Steel Dynamics Inc. approved an expansion of its Engineered Bar Products Division located in Pittsboro, Ind. The expansion is intended to both increase the steel mill’s capacity to produce special-bar-quality (SBQ) steel bars and to expand the mill’s product offerings of high-quality, small-diameter SBQ bars. The project, which is expected to increase the mill’s overall annual production capacity from 625,000 tons to 950,000 tons, is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2013 and to cost approximately $76 million.            

The expansion includes numerous enhancements to the facility’s rolling mill for the production of precision-sized bars as well as improvements in material handling and staging. Steel Dynamics also plans to expand the mill’s bar-finishing capabilities for nondestructive testing of finished bars, potentially doubling its inspection capacity. The principal modification to the mill is the planned addition of a second rolling line that will permit the concurrent production of small-diameter precision and larger-diameter bars.