Ohio Governor Bob Taft to Speak at Charter Steel Groundbreaking for $90 Million Melting Facility

Officials from Charter Steel today announced that the company will be starting construction on a new steel melting facility on the site of its bar and rod rolling mill located in Cuyahoga Heights near Cleveland, Ohio. The $90 million expansion project includes an electric arc furnace, a ladle metallurgical furnace, a vacuum degassing unit, and a billet casting facility that is expected to be completed by April 2006, and will employ 140 people when fully staffed.

Cuyahoga Heights, OH (PRWEB) November 11, 2004 -- Officials from Charter Steel today announced that the company will be starting construction on a new steel melting facility on the site of its bar and rod rolling mill located in Cuyahoga Heights near Cleveland, Ohio. The $90 million expansion project includes an electric arc furnace, a ladle metallurgical furnace, a vacuum degassing unit, and a billet casting facility that is expected to be completed by April 2006, and will employ 140 people when fully staffed.

To kickoff the expansion project, Charter Steel will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, November 12 from 10:30 a.m. -- 1:00 p.m. at the Cuyahoga Heights facility located at 4300 E. 49th St. Ohio Governor Bob Taft and Cuyahoga Heights Mayor Louis J. Bacci will speak at the ceremony about the expansion as well as John Mellowes, Chairman and CEO of the Charter Manufacturing Company.

"We're excited about the opportunity to expand in Cuyahoga Heights, to add new high-paying jobs to the Cleveland market and to maintain our position as a leading American supplier of carbon and alloy steel bar, rod and wire products," said Mellowes. "The new melting and casting facility has been designed to go beyond Charter Steel's current steel-making capability, which allows us to provide cleaner steels with superior surface characteristics and minimal internal segregation. This enables Charter Steel to support a growing need for special bar quality steels that our customers require for their most demanding applications."

The new melting facility initially will provide 350,000 annual tons of special bar quality steel melting and direct billet casting capacity to support the existing Charter Steel rolling mill at the 250-acre site in Cuyahoga Heights. The current facility produces steel for makers of cold-headed fasteners, bearings, specialty springs, cold forgings, cold finished bars and other components for a wide variety of industries. Mellowes says the new melting facility would be increased to produce up to 700,000 annual tons, when needed.

Mellowes said the new on-site melting facility in Cuyahoga Heights also provides the most economical solution for supplying the Charter Cuyahoga Heights rolling plant with the melted steel supply it needs. "We had a strong need for added capacity to support our Cleveland operations, and when considering transportation and the closeness to our markets, adding a melting facility to the site there is the most cost-efficient solution," said Mellowes.

He added that the company would continue to purchase significant quantities of steel billets from outside sources in order to support specific customer needs. Contracts for engineering, procurement and construction management have been awarded to the Pittsburgh office of Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc. Equipment manufacturer, Danieli, will provide the electric furnace, ladle metallurgical furnace, vacuum degassing unit and billet caster.

This Cuyahoga Heights expansion comes on the heels of several other major Charter Steel expansions in the past several years, as the company continues to look for new ways to better serve existing and potential customers. In November 2000, Charter expanded its full-service coil processing, wire drawing, and materials distribution capabilities with a new facility near Toledo, Ohio.

In 2002, Charter Steel purchased the Cuyahoga Heights rolling plant from the American Steel and Wire division of Birmingham Steel to significantly increase its coil-making capacity and provide its customers with a wider range of products.

Charter Steel is a full service supplier of fully processed coiled steel bar, rod, and wire in diameters from .140 to
1.56 inches with manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin and Ohio. It was established in 1978 and is a division of Charter Manufacturing Company, Inc., a privately held company headquartered in Mequon, Wis.
Other divisions of Charter Manufacturing Company include Charter Specialty Steel, located in Fond du Lac, Wis. and Charter Wire and Milwaukee Wire Products, both located in Milwaukee.

Editors Note: Please contact John Marzich at 216-831-8580 or jmarzich@benghiat.com with questions about the Groundbreaking or to arrange an interview with company officials, the Governor or the Mayor prior to the event. All parties will also be available for interview immediately following the Groundbreaking ceremony.

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