded quickly.
-
The customer that first approached Siemens Corp. about designing a reliable and inexpensive way to measure the thickness of aluminum plate was concerned that requiring operators to use hand micrometers on aluminum plate on the hot-mill roller constituted first and foremost a safety issue. But manual measurement also was causing the mill to question the accuracy of those measurements.
-
A gondola car that can carry scrap to the steel mill and then carry finished rolls or long products outbound has been a shining vision for shippers, carriers and mills for decades. But the devil is in the details.
-
After several very lean years, North American demand for rail freight cars is expected to boom this year and continue on that course for the next few years, according to rail car manufacturers, railroads and major shippers.
-
While stainless steel suppliers generally are at least cautiously optimistic that the commercial and institutional food service industry is on an upswing, they are still concerned about certain factors, including continued weakness in the commercial construction market, tightness in the financial markets and costs associated with new federal food safety regulations.
-
Manufacturers of stainless steel structural components for architects and designers comprise a varied cross-section of the North American steel industry.
-
While commercial and institutional food service industries have had a hard time the past few years, it hasn’t experienced as much difficultly as many other industrial segments and is now in turnaround mode.
-
The commercial and institutional food service industry is a market "where stainless is a must," according to Markus A. Moll, managing director and senior market research analyst at Steel & Metals Market Research GmbH, Reutte, Austria. He said the properties of stainless steels are perfect for any application where there is contact with food.
-
Architects and construction contractors have long known of the benefits of stainless steel for any number of uses in buildings and other structures, including siding, roofing, steps, staircases and exterior and interior railings. Those benefits include an attractive appearance, low maintenance requirements and increased safety, especially for railings on both the inside and outside of buildings and concourses.
-
Architects, designers and structural engineers first discovered the durability of stainless steel as a building material when automobile magnate Walter P. Chrysler commissioned the iconic building bearing his name in midtown Manhattan.
-
Much of the rationale for designing and building all-aluminum ships for the U.S. Navy stems from a paper delivered to the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in 2009.
-
The U.S. Navy’s award of contracts for the first of 55 Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) to two U.S. shipyards could prove to be a major boost to marine-grade aluminum during the upcoming decade.
-
Aluminum has been an integral part of shipbuilding for more than a century. Its structural strength and light weight make it ideal for replacing steel in ships’ superstructures.
-
Aluminum is a minor player in the residential door market, largely due to its conductivity, as mostly vinyl products take on the starring role.
-
While the aluminum residential door market clearly represents a very small niche, there are those in the aluminum industry who see some potential for at least a modest increase in market share, although it will require a change in consumer mindset.
-
The drive for more energy-efficient solutions in the residential door market has left aluminum struggling to grow—or even maintain—its market share, although the metal’s recyclability and other characteristics make it ideal for certain niche applications.
-
The end of 2010 and the start of the New Year offer some challenges for those seeking to analyze and predict where prices and demand might be heading for aluminum and steel scrap destined to enter the can production stream.
-
The end of 2010 and the start of the New Year offer some challenges for those seeking to analyze and predict where prices and demand might be heading for aluminum and steel scrap destined to enter the can production stream.
-
Steel and aluminum scrap dealers who provide materials destined to become metal food and beverage containers see positive energy flowing through the market as recycling rates are again marking gains, and can scrap consumers say quality is improving as well.
-
Steel and aluminum scrap dealers who provide materials destined to become metal food and beverage containers see positive energy flowing through the market as recycling rates are again marking gains, and can scrap consumers say quality is improving as well.
-
For industry insiders who promote cans for food and beverages, sustainability has always been the name of the game.
-
For industry insiders who promote cans for food and beverages, sustainability has always been the name of the game.
-
North America’s scrap metal producers and processors might feel buoyed by automotive production in 2010 compared with the previous year, but the unvarnished opinion from one auto industry consultant is they should be lowering their forecasts for automotive metal needs for the next decade.
-
North America’s scrap metal producers and processors might feel buoyed by automotive production in 2010 compared with the previous year, but the unvarnished opinion from one auto industry consultant is they should be lowering their forecasts for automotive metal needs for the next decade.
-
Producers, processors and providers of scrap have a dog in the fight over whether steel or aluminum is the “material of choice” for lightweighting vehicles, as well as how current economic conditions might affect future scrap sales.
-
Producers, processors and providers of scrap have a dog in the fight over whether steel or aluminum is the “material of choice” for lightweighting vehicles, as well as how current economic conditions might affect future scrap sales.
-
Lightweighting vehicles to improve fuel economy remains the driving force in the design and application of metals and other materials in the automotive industry. But the environmental burden imposed through the entire lifecycle of materials—from manufacturing to use and recovery—is a growing concern for industry as governments across the globe impose stricter regulations to better control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
-
Lightweighting vehicles to improve fuel economy remains the driving force in the design and application of metals and other materials in the automotive industry. But the environmental burden imposed through the entire lifecycle of materials—from manufacturing to use and recovery—is a growing concern for industry as governments across the globe impose stricter regulations to better control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
-
The lion’s share of titanium medical devices is provided by just five companies Zimmer Holdings Inc., Biomet Inc., DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., Stryker Corp. and Smith & Nephew Plc.
-
A recession in the aerospace industry in 1992-93 was the spur that convinced titanium producers to actively pursue other markets, including sports and medical applications. Industry leaders quickly began research to position titanium in what were termed “second-tier” markets.
-
The use of titanium in a wide variety of medical applications—hip and knee replacements, dental implants, artificial hearts, trauma systems and the like—is a very consistent and structured element of the global titanium marketplace.
-
While those trying to grow the market for copper-nickel tubing in automotive hydraulic brake lines often point to Sweden’s Volvo Car Corp. as a big success story, one thing they often neglect to mention is that while the European automaker was one of the first to use the product, it no longer does so.
-
If the market takes off, the use of copper-nickel tubing for hydraulic brake lines in autos could be a nice piece of business for certain tubing manufacturers and redrawers, according to Bob Weed, vice president of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) markets for the New York-based Copper Development Association (CDA).
-
Although it is a growing niche market—and one with opportunity for further growth—promoting the use of copper-nickel tubing for hydraulic brake lines and other small-diameter automotive fluid lines (power steering, transmission, cooler and fuel lines) has been an uphill battle, especially in the United States, despite its excellent corrosion-resistance properties.
