L&L Special Furnace Co. Inc. received an order for 10 benchtop laboratory furnaces. The furnaces, which have an effective work zone of 10 inches high x 15 inches wide x 13 inches deep, will be used as part of a precious-metals recovery system for a manufacturer of catalytic convertors, medical devices and pollution controls. The precious metals are burned out of the existing product and placed in crucibles. The crucibles are then heated at temperatures of 1800-2200°F (982-1204°C). This allows any impurities in the metals to rise to the surface and be removed for further refinement. The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

General Motors Co. will invest more than $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites. The investment will create 4,000 new jobs, retain 1,000 and significantly increase battery-cell and electric-truck manufacturing capacity. The single largest investment in GM history includes construction of a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing and the conversion of GM’s assembly plant in Orion Township for production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the electric GMC Sierra.

Sulzer opened a laser metal deposition (LMD) facility at its Houston Service Center in La Porte, Texas. The advanced additive-manufacturing process will provide multiple benefits for the company’s turbomachinery repair and upgrade projects. Sulzer’s HICoat Division will offer LMD services for a range of materials. According to Sulzer, LMD creates a metallurgical bond that ensures excellent bonding with parent materials and increased consistency of material density, which is ideal for challenging rotor or shaft repairs.

Intel announced plans for an initial investment of more than $20 billion to build two chip factories in Ohio. The investment will help boost production to meet the surging demand for advanced semiconductors. To support the development of the new site, Intel pledged an additional $100 million toward partnerships with educational institutions to build a pipeline of talent and bolster research programs in the region. As the largest single private-sector investment in Ohio history, the initial phase of the project is expected to create 3,000 Intel jobs and 7,000 construction jobs over the course of the build. Spanning nearly 1,000 acres in Licking County, just outside of Columbus, the site can accommodate a total of eight chip factories. Planning for the first two factories will start immediately, with construction scheduled to begin in late 2022. Production is expected to come online in 2025.

Tenaris is increasing production at its welded pipe mill in Hickman, Ark., amid the company’s ongoing manufacturing growth across the United States that it kick-started in early 2021. The mill is boosting production of a range of welded OCTG, including proprietary Wedge Series 400 connections, to support growing customer demand. Tenaris is looking to hire an additional 250 employees at the Hickman facility.

Nichols Portland Inc. of Portland, Maine, acquired the assets of Alpha Precision Group LLC (APG) of St. Marys, Pa. Nichols, a portfolio company of Altus Capital Partners, designs and manufactures powder-metallurgy components for use in automotive and industrial applications. APG is a metal-forming technology company that provides conventional powder metal, high-temperature stainless steel powdered metal, metal injection molding and additive manufactured (3D metal printed) components and assemblies to a global customer base. APG operates five manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

International engineering group Fives supplied a reheating furnace to Severstal, a leading Russian steel producer, for its Cherepovets Steel Mill. The furnace, symbolically named “Spark,” is the first of three slab-heating furnaces launched within a major upgrade program covering furnace facilities at Mill 2000, which produces 65% of Cherepovets Steel Mill's output. The furnace, which includes on/off burners and automation control, has a capacity of 400 tons per hour for cold slab charging and 500 tons per hour for hot slab charging. This productivity is twice as high as any existing furnace at Mill 2000.

HarbisonWalker International (HWI) intends to invest $25 million to convert its closed Fairfield, Ala., plant into an advanced refractories manufacturing, service and distribution hub for southern U.S. steelmakers. Construction will begin during the first quarter of 2022, and the 200,000-square-foot facility is expected to open before the end of the year. The investment will increase refractory capacity and efficiency commensurate with steel customers’ production investments. HWI anticipates hiring 50 highly trained technicians and staff in a team-based environment at the plant.

Solar Atmospheres’ Souderton, Pa., facility commissioned a new high-production vacuum furnace. It will double the plant’s hydriding and de-hydriding capacity in the reclamation process of high-value titanium and tantalum materials. The furnace incorporates supplier Solar Manufacturing’s latest and most advanced vacuum technology aimed at safety and efficiency. The qualified working zone measures 48 x 48 x 72 inches with a weight capacity of up to 7,500 pounds per batch.  

Nucor Corp. will build its new $2.7 billion sheet mill, which will have the capacity to produce 3 million tons of steel annually, in Mason County, W.V. The location on the Ohio River provides Nucor with important transportation and logistics advantages and a strengthened ability to serve customers in the Midwest and Northeast, the two largest sheet-consuming regions in the country. The mill will employ approximately 800 full-time workers when fully operational. Construction is expected to take two years.