SteelNews.com is a publication created by the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) for the steel community. We are the leading source for technological and innovative news on the people, producers and suppliers in the North American and international steel communities.

June 9, 2006 — AK Steel is planning to restart an idled cold rolling mill at the company's Zanesville Works and recall 14 hourly production and maintenance employees who have been on layoff since the unit was idled in June of 2005.

The recalled employees are members of the United Autoworkers of America (UAW), Local 4104. Local 4104 members overwhelmingly ratified a competitive new six-year labor contract in May.

AK Steel says that the restart of its Sendzimir-type cold rolling mill (Z-mill) is the result of continued strong demand for the company's electrical sheet steels. The restarted Z-mill will primarily support AK Steel's cold-rolled, non-oriented electrical steel production. AK Steel had recently announced that it would significantly expand its production capacity for electrical steels, including production at the Zanesville Works.

The restart of the Z-mill follows the restart of an annealing and pickling line in April 2006 that had also been idled in March of 2005. The Zanesville annealing and pickling line primarily supports production of 400-series stainless steels, used extensively for automotive exhaust applications.

Idling of the two units had resulted in the indefinite layoff of about 50 hourly Zanesville production and maintenance employees when the company consolidated production at lower-cost plants. The restart of the cold rolling mill will allow the recall of all remaining laid off employees.

"AK Steel salutes the UAW and employees of Zanesville Works for responding to the needs of an extremely competitive marketplace by ratifying a new-era labor agreement that allows for this and other investments in our business," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel. "Such investments will help ensure that AK Steel is cost competitive throughout the world."

Headquartered in Middletown, Ohio, AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, as well as carbon and stainless tubular steel products, for automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets. AK Steel is one of the largest producers in the world of silicon-alloy electrical steels and is the leading domestic producer of the high value-added grain-oriented grades.

 Printer-Friendly Version