If you are driving a car produced in North America, the steel inside of it likely was made by Gerdau Special Steel North America.
Headquartered in Napoleon Township, the steel mill at 3100 Brooklyn Road and the company's other special steel mills have 75% of the special bar quality steel consumed by the automotive and commercial vehicle industries.
Most of that Gerdau steel is shipped to forging and machining companies that reshape it into safety critical parts such as the crankshaft, steering rack and wheel hub of a vehicle.
Mr Jack Finlayson president of Gerdau's North American Special Steel Division said that "Since the automotive market is the largest consumer of our product, the growth of the automotive industry after the crisis in 2008 and 2009 has had a positive effect on our business. We have also seen a resurgence of manufacturing in North America, especially in Michigan, and have a positive outlook on the future demand for our products."
Gerdau is still a relatively new name in the Jackson area since the company acquired the MacSteel plant in 2008, company officials said. Since then, the Napoleon Township mill has been a part of a $320 million investment by Gerdau to expand its special bar quality steel production in North America.
Capital investment plans for each facility are not yet finalized, but the steelmaker continues to reinvest in its special steel facilities and employees to improve its processes and capabilities.
Special steel represents 21% of all Gerdau sales, said Charles Short, director of marketing for Gerdau Special Steel North America. He said that "It's not just a common product. Gerdau is one of the largest suppliers of (special bar quality) in the world."
Gerdau has more than 45,000 employees and has industrial operations in 14 countries.
