3/7/2012 1:49:00 AM
NEWS BRIEFS
New Jobs at Nucor Fastener Part of Long-Term Growth
Nucor Fastener is planning $8.6 million in upgrades to create 20 new jobs at its St. Joe, IN, facility. The new jobs would pay $32 per hour plus benefits.
Upgrades include about $5.9 million in new machinery and $2.7 million in building upgrades, increasing the facility’s footprint by roughly 8%.
Part of the strategy is to improve its service to existing customers, Nucor Fastener’s J.J. McCoy told GlobalFastenerNews.com.
“The overriding reason for this is to take care of our customers, and make sure we’re shipping parts and products in a timely manner,” McCoy told GlobalFastenerNews.com
But growth is also influencing the move.
“We see opportunities in the market,” McCoy added.
The fastener manufacturer asked local officials for a ten-year tax abatement to help with the expansion. The county council is expected to vote on the request in April.
Nucor Fastener is also seeking financial assistance from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
If approved, the project could begin this spring, with construction completed by November and equipment upgrades installed by May 2013.
Nucor’s automated fastener facility employs 238 and has capacity in excess of 75,000 tons. The factory produces hex-head cap screws, hex bolts, structural bolts and custom engineered fasteners.
Nucor fasteners are used in automotive, machine tool, farm implement, construction and military applications.
The news comes as Nucor Fastener continues its effort to have tariffs placed on certain fasteners imported from China and Taiwan.
In its antidumping petition, filed in September 2009, Nucor Fastener alleged average dumping margins of 145% for Chinese imports, and 74% for imports from Taiwan.
The case is currently headed back to the U.S. Court of International Trade after suffering another setback at the hands of the U.S. International Trade Commission in December 2011. (See “Nucor Fastener To Press for Full ITC Investigation” in 1/3/2012 issue of FIN.)
A final ruling on the case is expected sometime this year.
Nucor entered the fastener business in 1986 when it opened its $25 million plant in St. Joe.
Nucor-Fastener.com describes the situation when Nucor decided to enter the fastener industry: “In the mid-1980’s, the American fastener industry was in chaos. All over the country, companies were fleeing the business in the face of international competition. While others were running, Nucor dug in, deciding to open-up its first ever fastener plant in 1985.”
“Rather than acquire an existing fastener plant and inheriting its inefficiencies, Nucor decided to build a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing operation in a place with a rich history of industrial strength, Northern Indiana,” the history section of Nucor-Fastener.com states. ©2012 GlobalFastenerNews.com
Nucor Fastener is planning $8.6 million in upgrades to create 20 new jobs at its St. Joe, IN, facility. The new jobs would pay $32 per hour plus benefits.
Upgrades include about $5.9 million in new machinery and $2.7 million in building upgrades, increasing the facility’s footprint by roughly 8%.
Part of the strategy is to improve its service to existing customers, Nucor Fastener’s J.J. McCoy told GlobalFastenerNews.com.
“The overriding reason for this is to take care of our customers, and make sure we’re shipping parts and products in a timely manner,” McCoy told GlobalFastenerNews.com.
But growth is also influencing the move.
“We see opportunities in the market,” McCoy added.
The fastener manufacturer asked local officials for a ten-year tax abatement to help with the expansion. The county council is expected to vote on the request in April.
Nucor Fastener is also seeking financial assistance from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
If approved, the project could begin this spring, with construction completed by November and equipment upgrades installed by May 2013.
Nucor’s automated fastener facility employs 238 and has capacity in excess of 75,000 tons. The factory produces hex-head cap screws, hex bolts, structural bolts and custom engineered fasteners.
Nucor fasteners are used in automotive, machine tool, farm implement, construction and military applications.
The news comes as Nucor Fastener continues its effort to have tariffs placed on certain fasteners imported from China and Taiwan.
In its antidumping petition, filed in September 2009, Nucor Fastener alleged average dumping margins of 145% for Chinese imports, and 74% for imports from Taiwan.
The case is currently headed back to the U.S. Court of International Trade after suffering another setback at the hands of the U.S. International Trade Commission in December 2011. (See “Nucor Fastener To Press for Full ITC Investigation” in 1/3/2012 issue of FIN.)
A final ruling on the case is expected sometime this year.
Nucor entered the fastener business in 1986 when it opened its $25 million plant in St. Joe.
Nucor-Fastener.com describes the situation when Nucor decided to enter the fastener industry: “In the mid-1980’s, the American fastener industry was in chaos. All over the country, companies were fleeing the business in the face of international competition. While others were running, Nucor dug in, deciding to open-up its first ever fastener plant in 1985.”
“Rather than acquire an existing fastener plant and inheriting its inefficiencies, Nucor decided to build a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing operation in a place with a rich history of industrial strength, Northern Indiana,” the history section of Nucor-Fastener.com states.
Dick Callahan, editor and publisher of Fastener Industry News from 1979 to 1994, in a 1999 summary of the first 20 years of FIN, termed Nucor opening a fastener plant “a major needed boost” to the U.S. fastener industry.
“Domestic production of fasteners, which had been steadily declining, got a major needed boost in 1986 when Nucor opened its first bolt-making plant in St. Joe, IN.”
In 1985 Nucor announced it would build the $25 million plant in St. Joe, to produce steel fasteners. Nucor forecast an annual production of 40,000 tons of fasteners (including standard hex head cap screws, hex bolts and socket head cap screws) beginning in 1987.
F. Kenneth Iverson, then chairman and CEO of Nucor Corp., said that the new facility will be able to compete with domestic and foreign producers of fasteners because the plant will be highly automated, using high speed bolt makers supplied by domestic equipment makers. (See Fastener History section of GlobalFastenerNews.com: 1985 FIN – Nucor to Build $25 Million Fastener Plant in Indiana).”
In The Legend of Nucor Corporation, a book primarily about Iverson and steel, author Jeffery Rodengen quoted then Nucor Fastener general manager Jerry DeMars in a description of Nucor management structure.
“In the traditional corporate culture, the general manager would be president,” DeMars told the author. “We do everything at the divisional level other than federal and state income taxes and cash management, I’m responsible for the marketing, sales, production, engineering, accounting, credit, and collection. It’s like having your own business. You’ve got to meet certain corporate goals of return on assets and profitability, but you keep driving to do better because your money is invested heavily in the stock, not to mention the profit-sharing plan. Everyone has an incentive to make the division grow.”
Nucor built another fastener plant in Conway, AR.
Rodengen wrote that Iverson saw an opportunity in fasteners because imports supplied 90% of the U.S. demand. “It’s really an effort to bring that business back home,” Iverson said.
John Correnti, who succeeded Iverson as CEO in 1995, had made friends with then-Governor Bill Clinton when the company was negotiating plant sites in Arkansas. Correnti continued to meet with Clinton, talking steel and politics at the White House. ‘I’m one of the Republican friends of Bill,’ Correnti said.” (see Fastener History section of GlobalFastenerNews.com: 1997 FIN – Nucor History Book Gives Glimpse of Future.” ©2012 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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