Supply Chain

• JIT Steel suit vs. customer seeks $122,089 May 22, 2013

  JIT Steel Service Inc. has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Spig Industry LLC, a manufacturer of guardrails and other finished steel products, alleging that Spig failed to pay more than $122,000 in outstanding invoices.

• Metalformers’ outlook holds steady May 22, 2013

  The outlook among companies that stamp, form and fabricate metals products held fairly steady in May compared with April, even though some have experienced uneven order rates and shipments this year.

• Construction index slips in April May 22, 2013

  An increase in nonresidential construction starts wasn’t enough to offset a decline in public works in April, resulting in a 1-point slip in the benchmark Dodge Index.

• Steel for bridge made to spec: Gerdau May 22, 2013

  Gerdau Long Steel North America says that the steel it produced to create anchor rods for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that have since failed met the specifications "it was ordered to."

• Manufacturing jobs return from abroad May 22, 2013

  U.S. manufacturers have on aggregate stopped offshoring U.S. jobs as domestic production gets comparatively cheaper than producing goods abroad, according to Harry Moser, president and founder of the Reshoring Initiative.

• Steel supply exec jailed for US Export-Import Bank fraud May 22, 2013

  The owner of a Denver steel supply company has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank of some $11.2 million.

• Metalico to purchase two Segel & Son yards May 22, 2013

  Metalico Inc. is buying two privately held scrapyards in Pennsylvania and New York.

• Novelis, ThyssenKrupp join to develop aluminum car parts May 22, 2013

  Aluminum rolled products producer Novelis Inc. and a subsidiary of steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG have signed a cooperation agreement to produce aluminum parts for the automotive industry.

• Laverty retires from Sandmeyer Steel May 22, 2013

  Sandmeyer Steel Co. sales manager William Laverty Jr. has retired from the stainless steel and nickel alloy plate processor.

• Roadrunner Steel to expand processing capacity in Ariz. May 22, 2013

  Flat-rolled processor Roadrunner Steel LLC has slated a $7-million expansion that will augment its slitting capacity with new leveling equipment.

• Correction: Pipelines will flow despite delays May 22, 2013

  Due to a reporting error, a story posted to AMM's website May 20 incorrectly stated the cost of shipping crude oil by rail and pipeline.

• Worthington promotes two execs May 22, 2013

  Worthington Industries Inc. has promoted two executives who will lead its engineered cabs and Worthington Armstrong Venture (Wave) business segments starting July 1.

• Metal firms ready to help tornado victims May 21, 2013

  Oklahoma-based metal distributors, fabricators, processors and downstream users reached by AMM largely said their facilities escaped damage and employees were safe and accounted for following a devastating tornado that killed at least two dozen people May 20.

• GM to build logistics center at Mich. plant May 21, 2013

  General Motors Co. plans to build a $44.5-million logistics optimization center at its Grand River assembly plant in Lansing, Mich.

• LNG exports a ‘clear choice’: ANGA May 21, 2013

  The United States’ vast supply of natural gas makes exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) a "clear choice," according to America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA).

• McNichols opens Denver plant May 21, 2013

  McNichols Co., a distributor of perforated and expanded metals, has opened its 18th service center.

• Commerce rules ball bearings not dumped May 21, 2013

  Having received no comments in an anti-dumping duty administrative review of imports of ball bearings from Germany from May 1 to Sept. 14, 2011, the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a final ruling that the product was not sold at less than fair value.

• Obama pushes infrastructure plans May 20, 2013

  President Obama has signed an executive order aimed at speeding up major infrastructure projects by modernizing permitting practices and regulations, a move some say could benefit suppliers of steel and other structural components by getting backlogged construction projects off the ground sooner.

• Pipelines will flow despite delays: exec May 20, 2013

  While there are plenty of crude oil pipeline projects on the books, the permitting environment is a difficult one, keeping many of those projects from moving forward, according to a refinery operations executive.

• Aluminum fence standard OK’d May 20, 2013

  ASTM International has approved a new specification for ornamental aluminum fence systems.

• Hannah elected MSCI chairman May 20, 2013

  David H. Hannah, chairman and chief executive officer of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of the board at the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), effective July 1.

• EV charging infrastructure to grow vastly by 2020: study May 20, 2013

  About 2.2 million charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles will be built and shipped worldwide each year by 2020, a huge increase from an estimated 70,000 such stations shipped globally in 2011, according to a new research paper.

• Navistar sells RV assets to Allied Specialty Vehicles May 20, 2013

  Heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer Navistar Inc. has sold its Navistar RV subsidiary to Allied Specialty Vehicles Inc. (ASV), which makes emergency, commercial and recreational vehicles.

• Nissan inks deal to produce small cargo vehicle for GM May 20, 2013

  Nissan North America Inc. has signed an agreement to produce a small cargo vehicle for General Motors Co., which will sell the vehicle in the United States and Canada.