Allegheny Technologies Inc. has announced a project to reduce operating costs and increase productivity at the Allegheny Ludlum melt shop located in Brackenridge, PA, USA. The company plans to instal two new high-powered electric arc furnaces and related equipment at a cost of approximately USD 35 million. Cost savings are estimated to be over USD 20 million annually upon completion of the project. The new furnaces are planned to result in improved productivity and efficiencies throughout the entire melt shop. Project highlights include the installation of two new 110-ton electric arc furnaces with the first furnace expected to be operational in December 2003 and the second furnace expected to be operational in December 2004.
The Brackenridge melt shop produces a broad range of series 200, 300 and 400 grades of stainless steels, super stainless steels, nickel-based alloys and tool steels. Scrap metal is melted in electric arc furnaces, refined in a 125-ton AOD (argon oxygen decarburisation) vessel, and most grades are then cast in a continuous slab caster. Slabs from the melt shop are eventually made into sheet, plate, strip, or Precision Rolled Strip® product forms at one of the Company’s finishing plants located in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Shanghai, China.
