Canton, Ohio-based Timken Company announced Monday that it will increase its annual steelmaking capacity by 120,000 net tons across its steel manufacturing facilities in Canton, through a series of improvements at its Harrison Steel Plant that build upon and further leverage the $60 million rolling-mill investment completed in 2008.
Additional investments and crew additions being made over the next few months will enable a further increase in output and will allow the company to optimize production loads between its Harrison and Faircrest plants. The changes will effectively create new capacity at both of these steel facilities to support growing demand for finished bar products and billets for tubing product which serve customers in the global industrial, oil and gas, and mobile markets.
Sal Miraglia, President of Timken's steel business, said the plant will reach the full volume planned within six to 12 months, depending on testing, product mix, specifications and other customer requirements. Miraglia also noted that this latest round of improvements to increase capacity follows a series of more than $200 million in advanced technology investments the company has made at its Canton, Ohio-based steel operations since 2006. In February, Timken announced it would invest $35 million to install a high-volume, in-line forge press at its Faircrest rolling mill, and in 2010, the company announced $50 million in capital improvements to its Harrison and Gambrinus steel plants. Previous investments include two new heat-treat lines and a scrap logistics system added between 2006 and 2007; the acquisition and expansion of Boring Specialties and the addition of a long-length tube line in 2008; as well as a small bar mill commissioned at the Harrison facility later that year in collaboration with Daido Steel.