A Swedish steelmaker is responding to the increase in demand for quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels in the U.S. by investing the equivalent of approximately $110 million in its Mobile, Alabama, steel mill.
SSAB’s investment is targeted to increase annual production capacity of Q&T in Mobile from 330,000 tons (U.S.) to 440,000 tons (U.S.) and to reduce costs.
“SSAB is a global leader in Q&T steels and we have largely driven market growth through application development together with customers,” said Martin Lindqvist, SSAB’s President and CEO. “Over the past 20 years, we have increased Q&T volumes by an average of 7 percent a year. There is great market potential as Q&T penetration is still relatively low in, for example, North and South America, where we now plan to increase capacity.”
The investment of around SEK 1 billion is scheduled to take place 2019-2021 and is targeted at three areas: formatting, blasting & painting, as well as shipping capacity.
In parallel, a new, accelerated cooling system will also be installed and this will improve the potential to grow volumes of more advanced premium products while reducing the need for alloys. 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.
