Nucor to set up plate mill in U.S. Midwest for $1.35 billion

Yahoo/Reuters ^ | 1/7/2019 | Reuters

[machman]

.....will be fully operational in 2022, would produce 1.2 million tons a year of steel plate products and create about 400 full-time jobs.....

[wally_bert]

Especially since fire does or doesn’t melt steel according to the great metallurgist Rosie O’Donnell.

[b9]

Great story!

[Sequoyah101]

I did major project economics in my past. Managers would insist on zero risk for projects. I laughed at them. There isn’t any such thing, especially in our country and when politicians are involved. It is a blooming miracle anything at all gets done in this country since almost all of the significant conditions of tax and regulation are subject to change every 4 years. What is more, decisions made today will not see daylight until long after they and the conditions under which they were made can change. Technical risks get the focus, political risks are usually taken as a leap of faith because there isn’t much you can do about them but to leave the regime.

Congress did get the tax structure changed, but middle class got hammered again, it is only a temporary measure just like the Bush tax cuts which were quickly done away with. The regulatory change we have enjoyed is administrative change that can be wiped out with the stroke of a pin just like it was executed.

This mill will be subject to the capricious ways of the politicians from local to feral level for decades to come. You have to get your investment dollars back quickly before you get hammered.

We got all excited at the prospect of returning to a more normal world when Trump was elected. This last year some woke up to the fact that nothing good in the country lasts very long anymore. I’m happy Trump is here now but I’m afraid he is a unicorn and I know he is mostly alone. The electorate in this country has changed and is changing for the worse. We pulled another rabbit out of the hat in ‘16.

[sparklite2]

Stable government has its problems, too. Alan Abelson writing for Barron’s said that anyone who relied on government numbers when making a major investment decision was a fool.

[central_va]

Gee it’s not like the Navy needs steel plates or anything. Maybe we will not have to get the Chinese to build our warships after all.

[central_va]

400 jobs = 400 secondary jobs in the economy. 800 families off welfare.

Main Street and not Wall Street.

[polymuser]

Barrier steel!

Go TRUMP! MAGA!

[polymuser]

Maybe we’ll get good quality steel once again for various parts, mower blades, chain saw bars and blades, etc...here’s hoping.

[Sequoyah101]

Ok.

[PIF]

Yeah. I learned that lesson back in the early 90s when I was involved in an international negotiation. All the problems you mention were there then, plus one you missed: being stabbed in the back by erstwhile allies.

[Buckeye McFrog]

“In the Midwest” = “Time to start a tax-subsidy bidding war amongst state and local governments, a la Amazon.”

[Sequoyah101]

Honestly, I did not forget that just didn’t mention it. Been there and done that too. One particular South American country comes to mind and it isn’t Venezuela it starts with a B and it isn’t Bolivia either.

[USS Alaska]

1.3 Billion dollar factory with only 400 jobs? There must a lot of robotic automation involved here.

Back in the early 60s I worked in a steel mill that finished 'rolled or hammered' pre-cast ingots of steel into steel wire or other smaller steel parts.

The rolling mills used crews of 9-11 men for each shift, and they would "pull" a 1200 pound hot piece of steel from a furnace, insert it into a large roller, and then run it back through the roller which was a just a bit smaller, making the piece of steel a little longer and thinner.

This process continued until the length and diameter was reduced until it met the order.

Today, the same process requires ZERO men on the floor, and one computer operator, not to do anything except watch for an error in the process.

Automation has improved the dangerous process of handling hot steel, but it has reduced the need for manual workers to a great degree.

Life goes on.

[Blennos]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[minnesota_bound]

I watch youtube videos like this.

Nucor Steel Berkeley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mzqOFpMsww

I like looking at things getting made.

HYPNOTIC Steel Forging Factory / Pneumatic Forging Hammer - Extreme Machines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be4K-raFYao

Dangerous Biggest Crankshaft Forging Process in Metal Heavyweight Forging Factory Germany, US, China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qut7ObS7JY8

[Blennos]

Thank you. I will watch these with great interest.