EAST CHICAGO — Mittal Steel USA is in the process of closing a few operations lines within one of the cold rolling mills at the Indiana Harbor plant, but company and union officials say no one will lose their jobs as a result.
Mittal Steel spokesman Dave Allen said the company is idling some of the facilities at the No. 3 cold rolling mill, but these aren’t permanent shutdowns. He said the company will shuffle production to other parts of the Indiana Harbor mill and to Hennepin, Ill.
The company is idling the No. 4 pickling line and the No. 56 tandem mill, both within the cold rolling mill.
“It’s just taking advantage of the flexibility that we have in the multiple locations,’’ Allen said.
Steel analysts say Mittal will continue to close less productive mills and operate the ones that are most efficient. The company just announced that it is closing a galvanizing line at Weirton, W.Va.
Meanwhile, Mittal Steel is trying to spend $22.5 billion to buy Arcelor SA, the second-largest steel company behind Mittal, in what Arcelor’s executives are calling a hostile takeover.
New York-based steel analyst Charles Bradford said Mittal is realizing the benefits of consolidation — including the ability to utilize the most efficient assets and close or idle those that are less efficient. Bradford predicts Mittal will continue to idle capacity that is less efficient.
“If you look at all of the U.S. operations he has, I bet you anything that the high cost equipment is going to go,’’ Bradford said. “One of the things they do very well is they do benchmarking. They measure one piece of equipment. If one’s doing a lot better, they transfer technology from one that’s not doing as well.”
Tom Hargrove, United Steelworkers Local 1010 president, concurred that union workers in the idled facilities will be moved to other jobs, but added the two sides haven’t worked out all of the details yet.
Hargrove said he’s not surprised that Mittal is idling less-efficient equipment and said other operations at Indiana Harbor are in full operation.
