 Steel
Manufacturing
 Industry
Overview
Faced
with international competition, the U.S. steel industry continues to
respond by modernizing its manufacturing processes and consolidating
businesses to increase productivity. Despite successful efforts to
reduce costs and an improving competitive position, steel manufacturing
firms still face stiff competition. Investment in modern equipment and
worker training has transformed the U.S. steel industry from one of the
Nation's most moribund to one of the world's leaders in worker
productivity and the lowest cost producer for some types of steel. Over
the past 25-30 years, steel producers have, in some cases, reduced the
number of man-hours required to produce a ton of steel by ninety
percent.
 Establishments in this
industry produce steel by melting iron ore, scrap metal, and other
additives in furnaces. The molten metal output is then solidified into
semifinished shapes before it is rolled, drawn, cast, and extruded to
make sheet, rod, bar, tubing, and wire. Other establishments in the
industry make finished steel products directly from purchased steel.
The least costly
method of making steel uses scrap metal as its base. Steel scrap from
many sources -- such as old bridges, refrigerators, and automobiles -- and
other additives are placed in an electric arc furnace, where the intense
heat produced by carbon electrodes and chemical reactions melts the
scrap, converting it into molten steel. Establishments that use this
method of producing steel are called electric arc furnace (EAF) mills,
or minimills. While EAFs are sometimes small, some are large enough to
produce 400 tons of steel at a time. The growth of EAFs has been driven
by the technology's smaller initial capital investment and lower
operating costs. Moreover, scrap metal is found in all parts of the
country, so EAFs are not tied as closely to raw material deposits as are
integrated mills and can be placed closer to consumers. EAFs now account
for over half of American steel production and their share is expected
to continue to grow in coming years.
 The
growth of EAFs comes partly at the expense of integrated mills.
Integrated mills reduce iron ore to molten pig iron in blast furnaces.
The iron is then sent to the oxygen furnace, where it is combined with
scrap to make molten steel. The steel produced by integrated mills
generally is considered to be of higher quality than steel from EAFs
but, because the production process is more complicated and consumes
more energy, it is more costly.
During the final phase
of the steel manufacturing process, semi-finished steel from either EAFs
or integrated mills is converted into finished products. Some of the
goods produced in finishing mills are steel wire, pipe, bars, rods, and
sheets. Products also may be coated with chemicals, paints, or other
metals that give the steel desired characteristics for various
industries and consumers. Also involved in steel manufacturing are firms
that produce alloys by adding materials such as silicon and manganese to
the steel. Varying the amounts of carbon and other elements contained in
the final product can yield thousands of different types of steel, each
with specific properties suited for a particular use.
 Steel
mills employ sophisticated technology. Taking several forms, this
technology has improved both product quality and worker productivity.
Computers are essential to most technological advances in steel
production, from production scheduling and machine control to
metallurgical analysis. Computerized systems change the nature of many
jobs, while they eliminate or reduce the numbers of others.
For workers,
modernization of integrated and EAF steel mills often has meant learning
new skills to operate sophisticated equipment. Competition also has
resulted in increasing specialization of steel production, as various
producers attempt to capture different niches in the market. With these
changes has come a growing emphasis on flexibility and adaptability for
both workers and production technology. As strong international and
domestic competition continue for U.S. steel producers, the nature of
the industry and the jobs of its workers are expected to continue to
change.
Working
Environment
 Steel
mills evoke images of strenuous, hot, and potentially dangerous work.
While many dangerous and difficult jobs remain in the steel industry,
modern equipment and facilities have helped to change this. The most
strenuous tasks were among the first to be automated. For example,
computer-controlled machinery helps to monitor and move iron and steel
through the production processes, reducing the need for heavy labor. In
some cases, workers now monitor and control the equipment from
air-conditioned rooms.
Nevertheless, large
machinery and molten metal can be hazardous unless safety procedures are
observed. Hardhats, safety shoes, protective glasses, earplugs, and
protective clothing are required in most production areas.
Employment
 Employment
in the steel industry declined to about 156,000 wage and salary jobs in
2004. The steel industry traditionally has been located in the eastern
and midwestern regions of the country, where iron ore, coal, or one of
the other natural resources required for steel are found. Even today,
about 44 percent of all steelworkers are employed in Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and Indiana. The growth of EAFs has allowed steelmaking to spread to
virtually all parts of the country, although many firms find lower cost
rural areas the most attractive. Large firms employ most workers in the
steel industry. About 62 percent of the jobs in 2004 were in
establishments employing at least 250 workers.
Degree
Paths into this Industry
 Engineers,
chemists, and computer specialists are playing an increasing role at
steel mills, helping to address a variety of issues. Metallurgical
engineers work with the metals and ores that go into steel in order to
change or improve its properties or to find new applications for steel.
They make adjustments to the steel-making process in response to quality
control issues. Industrial engineers work in process control with
engineers from other specialties to make plants more productive and
energy efficient by designing and installing the latest technology.
Mechanical engineers often are found in supervisory or management jobs,
helping to solve mechanical problems on the production line.
Environmental engineers design environmental control systems to maintain
water and air quality standards or to clean up old sites.
Industry
Forecast
 Employment
in the steel industry is expected to decline 13 percent over the 2004-14
period, primarily due to increasing consolidation in the industry as
companies are bought by other companies in the industry and their
operations merge. As larger companies create more efficient mills, the
result will be fewer workers, but a more productive industry that will
be better able to meet foreign competition.
EAF mills, with their
leaner workforce and lower cost structure, are expected to benefit from
the industry's transformation and will continue to gain market share.
They now produce more than 50 percent of the country's steel, up from 25
percent two decades ago. They are also attempting to improve the quality
of the steel they make by melting pig iron along with the scrap. In this
way, they can more effectively compete with integrated mills in markets
that demand higher quality steel. Thus, as EAFs continue to grow in
relation to integrated mills, job opportunities will be better at these
mills.
Despite the projected
decline, job openings are expected to be very good or favorable for a
number of occupations. Demand for all types of engineers, including
mechanical, metallurgical, industrial, electrical, and civil, is
expected to be very good. Companies report great difficulty in hiring
these highly skilled professionals. Also, computer scientists and
business majors should be in great demand. For skilled production jobs,
workers with associate degrees in technology will be highly sought after
to operate computer-controlled machines and to repair equipment. Among
persons without postsecondary training, those who have good math and
computer skills will have better opportunities to be hired and trained
for skilled production jobs.
Related
Degree Fields
Professional
Associations
Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the US Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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