-
Rare earths are a hot topic in Washington. Almost everyone agrees that the United States needs a dedicated supply of rare earths for high-tech national security and defense systems. But not everyone is in agreement on how to make it happen.
-
The U.S. metal stockpile policy is on the verge of its biggest overhaul in the past 15 years amid increasing trepidation about the country’s dependence on foreign producers.
-
The wheels of government turn slowly. And while momentum is gaining for a move away from the traditional stockpiling of raw materials, changing the way the U.S. Defense Department procures metal isn’t something that will happen overnight.
-
With the economy still seeking a jumpstart from one of the worst recessions on record, consumers are looking for more bang for their buck—and might just find it with metal roofing.
-
The recession has left the metal roofing market slightly weathered, but its impact has certainly been far less severe than on other sectors of the construction industry. And while metal roofing demand might be down this year, according to some, the product continues to grow in popularity and gain market share vs. the dominant asphalt shingle roof sector.
-
Hammered, battered and beaten by storms, the question facing residential customers is whether to opt for a metal or traditional shingled roof—and the answer appears to be increasingly for the former, particularly in the South and Southwest.
-
The trucking industry’s many moving parts appear to be in dire need of oiling as the sector struggles to align itself in a way that will best meet current and expected future demand. A recent trucking squeeze brought about by economic factors is a major issue—one that has few short-term solutions, according to trucking and logistics analysts.
-
Keep on trucking—in theory, at least. In practice, a trucking shortage is threatening to force metals industry players to pay big time for transportation services as competition for available trucks heats up.
-
With signs of stability emerging in the metal industries, producers are finally looking to get their products on the move. But getting product from point A to point B is not as simple as it may sound.
-
Every industry has a dark underside. Recyclers are no exception but most yards, by and large, have worked hard to promote best practices when it comes to preventing metals theft. And given the patchwork quilt of jurisdiction-specific laws governing scrap processing on state, county and city levels, detterence is no easy feat—and more often than not very costly.
-
If you have ever been a victim of theft, you know it is not an easy place to be. Electric utilities and phone companies feel the same way.
-
Thefts are the dark common thread weaving copper fabricators and their customers together, as both are vulnerable to substantial loss of material. And while the thefts themselves are becoming a huge problem, equally troublesome is the lack of standardized theft-prevention methods that make policing extremely difficult.
-
After years of moving big parts of America’s manufacturing base overseas, does it make sense to expect that much of it can return? While it won’t be immediate, the answer in the long haul appears to be “yes.”
-
The bottom line rising material and logistics costs, along with currency factors and speed of turnaround, are dimming the shine of offshore sourcing by U.S. parts suppliers. But whether an all-out shift in gear is looming remains to be seen.
-
U.S. manufacturing—or at least a portion of it—appears to be on course for a U-turn as work previously pushed offshore might be coming home. Statistics on the reshoring of U.S. manufacturing are hard to come by, but mill suppliers see an interest.
-
Demolition contractors aren’t sitting on a mountain of unsold metal and while signs of a pickup in business are beginning to emerge, on a flat hill an uptick doesn’t necessarily amount to much.
-
Domestic scrapyards, facing increasingly strict requirements by U.S. steel mills, are instead opting to feed the insatiable appetite of offshore steelmakers, a move that is changing the recipe of the scrap mix.
-
Change is inevitable, but perhaps nowhere is this more keenly evident than in the ever-evolving and often-volatile scrap industry.
-
Copper continues to rev up usage in automotive wiring applications as additional electrical and electronic components are added to light vehicles, but other factors— moves to smaller-gauge wires and material substitution—are slowing the drive in terms of growth rates.
-
It’s a flat, flat world, at least for two wire harness producers who said they expect copper consumption to remain level, or even decline, going forward despite the red metal being the material of choice for the increased wiring needed to support a growing array of “gadgetry” in new vehicles.
-
While U.S. automakers are using more copper wiring in their vehicles, the growing number of applications doesn’t necessarily signal a boon for domestic wire drawers and fabricators.
-
Secondary steel is in its own ballgame that, for the most part, runs counter to the prime market, at least where buyers are concerned.
-
Connecting buyers and sellers of damaged steel goods is hardly an easy feat, but two businesses born in steel’s dot-com era have found success in buying, marketing and selling secondary steel products.
-
Discounting is a fact of life. A damaged product will almost always be cheaper than an undamaged one. But don’t expect a sliding scale based on the level of damage, because market conditions play the most significant role in determining the eventual price.
-
Despite widespread concern that China’s declining production and increased demand for rare earths will leave the rest of the world short, a combination of Chinese efficiency improvements and new global production means that little or no supply gap is actually in store for the sector, according to analysts.
-
The development of a Western source of rare earths would secure the supply chain for consumers but with a domestic supply still years away some end-users are looking for other ways to limit their exposure before it’s too late.
-
Would-be North American producers of rare earth minerals might be in competition for the same slice of market share, but that doesn’t keep them from agreeing on one thing the development of new rare earth projects, while challenging, is not optional.
-
With construction industries still challenged by tight credit markets and weak demand, a more-stable, climate-controlled atmosphere doesn’t appear to be in the immediate cards for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) sector.
-
The worst might be almost over for residential builders, but with commercial construction still in the doldrums companies participating in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) market are expecting the latter to put a damper on their business.
-
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturers are bracing for the cold spell to continue until banks ease lending restrictions and the residential and nonresidential construction markets warm up.
-
Safety programs are gaining traction in the industry, but for further progress to be made the industry has to be proactive—which means lots of communication and training. That’s exactly the approach two Washington-based trade groups are taking to promote workplace safety.
-
Safety is more than creating a certain environment—it’s a culture change that to be effective involves a mentality that flows through a company from top to bottom. At least, that’s how many steel industry players see it.
-
Worker fatalities are a major concern for companies and trade groups in the raw materials, metals recycling, production, distribution and fabrication industries, which are placing great emphasis on boosting safety even in a down economy. And although the metals sector’s track record has improved in the past year, there is still room for further progress.
-
Sensor sorting technology for scrap, having matured over the past five years, can create ever-more-subtle types of nonferrous scrap. But just how far does one need to sort? Well, that depends.
-
The key to the shredding business is to get everything of value you can out of the material. And while the sensor sorting equipment needed to process that material can be costly, to many it’s well worth the investment.
-
The increased sophistication of sensor sorting equipment, which began as a way to supplement traditional methods of processing auto shredder output, might qualify it for a more central role with shreds.
