Steel Dynamics Profile
Steel Dynamics, Inc. operates as a domestic steel producer and metal recycler in the United States.
The company’s primary sources of revenue are from the manufacture and sale of steel products, the processing and sale of recycled ferrous and nonferrous metals, and the fabrication and sale of steel joists and deck products.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling Operations, and Steel Fabrication Operations.
Steel Operations segment
Steel operations consist of the company’s electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills, producing steel from ferrous scrap and scrap substitutes, utilizing continuous casting, automated rolling mills and numerous steel coating and processing lines. The company’s steel operations sell directly to end-users, steel fabricators, and service centers. These products are used in numerous industry sectors, including the construction, automotive, manufacturing, transportation, heavy and agriculture equipment, and pipe and tube (including OCTG) markets.
The company’s steel operations consist primarily of steelmaking and numerous coating operations. In 2022, the company had approximately 9.4 million tons of flat roll steel annual shipping capacity. The company has an additional 2.0 million tons of flat roll steel shipping capacity through The Techs and its Heartland Flat Roll division, as well as distribution of metallic coated and pre-painted products through United Steel Supply (USS). The company has annual flat roll galvanizing capability of 4.7 million tons and painting capability of 1.5 million tons. The company also has approximately 4.6 million tons of long product steel capacity at its long products divisions.
Sheet Steel Products
The company’s sheet steel products, consisting of hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steel products are produced by its Butler, Columbus, and Sinton Flat Roll Divisions, and its numerous downstream coating lines, including The Techs, Heartland Flat Roll Division, and USS (Steel Processing divisions). The company produced 8.3 million tons of sheet steel at these facilities in 2022.
Customers. Steel processors and service centers typically act as intermediaries between primary sheet steel producers and the many end-user manufacturers that require further processing of hot roll coils. The additional processing performed by the intermediate steel processors and service centers include pickling, galvanizing, cutting to length, slitting to size, leveling, blanking, shape correcting, edge rolling, shearing and stamping. The company’s intermediate steel processor and service center customers will remain an integral part of its customer base. The Columbus and Sinton Flat Roll divisions allow the company to capitalize on the industrial markets in the Southern United States and Mexico, as well as further expand its customer base in painted, line pipe and other pipe products. Galvanized flat rolled products produced by the company’s Butler, Columbus, and Sinton Flat Roll divisions are similar and are sold to a similar customer base. The Techs and Heartland Flat Roll Division specialize in the galvanizing of specific types of flat roll steels in primarily non-automotive applications, servicing a variety of customers in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), construction, agriculture and consumer goods markets. USS adds a complementary distribution channel for metallic coated and pre-painted flat roll steel coils to the roll-former market, serving the roofing and siding industry. This connects the company to a rapidly growing industry sector with customers that do not historically purchase steel directly from a steel producer.
Long Products
The company’s long steel products consist of a wide array of differentiating products produced by its four mills and Vulcan Threaded Products, Inc. (Vulcan), a downstream finishing operation.
Structural and Rail Division produces a variety of parallel flange beams and channel sections, as well as flat bars and large unequal leg angles, and reinforcing bar, including custom cut-to-length, smooth bar, and coiled. The company also produces standard strength carbon, intermediate alloy hardness, and premium grade rails in 40 to 320 feet length for the railroad industry. The company’s state-of-the art heat treating system allows it to produce high quality premium rail, which has been certified by all Class I railroads. In addition, the company’s rail-welding facility has the ability to weld (Continuous Welded Rail) in lengths up to 1,600 feet, which offers substantial savings to the railroads both in terms of initial capital cost and through reduced maintenance. The company also utilizes Structural and Rail Division’s excess capacity to supply its Engineered Bar Products Division with pull-through volume of billets to utilize its excess rolling capacity.
Engineered Bar Products Division produces a broad range of engineered special-bar-quality (SBQ), merchant-bar-quality (MBQ) and other engineered round steel bars. The company also has a bar finishing facility, which provides various downstream finishing operations for SBQ steel bars, including turning, polishing, straightening, chamfering, precision saw-cutting, and heat-treating capabilities. Vulcan produces threaded rod product, and cold drawn and heat treated bar, creating strategic pull-through demand to its Engineered Bar Products Division’s special-bar-quality products.
Roanoke Bar Division produces merchant products, including channels, angles, flats, merchant rounds, and reinforcing steel bar. Excess steel billet production is sold to mills without sufficient melting capacities, including the company’s Steel of West Virginia facility. The company’s steel fabrication operations also purchase angles from Roanoke Bar Division.
Steel of West Virginia produces a wide array of specialty shapes and light structural steel and frequently performs fabrication and finishing operations on those products, such as cutting to length, additional straightening, hole punching, shot blasting, welding, galvanizing, and coating. Through this array of products and additional finishing, the company creates custom finished products that are generally placed directly into its customers’ assembly operations.
Customers
The principal customers for the company’s structural steel products are steel service centers, steel fabricators and various manufacturers. Service centers provide key distribution channels for the mills and value-add services to the end-user. A growing number of fabricators and end-users request to source some of their steel products directly from the mill. The steel rail marketplace in the United States, Canada and Mexico is specialized and defined, with eight Class I railroads and a large distribution network.
