INOX Market Service, a global stainless steel processing company based in Italy, announced plans to establish its North American headquarters in Delaware County, Ind., creating up to 101 new jobs by the end of 2024. The company, which has operations in Europe, Mexico and India, will launch INOX Market North America (IMNA) and invest more than $15 million to construct and equip a 139,800-square-foot facility in Muncie. The new plant will allow INOX to expand its stainless steel forming and slitting operations while growing customer demand in the home appliance and industrial sectors. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, and the company expects to start production in spring 2021. 

JD Fields & Company Inc. acquired Alameda Pipe & Steel Company, a steel products manufacturer based in Gardena, Calif. The purchase of the newly branded Alameda Pipe and Fab enables Houston, Texas-based JD Fields & Company, which has operated as a company of two business units focusing on steel pipe for the oil-and-gas sector and steel foundation products for civil infrastructure, to continue its evolution into a one-stop, vertically integrated supplier and manufacturer of its own steel products.

Ovako, together with Linde Gas AB, conducted a full-scale trial using hydrogen to heat steel before rolling. The trial was performed with good results in one of the company’s pit furnaces at the Hofors rolling mill in Sweden. This historic development for the steel industry proves that carbon dioxide emissions from rolling can be eliminated provided the right financial support and infrastructure are in place. 

BNP Media has announced the launch of the Process Heating & Cooling Show, an interactive conference and exposition where executives and engineers from various industries – including oil and gas, electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, packaging and plastics – will learn from thought leaders and discover new technologies and trends exclusively for the process heating and cooling sectors. This new event will be held June 16-17, 2021, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill.

Fives received an order from CELSA Group, a manufacturer of steel long products based in Spain, for a walking-beam furnace. The furnace, which has a capacity of 120 tons per hour, will reheat billets of different sections and lengths to serve a new rolling mill that specializes in the production of steel billets from the recovery of scrap. The furnace includes complete digital on/off control and heat-curve control for optimum combustion. It will be installed in the CELSA France plant located in the municipalities of Boucau and Tarnos, New Aquitaine region. Commissioning is scheduled in the fall.

Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is a process used to eliminate internal voids and defects such as porosity in castings, additive-manufactured (AM) parts and MIM parts to achieve a 100%-dense material.

Fives received an order from JSW Steel, India’s leading steel producer, for an upgrade project of its reheating furnaces at JSW Steel Vijayanagar Works, which currently produces 12 million tons per year. Fives will modernize two reheating furnaces to increase their efficiency and capacity from 250 tons per hour to 295 tons per hour to meet the new requirements of the hot-strip mill N1. Both walking-beam furnaces were previously supplied by Fives. The project for both furnaces is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

Jingye Group, a Chinese steelmaker, acquired British Steel’s facilities in the U.K. and the Netherlands, a move that will secure approximately 3,200 jobs. Jingye will invest approximately $1.5 billion in the business. Initiatives include: the development of an electric-arc furnace (EAF) in Teesside; the construction of a new 250-MW power plant to serve the Scunthorpe site; investment in the rolling mills to produce high-quality steel products; the construction of a new rebar line; and enhancing the current rail mill.

Eurometal S.A. placed an order with Hertwich Engineering for the supply of a multi-chamber melting furnace for the expansion of its aluminum casthouse in Klomnice, Poland. The plant, which has a capacity of 30,000 tons per year, is scheduled to start operation in spring 2021. Hertwich Engineering, based in Austria, is a company of SMS group. The furnace, which is designed for a capacity of 100 tons per day, will be integrated into the existing production chain. It will mainly process clean and painted extrusion and sheet scrap as well as smaller amounts of briquetted sawing and machining chips. The scrap will be preheated for around 30 minutes to a temperature of approximately 932°F (500°C) by an intense hot-gas flow.

Abbott Furnace Company received an order from a global automotive supplier for a continuous-belt, stainless steel brazing furnace. It is scheduled to be installed in Mexico in the second quarter of 2020. Abbott Furnace will design, manufacture and install the five-zone, electrically heated furnace, which is rated for 2150°F (1175°C) and includes a 30-inch-wide belt and silicon-carbide muffle.