-
The hybridization of America’s auto fleet once threatened to make lead-acid batteries obsolete, but analysts now believe the veteran technology will serve as a workhorse for battery makers to piggyback the evolving hybrid market on.
-
As tighter emission control regulations push the automotive industry to create the hybrid and electric fleets of the future, automakers are increasingly focusing their attention on new technologies to meet the increased power demands of those vehicles. Lead-acid batteries may not be mentioned often when automakers talk about the hybrid and electric car fleets of the tomorrow but they remain a core part of emerging designs due to cost efficiency.
-
With so much media attention showered on nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries that power the electric motors in hybrid vehicles, it’s easy to forget that lead-acid batteries are omnipresent in the hybrid fleet.
-
Whether it’s a large haul of stainless steel pipe taken from outside Yankee Stadium in New York or some scrap at a construction site in rural West Virginia, metal thefts present more than a supersized headache for the recycling industry.
-
Considerable fanfare when the Secondary Metal Theft Prevention Act of 2009 was introduced early in the congressional session—an attempt to set a federal baseline for states rushing headlong to pass legislation of their own—failed to speed the bill through Congress.
-
An extensive matrix of metal theft legislation pending in state legislatures contains a number of common themes, but also suggests something of a “crazy quilt” approach to the issue. Some of the proposed state measures apply only to copper, while others cover only scrap metal or all metals and materials.
-
They’re often seen as the orphans of the scrap metal industry, but turnings and borings are stirring new interest among scrap processors and manufacturers. The biggest hurdle seems to be a commitment to buying the machinery that makes the process economical.
-
The use of turnings and borings varies from mill to mill, depending on the melter’s experience and preference. But for all mills, chemistry is key.
-
Turnings, whether the smaller machine shop item or the short shoveling variety, are often seen as the dregs of industrial ferrous scrap. They were rarely, if ever, used by integrated mills in their open hearths and basic oxygen furnaces. And while they have become more desirable as melt materials since the development of the electric-arc furnace, they still don’t get much respect.
-
A new era of lightweight automotive manufacturing is being ushered in by tighter fuel economy standards, emission limits and safety regulations, a situation that analysts say will only intensify.
-
Every bright spot comes with a dark side. Such is the case with the auto industry’s efforts to slim down vehicles to improve fuel economy and meet ever-tightening emissions standards. Automakers are racing to incorporate lightweight materials to meet their goals, but some of the lightening efforts come with serious sticker shock.
-
High-strength steel (HSS) and aluminum applications in auto body designs have reached all-time highs, with increasingly strict government regulations driving the need for better fuel economy and lower carbon dioxide emissions—and further gains are anticipated, including in mixed applications.
-
On Wall Street and its outposts, the clues to a turnaround in aerospace titanium lie in the global economy, the airlines’ ability to maintain their financial health and aircraft delivery schedules, and signposts unique to the titanium market—not the least of which is the prospect of drawing down the supply chain’s big inventory overhang.
-
On Wall Street and its outposts, the clues to a turnaround in aerospace titanium lie in the global economy, the airlines’ ability to maintain their financial health and aircraft delivery schedules, and signposts unique to the titanium market—not the least of which is the prospect of drawing down the supply chain’s big inventory overhang.
-
The titanium market might not be headed for a quick turnaround, but large aerospace buyers are already set up to avoid the shortages and growing lead times that invariably accompany a surge in demand.
-
The titanium market might not be headed for a quick turnaround, but large aerospace buyers are already set up to avoid the shortages and growing lead times that invariably accompany a surge in demand.
-
Will 2010 be the year that titanium stages a comeback? The jury is still out, but there’s little argument that commercial aerospace will play the key role.
-
Will 2010 be the year that titanium stages a comeback? The jury is still out, but there’s little argument that commercial aerospace will play the key role.
-
The tinplate segment of the U.S. steel market is comparatively small—shipments of just 3 million tons annually in an industry that generally manufactures more than 100 million tons of steel per year.
-
The tinplate segment of the U.S. steel market is comparatively small—shipments of just 3 million tons annually in an industry that generally manufactures more than 100 million tons of steel per year.
-
Can makers—those who use tinplate manufactured by steel producers worldwide—are fighting a couple of tough battles these days but are having success on several fronts even though the odds seem to be stacked against them.
-
Can makers—those who use tinplate manufactured by steel producers worldwide—are fighting a couple of tough battles these days but are having success on several fronts even though the odds seem to be stacked against them.
-
A strong food pack, including what some in the steel industry believe is the largest tomato pack in U.S. history, is whetting the appetites of the limited number of U.S. manufacturers in the tin products market.
-
A strong food pack, including what some in the steel industry believe is the largest tomato pack in U.S. history, is whetting the appetites of the limited number of U.S. manufacturers in the tin products market.
-
Long before the frenzy to “go green,” the ferrous and nonferrous metal industries had made significant strides in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The question today is how much further they can cut emissions without the benefit of a step change in production technologies.
-
Having made major strides in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, U.S. metal producers—particularly those in the steel and aluminum industries—are reaching out to researchers at private companies as well as universities to provide the inventive thinking and technological know-how to significantly shrink their carbon footprint. While the ultimate objective is developing a breakthrough technology to tame GHG emission, evolutionary interim approaches delivering steady improvements would help bridge the GHG gap until step-change technologies are commercialized
-
North American ferrous and nonferrous metal producers—individually and on a collaborative basis—have made concerted efforts to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are looking to continue doing so. The answer to whether these efforts are paying off might well be rooted in how you define paying off.
-
Steel-framed houses beat their wood-framed competitors hands down in terms of durability, among other factors, but steel framing has been unable to make significant inroads in the housing sector, in part because there just aren’t enough trained workers to go around.
-
The perils of living in a harsh climate remain the strongest motivation to make the switch to steel from traditional wood framing, according to home builders specializing in steel-framed construction, with more than one noting growing export opportunities.
-
With most builders exhibiting a “Lincoln Log” vs. an “Erector Set” mentality, steel framing seems destined to remain only a small fraction of the U.S. residential construction market.
-
Water line manufacturing might be a crazy market but in times like these, when everything goes topsy-turvy, sometimes you need to be, well, a little crazy.
-
Metals and plastics have long been rivals in the piping ring—a battle that’s unlikely to end anytime soon as the economic downturn continues to drive efforts to cap costs.
