ArcelorMittal and Japan-based Nippon Steel Corporation announced April 15 the global steel giants will expand their I/N Kote joint venture in New Carlisle, Ind., doubling its galvanized steel production and creating 100 new jobs by 2010.
The companies will invest more than $240 million to build and equip a 240,000-square-foot facility at the existing I/N Kote center in the North Central Indiana town to house a new continuous galvanizing line that will have an annual capacity of 480,000 tons.
"It's yet another big win for the Indiana economy, one with special excitement because it involves one of our longstanding leading corporate citizens. As we're seeing happen time and time again, companies like ArcelorMittal are choosing Indiana over many other states to do business because of our competitive tax climate, high-quality workforce and unmatched infrastructure," said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
I/N Kote, which currently produces around 450,000 tons of galvanized and galvannealed steel annually at the site, will supply the new continuous galvanizing line with cold-rolled coils from ArcelorMittal's Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor operations as well as ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel's operation in New Carlisle.
The companies, which plan to break ground on the project later this year, currently employ more than 200 in New Carlisle and plan to begin hiring operations and maintenance associates in late 2008 ahead of the new facility's planned opening in 2010
"This is a great day for I/N Kote, our employees, the city of New Carlisle and the state of Indiana," said Chris Richards, general manager of I/N Kote and its sister facility, I/N Tek in New Carlisle. "This is an exciting opportunity for all of our stakeholders as it allows us to further meet customer demand while bringing new jobs to our community and we thank our partners at the state and local levels for their essential support."
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered I/N Kote up to $4.8 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $100,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. St. Joseph County will provide property tax abatement.
I/N Kote's expansion in New Carlisle is expected to preserve 400 jobs at ArcelorMittal operations in East Chicago and Burns Harbor and follows less than a year after Daniels met with Arcelor Mittal founder and chief executive Lakshmi N. Mittal in London as part of the governor's European trade mission.
Founded in 1991, I/N Kote is a 50/50 joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel. The facility currently produces 450,000 tons (500,000 short tons) of hot-dip galvanized and galvannealed sheet and 360,000 tons (400,000 short tons) of electrogalvanized sheet annually.
I/N Kote's announced expansion in New Carlisle comes less than a month after Daniels and executives from IBM and the Semiconductor Research Center joined officials at the University of Notre Dame to announce plans to site a new nanoelectronics research center at the university. The new center, the Midwest Academy for Nanoelectronics and Architectures, will link Notre Dame and Purdue University with the development resources of national laboratories and the trillion-dollar per year technology industry. Together the team of academia and business will work to develop and exploit a new class of semiconductor materials and devices – nanoelectronics – that stretches beyond today's state-of-art chip technologies.
About ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal is the world's No. 1 steel company, with 310,000 employees in more than 60 countries. The company brings together the world's No. 1 and No. 2 steel companies, Arcelor and Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the leader in all major global markets, including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with leading R&D and technology, as well as sizeable captive supplies of raw materials and outstanding distribution networks. An industrial presence in 28 European, Asian, African and American countries exposes the company to all the key steel markets, from emerging to mature, positions it will be looking to develop in the high-growth Chinese and Indian markets. ArcelorMittal key unaudited financials for 2007 show revenues of USD 105.2 billion, with a crude steel production of 116 million tonnes, representing around 10 per cent of world steel output.
About Nippon Steel
Nippon Steel Corporation, with its consolidated annual turnover of 4,800,000 million Japanese Yen (US$ 48,000 million) and consolidated annual crude steel production of 36 million metric tons, is the largest steelmaker of Japan, the second largest in the world. By virtue of its technical expertise of the world highest level, which keeps on advancing day by day, and deployment of strategic alliances, the company holds an unchallenged position in the global market of high-end steel products.
