SDI Butler Site of Next Steel 101 Workshop Mill Tour

The very first Steel Market Update Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop did not include a mill tour. It was held in Houston and, even though the class was interesting and educational, a few of the attendees told us how much better it would have been if they could have toured a working steel mill. We listen to our attendees. The next Steel 101 workshop was in Chicago and included a tour of the NLMK Portage minimill. On October 4-5, 2017, we will conduct our 23rd Steel 101 workshop in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and our friends at Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) are allowing our group to tour their Butler mill to help us reinforce the steelmaking and rolling process.

There are very few places more dynamic than an active steel mill. The idea of watching dirt become steel (integrated mill) or watching scrapped cars and other “junk” tossed aside by society (EAF or minimill) become new steel is fascinating. On the first day of our workshop, attendees go through a rigorous morning as our instructors describe the steelmaking and rolling processes. In the afternoon, we get to see a great deal of what was described in the morning.