-
Looking at the number of water line projects Northwest Pipe Co. has landed so far this year indicates a booming market, but appearances can be deceiving.
-
Having lost significant market share in recent years to lighter-weight and lower-cost aluminum, copper is ready for a rebound. But while proponents of the antimicrobial metal hope that someday every hospital wing, locker room and air conditioner interior will glow red, some metals analysts aren’t so sure.
-
When 221 hotel guests fell ill at the American Legion’s bicentennial event in 1976 with symptoms of fever and coughing, resulting in 34 deaths, scientists were shocked to learn that the infection hadn’t come from some outside source but from within the hotel itself—more specifically, from the building’s air conditioning system.
-
It’s a lean, green, killing machine—except when it hasn’t oxidized, in which case it’s a lean, red, killing machine.
-
A struggling North American steel industry is looking for customers to buy its products in almost any shape or form. High-strength steels (HSS) are recognized as competitive with aluminum and plastics, but with the automotive industry running on four flat tires, steelmakers are finding it more and more difficult to move even an innovative, environmentally friendly product to customers who, while they might want the steel, really have no need for it.
-
Whether they’re used in steel wagons or station wagons, high-strength steels (HSS) are gaining more and more acceptance from customers. Well, OK, not many station wagons are among North American automobile lines—people prefer minivans or smaller, more environmentally friendly cars that weigh less and have les overall impact on the environment.
-
By now, almost everyone who made the typical New Year’s resolution has long since abandoned hope of getting lighter and stronger. Not so for the North American steel industry, which realized years ago that it must develop products that are lighter, stronger and more adaptable to the changing needs of a wide customer base.
-
While trying to gauge the extent of the construction decline can be a confusing task, one thing clear is that the steel conduit market is “in the dumps,” pushed down by a weak non-residential building sector that is still trying to find the bottom, several market sources said.
-
With few new business projects in the works, competition for what little is out there is growing fierce, according to electrical contractors. They point to the combination of tight credit availability and lack of confidence in the economy for “a precipitous drop” in commercial, industrial and institutional construction projects, and in turn for the conduit used in the projects.
-
The thrill is in the challenge. Well perhaps not always, but challenge is certainly what steel conduit suppliers face through at least next year. Yet despite the double whammy of a construction lull and the impact the financial crisis has had on business in the sector, there is hope that the worst is over.
-
With the lion’s share of lead output going into battery production, analysts aren’t concerned that the removal of the heavy metal from fixtures and fittings on a state—or even federal—level could have much impact on demand.
-
At the demand of both eco-friendly customers and gavel-heavy legislators, faucet and fitting fabricators have begun to offer lead-free alternatives to traditional leaded products—a move that has proved challenging but fruitful.
-
Change is the way of the world, and while some parts of it have been slower to adapt than others, there’s no avoiding it. Such is the case in brass fabrication, particularly when lead is losing favor.
-
There’s just no way to sugar coat the impact of the economic downturn on the machine tool sector. While U.S. manufacturing technology consumption has picked up slightly from a 13-year low seen in January, there are few signs that things will strengthen markedly anytime soon. Even so, some are turning their hopes to “greener” pastures.
-
The economic crisis has left the manufacturing sector traumatized, with some companies scrambling desperately to stop the financial hemorrhaging. The efforts, while not all successful, have led some to rely on maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) work to carry them through to an eventual turnaround.
-
Leaping off a cliff might sound like fun to the adventurous, hang-gliding type, but for businesses trying to stay airborne in the current economic environment the feeling is more akin to losing an engine in mid-flight.
-
The indium market’s focus might be tuned to liquid crystal displays (LCDs) currently, but analysts see the solar industry as a major bright spot in driving future recycling needs.
-
Corporate stewardship and responsibility toward the environment is becoming an ever-more-important part of the metals culture—a fact of life driven by increasingly strict state, regional and national regulations. So too with indium recovery from end-of-life products, which now stands as a key initiative for many electronics companies as they seek to conserve resources.
-
Recycling has been a dominant force in the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry for years. As the largest consumer of indium, the majority of the metal for LCD consumption is derived via recycling rather than virgin material.
-
Shredder operators are taking some high-tech steps to improve the quality of their shredded scrap.
-
The combination of bigger, more powerful shredders and tougher specifications from steel mills has put new pressure on scrap processors to produce a cleaner, lower-residual shredded scrap.
-
Shredded scrap has become the commodity of choice for all steelmakers, not just those operating electric-arc furnaces, as scrap appetites grow.
-
When the rubber hits the road, catalytic converter consumption—and, by extension, platinum group metals use—hinges on the ability of automakers to show that production numbers are rebounding.
-
Like most metals, platinum group metals (PGMs) have seen a sharp supply-side response to falling prices and deteriorating automotive demand.
-
Despite the slowdown in the automotive sector, the race across the globe to implement more-stringent emissions regulations has created an opportunity to increase the use of platinum group metals (PGMs) in catalytic converters. The outcome in the United States, however, could be very different than in Europe.
-
For securities analysts, dealing with last-in, first-out (Lifo) inventory accounting is a fact of life. But it probably won’t be missed very much if a new set of global financial reporting standards eventually results in Lifo’s demise.
-
Several years ago, William T. Gimbel, the late chief executive officer of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., opened the quarterly financial report of another service center. Thumbing through the Earle M. Jorgensen Co. document—Jorgensen at the time was publicly held and the largest holding in Reliance’s retirement fund—he called a visitor’s attention to a figure near the back of the report Jorgensen’s substantial last-in, first-out (Lifo) inventory reserve.
-
After seven decades of implementation, the 21st Century has brought some of the most serious challenges for last-in, first-out (Lifo) accounting. But in the long run, its biggest test might be on the international front.
-
The more, the dirtier. That’s the cynical take on curbside recycling. But letting community residents toss aluminum cans, glass bottles, discarded catalogs and plastic milk jugs into a single bin does accomplish the task of capturing more recyclables and extending the life of landfills. Often, “single stream” also is cheaper to collect for a municipality or private hauler.
-
For the U.S. aluminum industry, which has braced for challenges due to climate regulations and energy costs, the past year has been a time for overcoming past phobias tied to can scrap—not an easy task.
-
The era of multiple recycling bins for cans and paper could soon fade away, replaced by a “zero sort” alternative that appears to be gaining momentum.
