RESOURCES
SDI culture in general is what makes us unique. Our culture is our people and that's really our strong suit as a company. We hire people that are go getters, are people that get things done. They see what needs to be done. They do it. You know, when I think about it, we have 454 people here. Every one of those individuals represents a family and they're counting on this place. We don't take risks. Our people continue to go home the way they come in. They continue to be able to support their family. You know, their loved ones expect them to come home every day. This is steel making at the Roanoke Bar Division. We buy and purchase shredded cars, heavy beam melt, some turn ins. As they come in, our scrap yard transportation group will segregate that into separate piles. There is a scrap recipe. We make several different grades of steel here, so that dictates what scrap goes in the melting buckets. The crane operator will drop it inside of scrap buckets. Buckets are then picked up and discharged into the furnace. At that point, the electric arcs go down and melt that scrap into liquid steel. The LMF is actually where they refine the chemistry in the liquid steel. The caster is a process that turns the liquid steel into a form of a solidified billet. They're cut to a length. It is then stacked and racked on the billet yard, stored for a reheat process for the rolling mill. When we are ready to roll that product size, those billets are then transported to a storage table. That storage table charges them into our reheat furnace. Once the billet reaches the 2,150 degrees of rolling temperature, that billet will be discharged with a peel bar onto the roll line. It will go through a series of rolls. We have 17 mill stands here dictating on the size and shape that we want to roll. It will basically squeeze and stretch into the molded form that we want to produce. So as the rolling process happens, there is an actual inspector that cut a piece off as we're rolling. He will verify the tolerances on the bar to make sure we were well within those tolerances. He will collect a sample at that moment. He will take those samples to the lab for tensile testing, grade checks, everything that's associated with that piece of steel that's being rolled. So at this facility here, we roll structural angles and bar angles from four by four all the way down to, we have the capability to go down to one by one angle, flats from one by six to quarter by one. We roll shapes into rounds, rebar channels, three and four inch channels. Once the product is rolled to the finished shape, that product will be discharged onto a cooling bed and cut to a specific length. Then it will go through a straightening and shear process. The stacker will go through and it will retrieve it up onto the stacking bed. From there, it will go to a tagging station where a tag is asphyxiated to it, allowing the heat number, the grade, the size, and all the information that's required with that bundle, then it's transported into our transportation area to where it is stacked and ready for shipment. There's a history of steelmaking that's here. That idea of keeping this place here for the long haul is a reality. We are serious about making steel. We love it. It's in our blood. This is what we do. We have a long list of projects that we're looking at to reduce our carbon footprint for environmental sustainability. Every steel company can have the same equipment that we have. That's not how we win the game. We win the game because we got the right people in the right places doing the right things. That's our culture. That's hard to beat.
Steel Dynamics is one of the largest domestic steel producers and the largest metals recycler in North America. Within our Long Products Group, we operate our structural and rail division in Columbia City, Indiana. By listening to the needs of our customers and team members, we drive innovation to improve safety, quality, productivity, and resource sustainability, leveraging innovative technologies and processes to perform at the highest level and consistently achieve excellence in all that we do. This has led to the development of our 320 foot rail consist that allows us to move our long 320 foot rails directly into the field for installation, effectively reducing the number of field welds required for installation by 60% compared to 80 foot stick rails. This industry first solution designed and manufactured by BNSF Logistics serves the North American rail market, including class one railroads, short lines, and transit agencies. The five car consist can handle sixty three twenty foot pieces of rail. This patent pending solution allows the three twenty foot rails to be loaded in groups of five via overhead magnetic cranes, significantly reducing load time compared to typical end loading of individual rails. Prior to the new five car consist, three twenty foot rails had to be cut back to 80 feet or welded into 1,600 foot strings for shipment. The new consist allows rail to be shipped without extra handling or processing, streamlining the manufacturing process and ensuring timely delivery to customers. The 320 foot consist can move at revenue service speeds, allowing for delivery times that are faster than traditional continuously welded rail unit trains. It's ideal for customers who want the benefit of a reduced number of welds, but don't want the increased expense and time of transporting continuously welded rail. Because our 320 foot lengths allow for fewer welds, they reduce maintenance and potential failure points, making them ideal for curve patch, extended gray crossings, and other high stress areas. Upon request, SDI and its partner, L. B. Foster, can provide an unloading unit and an unloading supervisor with every 320 foot consist order. This 320 foot consist is also Herzog Rum compatible. With an entrepreneurial spirit, we continue to drive the industry forward with new products like our 320 foot long rail consist. Contact SDI's Structural and Rail Division today and discover how 320 foot rail can transform your system.