Nucor 2013 Annual Report Download - page 12

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SHEET MILLS
Nucor’s four strategically located sheet mills utilize thin slab casters to produce flat-rolled steel for the automotive, appliance,
construction, pipe and tube and many other industries. All four of our sheet mills are equipped with cold rolling mills and
galvanizing lines for the further processing of hot-rolled sheet.
Through strategic investments and ongoing process improvement efforts, we continue to greatly expand our sheet product
capabilities and offerings. In December 2013, the Berkeley County, South Carolina sheet mill successfully installed caster and
hot mill upgrades that provide the Berkeley mill with the capability to roll light gauge products with a finished width of 72 inches.
During the following month, the Berkeley mill successfully produced the 72-inch wide product. During 2012, Nucor installed and
commissioned a vacuum tank degasser at Hickman, Arkansas. The degasser allows the Arkansas mill to participate in higher
value-added oil country tubular goods product markets. Three of our four sheet mills now operate degassers.
Nucor also operates Castrip® sheet production facilities in Crawfordsville, Indiana and Blytheville, Arkansas. These facilities
use the breakthrough technology of strip casting, which involves the direct casting of molten steel into final shape and thickness
without further hot or cold rolling. Significant progress continues to be made in all aspects of this technology.
Nucor’s sheet mills have a flat-rolled product annual capacity of approximately 11,300,000 tons.
STRUCTURAL MILLS
Nucor operates two structural mills that produce wide-flange steel beams, pilings and heavy structural steel products for
fabricators, construction companies, manufacturers and steel service centers. Nucor owns a 51% interest in the Nucor-Yamato
Steel Company (Nucor-Yamato) located in Blytheville, Arkansas. Nucor also owns a steel beam mill in Berkeley County, South
Carolina. Both mills use a special continuous casting method that produces a beam blank closer in shape to that of the finished
beam than traditional methods.
In June 2012, Nucor acquired the entire equity interest in Skyline Steel, LLC (Skyline) and its subsidiaries for a cash purchase
price of approximately $675.4 million. With headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, Skyline is primarily a steel foundation
distributor serving the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Skyline distributes products to service the marine
construction, bridge and highway construction, heavy civil construction, storm protection, underground commercial parking
and environmental containment projects in the infrastructure and construction industries. Skyline also processes and fabricates
spiralweld pipe piling, rolled and welded pipe piling, cold-formed sheet piling and threaded bar.
During 2012, Nucor-Yamato announced a $115 million strategic investment to expand the plant’s hot-rolled sheet piling production
capabilities. Expected to be completed in mid-2014, this project will add several new sheet piling sections, increasing the single
sheet widths by 22% and providing a lighter stronger sheet covering more area at a lower installed cost. This project further builds
on the synergies to be realized from our recent acquisition of Skyline.
The current annual production capacity of our two structural steel mills is approximately 3,700,000 tons.
PLATE MILLS
Nucor operates two plate mills, one in North Carolina and one in Alabama. Our mills produce plate for manufacturers of barges,
bridges, heavy equipment, rail cars, refinery tanks, ships, wind towers and other items. Our products are further used in the pipe
and tube, pressure vessel, transportation and construction industries. The current annual production capacity of our two plate
mills is approximately 2,900,000 tons.
Nucor continues to execute on a strategy of greatly expanding our plate product capabilities and offerings. In early 2011, Nucor
started operations at a newly constructed 125,000-ton heat treating facility at the plate mill in North Carolina. During 2012,
the North Carolina plate mill commissioned a vacuum tank degasser. The North Carolina plate mill started operations on a new
120,000-ton normalizing line in 2013. Collectively, these investments will allow us to increase our participation in markets such as
pressure vessels, tank cars, tubular structures for offshore oil rigs and naval and commercial shipbuilding.
STEEL MILL PRODUCTION OPERATIONS
Nucor’s steel mills are among the most modern and efficient mills in the world. Recycled steel scrap and other metallics are
melted in electric arc furnaces and poured into continuous casting systems. Highly sophisticated rolling mills convert the billets,
blooms and slabs into rebar, angles, rounds, channels, flats, sheet, beams, plate and other products.
Steel production increased slightly from 19,865,000 tons in 2012 to 19,900,000 tons in 2013. The annual production capacity
has grown from 120,000 tons in 1970 to a present total of more than 27,000,000 tons.