-
Food processing industry analysts know one thing for sure despite an economic downturn, people still have to eat. That indisputable fact might translate into slow and steady progress in capital spending on the stainless steel machinery used to process food.
-
Despite the intrinsically anti-bacterial nature of stainless steel, cleaning crews at food-processing companies take their jobs seriously. And that’s a good thing for the stainless steel market.
-
When clean is what you need, stainless steel outshines most other metals, with its hygienic characteristics making it an ideal choice for extensive use in commercial food manufacturing plants. But a closer look shows competition could be emerging from within.
-
LCDs may be encased in glass but that doesn’t mean the market outlook for such devices is crystal clear. To the contrary, the crisper, sharper images flashed by advancing liquid crystal display (LCD) technology doesn’t transfer easily into assessments of the market.
-
The imminent replacement of analog broadcasting by digital, growing demand from industrializing countries and the constant push for higher-and higher resolution television viewing paint a bright picture for the liquid crystal display (LCD) market, at least in the long term.
-
The liquid crystal display (LCD) market is a relatively bright spot for indium fabricators despite a recent slowing after four years of incredible growth.
-
The hand-in-hand relationship of the steel industry and consumables sector that supplies it has analysts upbeat that there are better times on the horizon. The question, though, is how far away is the horizon.
-
North American steel producers heard plenty of frightful economic news as 2008 drew to a close. Some fear that a stronger U.S. dollar combined with lower freight rates and lower global steel prices opens the possibility of more low-priced steel imports heading this way.
-
Everything has its ups and downs, and the market for consumables—fluxing materials such as limestone, electrodes used in electric furnace steel manufacturing and refractory materials—is no different. But the highs and lows of the ride can at times be enough to give some sectors whiplash.
-
There are three active, licensed low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities in what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) calls Agreement States.
-
As history has shown, abandoned radioactive scrap can wreak havoc on operations if it makes its way into the mainstream. And while proper disposal of contaminated sources still occurs, various programs have been established to make the problem a little easier to deal with.
-
It’s not through luck that a domestic steel mill hasn’t melted a radioactive source of scrap in more than two years. Steelmakers and scrapyards have taken steps to make sure that something “hot” doesn’t become part of the hot metal.
-
While redundancy might seem like a bad idea in today’s economic environment, duplicate systems in the scrap supply stream make a world of difference when it comes to monitoring radiation.
-
State legislators, aware of their states’ business tax climates, are frequently tempted to woo business with lucrative tax incentives and subsidies instead of broad-based tax reform, which can be a “dangerous proposition,” according to Joshua Barro, staff economist at the Washington-based Tax Foundation.
-
Major metal companies and metal-consuming manufacturers, particularly stampers and fabricators, have consistently received economic incentives from state and local governments, and often pit one against the other for the best deal.
-
Power-transmission infrastructure expenditures have risen steadily over the past six years, and are on course to post a double-digit gain this year as surging demand fires the need for additional capacity.
-
Current high demand for transmission towers is expected to continue in the foreseeable future—good news for steelmakers.
-
Just look at the aging power infrastructure and mounting pressure to find alternative “eco-friendly” energy sources and it’s not hard to see why utility tower demand is so strong that fabricators are struggling to keep pace.
-
Analysts don’t anticipate major ramifications for the steel market if the U.S. Army shifts billions of funding dollars out of heavy military ground vehicle programs, although a lot of things aren’t yet known about how such an initiative could unfold.
-
If the U.S. Army decides to reduce funding for Abrams tanks, M2 Bradleys and Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, it will mean some fresh challenges for General Dynamics Corp. and BAE Systems Plc.
-
Talk that the U.S. Army might cut billions of dollars in funding for heavy military ground vehicles to help finance its Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization effort has raised some eyebrows in the steel plate industry.
-
Small, mid-size and even larger steel-consuming manufacturers—as well as the local economies in which they operate—are among the benefactors of tax credits or financial incentive programs offered by local and state governments, as illustrated by three case studies.
-
The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) market stands poised to take off, but don’t expect it to be an overnight sensation, according to analysts following developments in the industry.
-
As original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) race to develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), there also is a pursuit for new battery technologies that will carry the vehicles further, and faster on a single charge.
-
Soaring fuel costs have left automakers reeling, with the impact on their bottom lines forcing many to slash jobs, close some plants and retool others to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. The need to economize is driving a revolution of sorts the rise of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
-
Remember the old ad slogan, “Where’s the beef?” The question of tomorrow in a more health-conscious environment might well be, “How much fat can you cut?”
-
When it comes to hybrid cars and trucks, new technologies don’t always mean a drastic change in the metals used to make them, according to auto industry insiders. While some analysts and metal industry partisans see a revolution in the making, the auto industry’s response might be not so fast.
-
The battle for market share continues to rage in the automotive arena. But smaller vehicles might have a bigger, near-term impact on metal producers than new alternative power trains, industry insiders suggest.
-
Countries that use export taxes to hoard raw materials are disruptive to international trade, and the consequences worsen when a government can adjust them easily, reacting to short-term market conditions, one analyst said.
-
Roller-coaster pricing of raw materials has drawn attention to how some governments might try to keep resources from leaving their territory. Nucor Corp., with steel scrap as its chief input, wants to make sure that such action is included in Washington’s agenda on trade distortions.
-
For scrap processors, claims by steel mills about “a crisis situation with respect to steel scrap” amount to a recycling of memories from 2004 and, for old-timers, from 1979 and 1973.
-
Steel framers looking to take a bigger bite out of the residential construction market might have to curb their appetite as the sector shows no sign of rebounding and home builders continue to slash costs.
-
Reducing costs has become the mantra of home builders across the country as they struggle in the face of a major industry downturn in recessionary-like economic conditions.
-
Grabbing a bigger slice of the residential construction market has been an uphill battle for steel framing, particularly given the current financial turmoil gripping home builders, yet the metal’s characteristics have opened up niche areas.
-
If there’s a cheering section for mills interested in buying service centers, it’s not on Wall Street.
-
Mill-owned service centers An idea whose time has come, gone and come back again?
-
Despite one recent notable exception, domestic steelmakers haven’t given much reason for industry to expect they’re looking to move into the service center business. Still, it’s a topic that just won’t go away, and few mill executives are willing to shut the door on a strategy that has proved more popular in Europe than in the United States.
-
If it is true that a rising tide lifts all boats, prospects for the global shipping industry are getting pretty close to high tide.