SBQ products are principally consumed by cold finishers, forgers, intermediate processors, OEM manufacturers, steel service centers, and distributors, as well as pull-through volume to Vulcan. The company’s MBQ products are sold primarily to steel service centers, as well as reinforcing bar distributors, joist producers (such as its New Millennium Building Systems), and OEMs. Some of the excess steel billet production at the Roanoke Bar Division is sold to mills without sufficient melting capacities, including its Steel of West Virginia facility. The company’s steel fabrication operations also purchase angles from Roanoke Bar Division. Steel of West Virginia’s customers are primarily OEMs producing solar panel structures, truck trailers, industrial lift trucks, merchant products, guardrail posts, manufactured housing, mining, and off-highway construction equipment. Steel of West Virginia’s flexible manufacturing capabilities enable it to meet demand for a variety of custom-ordered and designed products. Many of these products are produced in small quantities for low volume end-uses resulting in a wide variety of customers, the largest of which are in the truck trailer and industrial lift truck industries.
Metals Recycling Operations segment
Metals Recycling operations include both ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal processing, transportation, marketing, brokerage and scrap management services, strategically located primarily in close proximity to the company’s steel mills and other end-user scrap consumers, throughout the United States, and Central and Northern Mexico. During 2022, the company completed the acquisition of ROCA ACERO, S.A. de C.V. (ROCA), following the August 2020 acquisition of Zimmer, S.A. de C.V., both Mexican metals recycling companies, combined to do business as OmniSource Mexico, which is an important part of its raw material procurement strategy for Sinton.
The company sells various grades of processed ferrous scrap primarily to steel mills and foundries. Ferrous scrap metal is the primary raw material for EAFs, including the company’s steel mills. In addition, the company sells various grades of nonferrous metals including copper, brass, aluminum, and stainless steel, to smelters, refineries, alloy manufacturers, specialty mills and other consumers.
The company purchases processed and unprocessed ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals, in a variety of forms for its metals recycling facilities.
Ferrous scrap comes from two primary sources:
Manufacturing industrial facilities, metal fabrication plants, and machine shops, which generate ferrous scrap referred to as prompt or industrial scrap, and
Scrap dealers, retail individuals, auto wreckers, demolition firms and others who provide steel and iron scrap, referred to as obsolete scrap. Obsolete scrap includes scrap recycled from end-of-life items, such as automobiles, appliances, and machinery.
Nonferrous scrap comes from three primary sources:
Manufacturers and other nonferrous scrap sources, which generate or sell scrap aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and other nonferrous metals,
Producers of items such as electric wire, telecommunication service providers, aerospace, defense and recycling companies that generate nonferrous scrap consisting primarily of copper wire, aluminum beverage cans, and various other metals and alloys, and
Retail transactions conducted with the general public who sell material directly to the company’s facilities, collected from a variety of sources.
Products
The company’s metals recycling operations primarily involve the purchase, processing, and resale of ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals into reusable forms and grades. The company processes an array of ferrous products through a variety of methods, including sorting, shredding, shearing, cutting, and breaking. The company’s major ferrous products include heavy melting steel, busheling, bundled scrap, shredded scrap and other scrap metal products, such as steel turnings and cast iron. These products vary in properties or attributes related to cleanness, size of individual pieces, and residual alloys. The necessary characteristics of the ferrous products are determined by the specific needs and requirements of the consumer and affect the individual product’s relative value. The company processes numerous grades of nonferrous products, including aluminum, brass, copper, stainless steel, and other nonferrous metals. Additionally, the company provides transportation logistics (truck, rail, and river barge), marketing, brokerage, and scrap management services. The company designs, installs, and manages customized scrap management programs for industrial manufacturing companies.
Customers
The company sells various grades of processed ferrous scrap to end-users, such as EAF steel mills, integrated steelmakers, foundries, secondary smelters, and metal brokers, who aggregate materials for other large users. Ferrous scrap metal is the primary raw material for EAFs, such as the company’s steel mills. The company sells various grades of processed nonferrous scrap to end-users, such as aluminum sheet and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries, mills, smelters, specialty steelmakers, alloy manufacturers, wire and cable producers, utilities, and telephone networks.
Steel Fabrication Operations segment
Steel fabrication operations include seven New Millennium Building Systems plants that primarily serve the non-residential construction industry throughout the United States. The company has a national operating footprint that allows it to serve the entire domestic non-residential construction market, as well as national accounts, such as large retail chains and e-commerce distribution channels. The company sold 856,000 tons of joist and deck products during 2022.
Products
The company’s steel fabrication operations produce steel non-residential building components, including steel joists, trusses, girders, and steel deck. Our joist products include bowstring, arched, scissor, double-pitched and single-pitched joists. The company’s deck products include a full range of steel decking: roof, form, cellular, composite floor, specialty architectural, floor systems, and bridge deck.
Customers and Markets
The company’s primary steel fabrication operations customers are non-residential steel fabricators, metal building companies, general construction contractors, developers, owners, brokers, governmental entities, and e-commerce data centers and warehouses. The company’s customers are located throughout the United States, including national accounts. The company’s steel fabrication operations maintain approximately one-third of the total domestic steel joist and deck market for bookings, of approximately 2.1 million tons during 2022.
Environmental Matters
Many of the company’s facilities generate wastes subject to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
The Clean Water Act and similar state and local laws apply to aspects of the company’s operations and impose regulatory restrictions related to the discharge of wastewater, storm water and dredged or fill material.
The Clean Air Act and analogous state and local laws require many of the company’s facilities to obtain and maintain air permits in order to operate.
By way of example and not of limitation, certain portions of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, Oil Pollution Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, as well as state and local laws and regulations implemented by the regulatory agencies, apply to aspects of the company’s facilities’ operations.
History
Steel Dynamics, Inc. was founded in 1993. The company was incorporated in Indiana in 1994.
