Steel Mills
January 29, 2019
AK Steel to Permanently Close Ashland Works
Written by Sandy Williams
AK Steel announced that it will permanently close its Ashland Works facility in Kentucky by the end of 2019. The blast furnace and hot end operations were idled in 2015, but AK Steel continued to operate a single hot-dip galvanizing coating line. Ashland’s 330,000 tons of loaded production will be transferred to other units in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, resulting in nearly full capacity utilization rates at those facilities, the company said.
Shutting down the operation is expected to result in an annual savings of over $40 million, improving operating efficiency and lowering costs for the company.