-
When steel producers are bullish on the strength of a given market segment, customers typically run for cover, knowing that producer optimism means higher prices for steel. Often times, customers are unwilling to pay those high prices.
-
If legendary broadcaster Walter Winchell were still in front of a microphone, his audience would be a great deal larger. Winchell, who opened his famed radio broadcasts in the 1930s through the early ’50s with the line “Good evening Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the ships at sea,” would be reaching a lot more ships, and global manufacturers of carbon steel plate couldn’t be happier.
-
Jewelry industry analysts agree that precious metal prices have skyrocketed, but they’re torn about whether the use of gold and platinum in designs might crash and cause escalation of substitute metals.
-
Jewelry designers say they aren’t compromising their work as a result of higher precious metal costs.
-
Fashion-conscious individuals looking to sport the latest and greatest on the jewelry scene might be in for a surprise. The jewelry industry, a mainstay for precious metals, is seeing a push toward substitution amid soaring prices for gold and platinum.
-
Blast furnace technology appears poised for a dusting-off of sorts as costs for scrap used by electric-arc furnace (EF) steelmakers skyrocket, but whether that will cast a cloud over the EF dust sector remains to be seen.
-
Competition is picking up in the electric-arc furnace (EF) zinc dust recovery business. The frontrunner in the industry, Monaca, Pa.-based Horsehead Corp., scored a coup late last year, when it signed a long-term agreement to handle all of the baghouse dust from Nucor Corp.’s three steel mills in the Carolinas its Darlington, S.C., bar mill; its Berkeley County sheet mill; and the Nucor Steel-Hertford plate mill in Cofield, N.C. (AMM, Dec. 27).
-
Whether driven by feelings of environmental stewardship or ever-tightening environmental standards, the end result is the same steel industry views and practices for handling electric-arc furnace (EF) dust are changing.
-
In the tug-of-war between copper-brass and aluminum radiator technology, analysts agree that aluminum has clearly won the battle in the light, on-road vehicle sector. The focus is now on the off-road, heavy-vehicle market.
-
Copper might stand as a viable contender to aluminum in radiator applications, but it could be a hard sell for auto radiator manufacturers, who say they are unlikely to switch back to copper-brass models from aluminum despite the strength and corrosion-resistance benefits offered by the relatively new CuproBraze technology.
-
When it comes to radiators, the battle lines have been drawn between copper and aluminum as metal suppliers in opposing camps tout the advantages of their product and further potential for improvements.
-
The vast majority of programs already in place are funded by some variation of producer responsibility. The lone exception is California.
-
While Washington does what Washington does best, 14 states—plus New York City—have passed a patchwork quilt of e-cycling legislation.
-
Electronics makers are far from a single mind when weighing the relative merits of federal vs. state vs. company-based programs.
-
Short term, aluminum will continue to enjoy strong demand, but producers will have to act decisively to counteract the growth of composites.
-
Mandate No. 1? Get production of the 787 and A380 off the ground. No. 2? Exploit the lightweighting capabilities of carbon fiber composites.
-
It’s no secret that delays in the take-off of the Dreamliner and A380 sent plate prices tumbling. The strength of the global aero market may be.
-
Shortages of polysilicon have plagued the solar market since 2005 but that’s about to change, given that more than 130 projects are in the planning or construction stages. Most analysts feel that with so many projects in the pipeline, shortages will ease this year and next and the market will swing to oversupply in 2010 or so.
-
Regardless of how US investment tax credit and/or cap-and-trade legislation unfolds, solar power is poised for ultra-high-megawatt growth.
-
Until solar is competitive with other energy sources on the grid, its future will ride on subsidies from the governments of Germany and Spain.
-
Most of the US is long on water but at least eight states—paced by Florida, Texas and California—are thirsting for relief in the water-reuse arena.
-
Almost all polymer-based reverse osmosis systems use a lot less energy—and metal—than thermal desalination, adding up to significant savings.
-
To date, the interest of domestic stainless and specialty pipe and tube producers in the growing water reuse market has been tepid at best.
-
Analyst John Tumazos cites exchange rate risks and the uncertainty of delivery times as two key reasons to source domestically. Then there’s politics.
-
Two-way communication is a must. ‘It’s not like you go out and buy high-strength steels on the spot market,’ a Honda spokesman says.
-
‘Automakers want the unattainium,’ a mill executive only half jokes. ‘It’s stronger than steel, very formable, completely weldable and cheaper than dirt.’
-
With fleet utilization approaching 100 percent and the Baltic Dry Index at record levels, analysts warn scrap exporters to brace for scheduling delays.
-
Steel mills in emerging nations such as Vietnam often lack the port facilities and credit or financing to handle a $25-million bulk cargo of scrap.
-
Depending on who you ask, the cost of a cap-and-trade program varies widely.
-
While many steel consumers in the United States are puzzled by cap and trade and are waiting to see the final legislation before taking any official position, others are already expressing concern that they’ll be forced to shoulder the financial burden as steel companies pass along higher energy prices.
-
One of the largest federally mandated programs ever is coming down the pike and it will impact every aspect of U.S. steelmaking.
-
Steel industry analysts have been impressed with the move by U.S. steelmakers to take advantage of favorable export conditions, but most warn that the window of opportunity to export steel at a significant profit likely won’t remain open for long.
-
With futures trading promising to illuminate the shadowy world of steel price negotiations, consumers generally are supportive of the move to greater transparency.
-
After years of planning and vigorous debate, steel futures have arrived, ushering in what could be the start of a fundamental shift in the pricing of one of the world’s most important commodities.
-
The weakening U.S. economy has taken a bite out of consumers’ pockets, slowing the pace at which they dine out. Yet restaurant construction and renovation appears unfazed, for now anyway, sparking additional growth in the use of stainless steel for restaurant kitchens.
-
Consumer spending might be down due to the softening economy, but that hasn’t weakened the food service industry’s drive to put more eateries on the map.
-
It’s a small niche market, but with more than a ton of stainless steel in every restaurant kitchen in the nation it’s not one to be treated lightly.
-
The wireless communications industry is beginning to move into a new phase of operation, with cellular phones integral to data transmission as well as voice communication. But that won’t necessarily result in a boom for the cellular tower industry or for the companies supplying the raw materials to build them, according to industry analysts.
-
Talk about mixed signals. It’s tough to get a true line on demand for cellular towers this year when it varies markedly from manufacturer to manufacturer, with some saying demand in the first quarter was up as much as 30 percent and others saying it was down 35 percent.
