Swedish steelmaker SSAB says it plans to invest about $110 million in its steel plant in Mobile, Ala., to increase capacity to make quenched-and-tempered (Q&T) steels and other products. The company says it is planning a number of targeted improvements to its formatting, blasting and painting, and shipping operations to boost its Q&T capacity.
The upgrades would eliminate production bottlenecks and lift capacity by 33% to about 440,000 tons annually. Additionally, SSAB is planning a parallel project in which it will install a new, accelerated cooling system on the rolling mill. The investment has been designed to include the potential to build additional Q&T capacity through direct quenching similar to the technology currently used at SSAB’s production facilities in Finland and Sweden.
“With this planned investment, we not only increase our production, but also improve our quality and efficiency performance as well,” said SSAB Americas president Chuck Schmitt.
“Over the past 20 years, we have increased Q&T volumes by an average of 7% a year,” said SSAB president and chief executive Martin Lindqvist. “There is great market potential as Q&T penetration is still relatively low, for example in North and South America, where we now plan to increase capacity.”
