What comprises 'excellence' in steel? American Metal Market answers that question on the following four pages, where we present the finalists of our first Excellence in Steel awards program. A total of 16 nominated organizations were named finalists in nine different categories by a panel of independent industry experts:

Best Innovation

STEEL DYNAMICS

On Feb. 23, 2010, Steel Dynamics Inc.'s Mesabi Nugget project shipped its first batch of "small elliptically shaped nuggets of roughly 97 percent pure iron" to SDI's flat-roll mill in Butler, Ind., where it is used in place of imported pig iron. Besides helping insulate SDI from volatile global pig iron prices, use of the higher-purity material is expected to cut energy consumption, shave tap-to-tap cycle times and reduce furnace wear and tear. The newly started nugget plant at Hoyt Lakes, Minn., the first in the world to employ the ITmk3 process patented by Japan's Kobe Steel, is designed to produce 500,000 tonnes of nuggets annually. Ultimately, internally produced Mesabi nuggets will be used as feedstock for SDI's production of SBQ steel and rail.

NUCOR

The Castrip twin-roll steel casting technology developed by Nucor Corp. under the leadership of Daniel R. DiMicco produces steel sheet in very thin gauges from less than 1 millimeter up to 2 mm using fewer process steps, less energy and at a lower cost than conventional casting and rolling technology. Although Castrip is based broadly on the idea of casting molten steel between twin water-cooled copper rolls, a concept patented in 1857 by Sir Henry Bessemer, it took more than 150 years and the full resources of Nucor to prove the technical feasibility of such an approach. In addition to using 90 percent less energy to process liquid steel into hot-rolled sheet, Castrip also allows the use of lower grades of steel scrap in the furnace upstream of the caster.

ARCELORMITTAL

Demonstrating expertise in materials and applications technology, ArcelorMittal R&D personnel helped Ford Motor Co. engineer the 2009 F-150 with an all-new hydroformed steel body structure, including an industry-first ultra-strength tubular steel, earning top safety ratings. The work enabled Ford to design a vehicle that met or exceeded federal and insurance industry safety standards and increase its lead in market share in the segment. Besides meeting the needs of the project, ArcelorMittal won Ford's approval for use of its advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) for future vehicle programs.

Best Operational Improvement

LATROBE SPECIALTY STEEL

As part of a $50-million-plus drive to expand its capacity for alloy melting, Latrobe Specialty Steel Co. (LSS) built and commissioned the largest operating vacuum induction melting furnace in the world (30-plus tons) to supplement an existing 30-ton unit as well as three state-of-the-art vacuum-arc remelting furnaces, and an ingot/electrode preparation facility. LSS collaborated with Consarc, an Inductotherm Group company, on the design and construction of the furnace, which processes heats continuously rather than on the batch-type basis historically employed. Thanks to the project, lead times for certain LSS iron-based alloys were reduced to about 20 weeks or less from 72 weeks.

AK STEEL

From beginning construction of a new $360-million heat recovery coke and electric co-generation plant...