-
The good, the bad and the ugly—it’s an apt description of the current state of the cellular tower industry and what it means for metals fabricators and other suppliers that service it.
-
In less than 10 years, the aerospace industry has gone from bust to boom—or, perhaps more accurately, a superboom that has catapulted plane orders into the stratosphere.
-
In many ways, these are the best of times for airplane makers such as Boeing Co., Chicago, and France’s Airbus SAS.
-
The dark, gloomy days that followed Sept. 11, 2001, had many wondering if the clouds would ever lift.
-
Creativity—it’s the root of survival and often stems from desperation, or at the very least is most evident in desperate times. The U.S. food can market certainly appears to fit the mold.
-
When it comes to food packaging innovation, Europe and the United States are worlds apart. While the former has been at the forefront of change, Americans have been slower to accept creative concepts such as pull-ring tops and pouches.
-
Food fight! While conjuring up images of battles with mashed potato, the words are about to take on a new meaning as a mini-revolution is geared to heat up in the kitchen.
-
Hydroformed tubes are seeing slow but steady growth in automotive applications, and aluminum is getting in on some of that action as well.
-
Suppliers might be bullish on the prospects for hydroformed tubes in car and truck bodies, but many consumers are more cautious. Hydroformed tubes can help reduce weight and boost safety, they acknowledge, but in most cases they take longer to make and are more expensive than traditional stamped parts.
-
When most people think of car and truck frames they think of steel stampings, but they might want to consider a more rounded perspective, according to some producers of tubular auto parts, who argue that the role of steel tubes in automobile frames could grow.
-
Niche markets face their ups and downs, and the downs can become pretty severe in trying economic times. The cold-rolled motor lamination (CRML) sheet market is a prime example.
-
U.S. buyers of semi-processed cold-rolled motor lamination (CRML) sheet are battling global forces as they attempt to hold on to a dwindling market share. Being a small market to begin with, it’s not an easy battle.
-
U.S. producers of cold-rolled motor lamination (CRML) sheet continue to drive for greater market share, but the market itself is shrinking due largely to the migration of stamping companies out of the country and the overall weakness of the U.S. housing market.
-
While soaring oil prices are driving some new money into the sector, the outlook for demand is split, prompting analysts to question whether corporate investments in new equipment are truly warranted. The dividing factors appear to be onshore vs. offshore drilling and whether the activity is within North America or on the international scene.
-
The outlook for global drilling activity is somewhat hazy, clouded by a combination of factors, including questions over the state of the U.S. economy, the weak greenback and soaring costs.
-
With all three facets of the energy market—upstream, midstream and downstream—currently thriving, some companies servicing the sector are hoping to reap the rewards by pumping up capital expenditures.
-
Despite some Americans fretting over the U.S. dollar’s demise, the people who follow the steel industry’s financial fortunes see little to worry about on that count—with the picture not so bad for service centers, either.
-
There’s little concrete data yet, but the first signs have surfaced that if the dollar remains low it might result in more business for small manufacturers. For now, though, the primary result of the soft greenback has been surging steel prices from a domestic steel industry virtually freed from import competition.
-
The impact of the weak U.S. dollar has hit home at service centers as prices for imported steel products soar. While the greenback and general uncertainty over the U.S. economy have left some dark clouds hovering over U.S. industry, there might be a silver lining.
-
Iron foundries, although there are fewer and fewer these days, face a dual challenge enforcing their more-demanding scrap specifications and being dwarfed in the market by their big brothers—scrap-consuming steel mills—when they buy.
-
Sorting scrap iron and steel is done daily at all scrapyards, but a select few have raised the task almost to the level of an art form the yards that ship ferrous scrap to iron foundries.
-
Analyzing the supply-and-demand equation for mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles is no easy science.
-
Getting mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles to war zones is the highest equipment priority for the U.S. Department of Defense, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
-
Given the urgency for mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles used to help shield U.S. troops from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, steelmakers are under intense pressure to meet demand.
-
The near-term prospects look bright for producers of large-diameter line pipe, but overcapacity in the spiral-weld section of the market could cloud the horizon, several analysts say.
-
Big energy pipeline projects are driving much of the market for large-diameter steel pipe, but they’re not the only source of demand.
-
Many steelmakers are bullish on the prospects of spiral-weld line pipe, and even if the market turns most believe they have strategies to cope.
-
The North American market for aluminized sheet products is so small that it largely goes unwatched by the analyst community. At only 700,000 tons to 780,000 tons annually, it is a niche market that ebbs and flows based in large degree on consumer spending.
-
The fortunes of the U.S. automotive and housing markets don’t bode well for the aluminized sheet industry in the short term, according to service center sources who buy large amounts of the product.
-
In steel, when the heat is literal, customers can’t just turn to sunscreen. Instead, they look to aluminized sheet steels for use in applications where heat resistance is of paramount importance, such as automotive exhaust systems, some types of cookware, furnace heat exchangers and even some parts of barbecue grills.
-
The use of aluminum in automotive applications has been climbing steadily for the past 30 years, according to a study by Ducker Worldwide LLC, Troy, Mich., commissioned by the Aluminum Association’s Auto and Light Truck Group (ALTG).
-
Aluminum continues to win favor among automakers, having surpassed iron as the second-most-used material in the manufacture of automobiles.
-
Aluminum producers are bullish on the automotive sector as the drive toward “lightweighting” continues to pick up speed.
-
The swing toward plastic piping is gathering momentum and the copper plumbing tube market is bracing for further substitution losses, according to analysts.
-
While many ethanol plants have sprouted up on the plains of the Midwest, energy analysts are torn as to whether the market has plateaued.
-
Biofuels are gaining traction, lending support to manufacturers of tanks used to hold the alternative forms of energy.
-
The need for alternative fuel sources is a fact of life—one becoming painfully evident as fossil fuel reserves fade while costs rise and emissions continue to tax the environment. Enter biofuels, which are energizing demand for the stainless steel used to fabricate refinery machinery and bulk storage tanks.
-
Many top steel analysts don’t pay much attention to the wind energy sector. After all, it represents less than 10 percent of total steel demand in North America, according to CIBC World Markets analyst Michael Willemse.
-
Wind energy is booming across North America, and that means good business for companies making the wind-generating structures and their parts.
