Allegheny Technologies Inc. has completed an expansion project at its Washington, Pa., titanium and specialty plate facility. The $60 million project increased the reheat furnace, annealing and flattening capacity at ATI’s existing 110-inch-wide plate mill and also increased the plate size capabilities. The steel slabs and ingots that are annealed or reheated, rolled, flattened and stretched come from several ATI facilities, including the Brackenridge Works (Pa.), the Latrobe, Pa., plant and its Midland (Pa.) plant. It gets the titanium and zirconium metal from ATI plants in New York, Oregon and North Carolina.
ATI has not made a final decision on where it will build a $400 million hot strip mill. It is contemplating sites at its Midland or Brackenridge plants or an unidentified location in Kentucky. According to the ATI, the just-completed fully automated expansion fits the company’s strategy of focusing on specialty metals.