Where does all this scrap go to?

**Mechanic688** · 01-17-2013, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Bear

Where does it go to, after the foundry? ; )

Thanks here to Wiki; I personally see them making/shipping I beams and rails.

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) is a steel producer based in Fort Wayne, Indiana and the fifth largest producer of carbon steel products in United States. Over sixty percent of the company’s steel shipments are flat-rolled sheet steel and the remainder is "long products" (bars and beams) and fabricated products. SDI is among the most profitable American steel companies in terms of profit margins and operating profit per ton.

SDI was founded in 1993 and began production at its Butler, Indiana, Flat Roll Mill in 1996. The Flat Roll Division’s finishing facilities at Butler and at Jeffersonville, Indiana, produce pickled, cold-rolled, galvanized, and painted flat-roll steel.

In 2007 SDI acquired The Techs, three galvanizing plants in Pittsburgh that coat flat-rolled steel.

the company will install what officials described as a “state-of-the-art” heat-treating system in Columbia City.

The system will allow Steel Dynamics to produce up to 350,000 tons of standard strength and head-hardened plain, carbon steel rails for the railroad industry.Steel Dynamics’ new process will allow it to manufacture 320-foot-long rails, as compared to the 80-foot rails made by the company’s domestic competitors.

Longer rails require fewer welds per mile, which reduces costs and the chances of weld-related problems.“Our rail customers have encouraged us to expand our product offerings to not only include head-hardened rail, but in these longer rail strings, thereby enabling our customers to reduce their cost of rail maintenance and replacement,” The steelmaker employs more than 6,500 in facilities including five steel mills, six steel-processing plants and more than 70 metals-recycling locations.

**Bear** · 01-17-2013, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Thanks here to Wiki; I personally see them making/shipping I beams and rails.

Not trying to knock you at all, Mech, but it still doesn't show where they go. Who is using flat plate steel? Shipbuilders, Where are Shipbuilders? Mostly in China, India, Germany, etc
Who is building new rails ? Look around, the rails nearest me were built in 1877, you can look down them and wonder how it holds a train on the track, and no longer need to wonder why the trains go so slow. Not only will 320 ft rails allow less welds, but much faster construction, as far as the rails themselves, 4 times faster which is just what China and other foregn countries want, more rails, faster
That's what gave us an edge before, during, and after WW2, was our transportation system(rails) and our manufacturing capabilities. Where is the majority of it gone, all overseas. We've become like a train wreck that's already happened, just waiting for the crash, and we don't have much left to hold us together. It's rather sad to take a good look around at what's going on here and abroad
Somebody mentioned earlier about "when the jobs come back". It reminded me of that Bruce Springsteen tune, "My Home Town" I think was the name of it, said "those jobs are leavin boys, and they ain't coming back"
It's not really political, but goes to the core of America, nobody seems to care anymore, they just wanna ride the train

**KrazyK** · 01-19-2013, 11:14 AM

I work for a very small steel fabrication company (less than 20 people total) we get steel from at least 4 different suppliers (about 3 trucks a week) 2 for flat steel one for bar/round/tube material and one for special stuff (perferated, expanded) we make parts for an exhaust company, 2 lawn mower manufacturers, stock car builder (dirt track) and a store fixture builder (and others) and there are a lot of bigger operations within 100 miles.

Plenty of steel gets used in the USA more would get used if people would "look at the tag" and get MADE IN THE USA. Personally, I don't like to buy the same thing 12 times when I can spend an extra couple bucks the first time and buy it once.