-
Green rush? That might be too strong a term, but just as the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada kicked off the California gold rush in the mid-1800s, wind energy has enormous boom potential. And the steel industry stands at the head of the line to receive the windfall, with those not already involved in the industry at least taking a very close look at it.
-
With shape memory alloys (SMAs) being a relatively new field, few people can talk about their practical significance in the automotive sector, although some consultants have heard about them, including Erich Merkle, vice president of forecasting at automotive consultancy IRN Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.
-
Shape-shifting metallics they’re the stuff of science fiction. Whether talking about “morphing” planes or modular robots that can break apart and regroup as new devices, the pace at which technology is advancing has put the sci-fi realm on a collision course with reality.
-
Meatballs go well with spaghetti or smothered with tomato sauce on a long Italian roll. They don’t digest well in a steel mill’s electric furnace, at least those served up with portions of shredded scrap.
-
Aluminum stands to benefit from planned upgrades in both U.S. and overseas electrical grids, being the material of choice for transmission cables and many of the towers that support them.
-
Aluminum plays a major role in the lives of the people charged with building and maintaining the country’s electric grid. Besides being cost-effective, aluminum cable has the conductivity and mechanical properties needed for overhead installation.
-
With aluminum, it’s all about give and take. Aluminum production consumes a great deal of electricity, but the material itself gives back as a major component of power transmission systems.
-
A shortage of raw materials is a hot issue in the metals industry today, a problem that carries over into those markets that depend on a steady supply to get their products built. The helicopter market is a prime example.
-
Streamlining the production process might be the long-term solution helicopter makers need to overcome the myriad obstacles in getting their aircraft to market.
-
Alcoa Inc. once said it anticipated the aerospace boom would peak this year, but now the big aluminum producer doesn’t see demand starting to peter out until at least 2012.
-
No one likes to profit from tragedy, but the harsh reality is that it sometimes takes one to kick things into high gear.
-
The decay of the nation’s infrastructure has long been a problem without a face. But that changed in an instant when cameras recorded the deadly collapse of the interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis. Suddenly, a nebulous dilemma was tied to a horrifying image few will soon forget. Or will they?
-
The media frenzy and public outcry following the Minneapolis bridge collapse could push politicians to boost spending on infrastructure and, in particular, on bridges, several steel executives said. Any such moves could prove a boon to producers of plate, reinforcing bar, beams and structural shapes.
-
A chronic shortage of qualified flatbed drivers remains the biggest bump in the road for firms that haul metal for a living.
-
As if uncertainty over future energy prices weren’t enough to worry about in recent years, metals industry analysts must now mull the potential impact of a possible carbon tax. One thing is certain, though the steel industry, in particular, has reduced its energy consumption.
-
Soaring gasoline prices are driving West Coast service centers off the road and steadily isolating the Northwest market
-
For many energy consumers in the metals industry, the crisis began in 2004 with soaring global consumption and the subsequent supply pinch that accompanied Hurricane Katrina the following year. But large buyers on the West Coast are guided by an experience that began three years earlier, rooted in a period not only of rocketing prices but also power interruptions and, ultimately, charges of market manipulation by energy traders.
-
Steelmakers can expect to see a rebound in demand for flat-rolled products by the fourth quarter, but with that recovery they also can expect to be paying more for ferrous scrap, according to two industry analysts.
-
While volatility seemingly goes hand in hand with ferrous scrap pricing, movement in the near future, at least, looks likely to be in a narrow range. The calming of ferrous scrap’s waters is expected to hold for much of the remainder of the year as demand mirrors that in the steel business.
-
We live in a world with a finite amount of resources, the supply of which is growing shorter day by day. Combine that with explosive economic and manufacturing growth in various countries around the globe, and what do we get? Apparently, just the right mix.
-
Freight rates have been a thorn in most shippers’ sides amid soaring fuel costs. Although fuel costs likely will remain far above prior-year levels, there are some signs of softening and freight rates appear to be primed for reductions.
-
Logistics equipment shortages have contributed to the challenge of moving metals, although relief on this front is more evident.
-
While demand for appliances has been slow and business has been impacted by high-priced material, the chief executive of the world’s largest consumer appliance maker said an improvement is coming.
-
Michael D. Locker, president of New York-based consultant Locker Associates Inc., said he believes appliance manufacturers will continue to move assets offshore.
-
The freeze in the housing market has had a chilling effect on the amount of steel being consumed for use in major appliances like refrigerators and stoves. The number of new homes being built doesn’t tell the whole story, however, being just one element affecting appliance market health.
-
The North American steel industry might decry imports, but don’t expect to hear any anti-import rhetoric from the railroad industry.
-
The railroad industry is either riding to glory or heading for a train wreck, depending on who you talk to. Rail producers, for example, anticipate a pickup in sales, with much enthusiasm driven by demand for longer, stronger rails. But some analysts say shipping volumes and profits are down and are likely to remain so in the short term, although a long-term bull cycle might be in the making.
-
In the United States, 100 billion aluminum beverage cans are consumed each year, half of the worldwide total of 200 billion cans.
-
Britain’s Rexam LLC saw 2006 as a growth year for its beverage can business, with volumes increasing 10 percent and achieving market share gains in the United States, where it is represented by Rexam Beverage Can North America.
-
If import figures are any indication, the oil country tubular goods (OCTG) market in Canada might be slowing.
-
With strong energy prices and demand, the U.S. market for oil country tubular goods remains stable, but some analysts argue that increased import penetration and signs of softening in drilling activity could see prices flatten or decrease slightly.
-
Revenue from oil country tubular goods (OCTG) has been down for some U.S. companies, although many producers expect the situation to improve as high customer inventories decline.
-
High nickel, fluctuating cobalt, rising aluminum and stabilizing titanium prices are factors that aerospace consumers are learning to live with, executives in the engine, airframe and parts supply industry say.
-
A recovery in air travel has the commercial aerospace sector gaining lift, and this upcycle will gain even more thrust when Chicago-based Boeing Co. ramps up to full production on its new 787 Dreamliner.
-
It ain’t over yet. That’s what aerospace metal producers have been saying as the past two years’ frenetic growth cools down a bit in the first half of 2007.
-
Despite a few uncertainties, the automotive market appears to have momentum going forward.
-
Producers of flat-rolled steel expect 2007 to be a decent year in terms of supply to the automotive market, but many are wary of lightweight substitutes and the impact they could have on steel sales.