Supply Chain

• UAW contract with GM creates jobs, shares profits Sep 20, 2011

  The transparency of management and the profits that General Motors Co. has experienced since it emerged from bankruptcy were key factors behind the United Auto Workers union’s ability to improve wages and other economic terms in its new four-year labor agreement with the automaker, union leaders said Tuesday.

• Outlook a bit hazy for metalformers Sep 20, 2011

  With no great trends up or down this month, the outlook by Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) members was relatively flat to down from August, but generally it was not altogether clear.

• Hussey said on sales block; deal imminent Sep 20, 2011

  Rumors are circulating that Hussey Copper Ltd. is up for sale and a deal is imminent, market participants have told AMM.

• Output set for JCI’s new China battery plant Sep 20, 2011

  Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) expects its planned start-stop vehicle battery plant in China to produce 2.4 million units annually, a spokeswoman told AMM.

• Canadian service center shipments increase in Aug. Sep 20, 2011

  Canadian service centers shipped 541,000 tons of steel and 12,700 tons of aluminum last month, up 15.5 percent from 468,600 tons and 18.7 percent from 10,700 tons, respectively, from July, according to the latest data from the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI).

• Automakers adapting to new rules, economic reality Sep 20, 2011

  Fuel-efficiency rules by governments around the world, including the United States, are compelling automakers to produce cars and light trucks that are lighter or smaller—or both.

• Spot iron ore weakens in downbeat market Sep 20, 2011

  Spot iron ore prices narrowed by $1 on Tuesday amid downbeat steel market sentiment.

• Pennsylvania Steel to acquire NC distributor Sep 19, 2011

  Pennsylvania Steel Co. Inc., which distributes steel and aluminum but is highly concentrated on special-bar-quality products, has agreed to acquire a Gastonia, N.C., service center, bringing its number of distribution facilities to seven and widening its geographic reach.

• Horsehead selects NC for new plant Sep 19, 2011

  Horsehead Holding Corp. has selected Rutherford County, N.C., as the site for its greenfield zinc smelter, the Monaca, Pa.-based zinc producer announced late Monday.

• Stainless steel market in wait-and-see mode Sep 19, 2011

  Stainless steel distributors continue to take a wait-and-see attitude toward the impact of the revised surcharge mechanism implemented by domestic mills in July and set to surface in the next few days.

• PEAMCoal extends Macarthur bid Sep 19, 2011

  Peabody Energy Co.’s and ArcelorMittal SA’s jointly owned PEAMCoal Pty Ltd. has extended the deadline on its bid for Australia’s Macarthur Coal Ltd. to Oct. 14.

• GM, UAW reach tentative 4-year labor deal Sep 19, 2011

  The United Auto Workers union has reached a tentative agreement with General Motors Co., Detroit, on a new four-year labor contract.

• Specialty firm MesoCoat to boost capacity Sep 19, 2011

  MesoCoat Inc., which uses new surface-engineering technologies to coat metal products, has finalized an agreement to move into a new 10,000-square-foot facility in Eastlake, Ohio, designed to accommodate two metal fusion cladding lines.

• Lakeside finishing plant ahead of schedule Sep 19, 2011

  Lakeside Steel Inc.’s heat-treatment and end-finishing plant in Thomasville, Ala., should be up and running by February, several months ahead of the originally planned completion date of June 2012.

• Court dismisses $123M in lawsuits involving Welspun Sep 19, 2011

  Welspun Corp. Ltd. and Kinder Morgan Inc. have settled separate lawsuits involving two big U.S. pipeline projects in which more than $123 million was at stake.

• Patriot Coal cuts production outlook Sep 19, 2011

  Patriot Coal Corp. is lowering its guidance on a production shortfall, but the impact on its metallurgical coal supply is expected to be minimal.

• Volkswagen to invest $85B in auto plants, mostly in Europe Sep 19, 2011

  Volkswagen AG plans to invest about €62.4 billion ($84.9 billion) over the next five years.

• Teck targets higher capacity, mine reopening Sep 16, 2011

  Teck Resources Ltd. is working to increase its metallurgical coal output to 30 million tonnes per year by 2013 by lifting capacity at currently operational mines and reopening one that has been idle for more than a decade.

• Heavy equipment makers look for ‘new normal’ Sep 16, 2011

  North American manufacturers of heavy equipment for construction, mining, farming and forestry will spend the rest of this year and next "searching for the new normal level of demand," Longbow Research LLC senior vice president Eli Lustgarten said.

• Automakers, union push talks past deadline Sep 16, 2011

  Chrysler Group LLC and the United Auto Workers, in separate statements issued Sept. 15, said they have agreed to continue bargaining past the Sept. 14 expiration of the national labor contract.

• NOV gets go-ahead from FTC for Ameron buy Sep 16, 2011

  National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) is one step closer to acquiring Ameron International Corp., according to a U.S. government document.

• Canada set to rebound faster than US: economist Sep 16, 2011

  The old adage that “when the United States sneezes, Canada catches a cold” still holds true. But factors ranging from the promise of the oil sands to an anticipated budget surplus point to a quicker recovery for Canada than its neighbor to the south.

• Molycorp, Sumitomo abandon rare earths deal Sep 16, 2011

  Rare earths producer Molycorp Inc. and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. have broken off discussions over Sumitomo’s previously announced investment in the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based miner.

• U.S. Steel’s Keetac expansion moves step forward Sep 16, 2011

  U.S. Steel Corp.’s proposed Keetac iron ore expansion project moved one step closer to reality this week when a Minnesota agency voted unanimously to approve an air-quality permit for the open-pit mine.