No. 3 Steel Producing at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor. The steelmaker is fighting to preserve its share of the automotive business.
Northwest Indiana steel mills, the largest in the United States, produce about 15 million tons of steel a year, and much of it ends up in automobiles.
Some steel products made at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor West for instance can be delivered to the Subaru of Indiana Automotive down Interstate 65 in Lafayette within eight hours after rolling off the finishing line in East Chicago.
"ArcelorMittal is a recognized leader in all major steel markets, including automotive, construction and household appliances," ArcelorMittal spokesman Bill Steers said.
Automakers consumed about 27 percent of the steel made in the United States, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. That percentage is higher at local steel mills, largely because Indiana is the third biggest auto-producing state in the United States and it borders the two biggest: Michigan and Ohio.
But the automotive business faces an existential threat, or at least a potential erosion in volume. Mini mills have been gearing up to produce higher-quality steels and grab a bigger share of the lucrative automotive market, though experts say they remain a few generations behind the big integrated mills.
Automakers, pressured by both government mandates and consumer demands, have been looking to slash weight out of vehicles. In order to do so, they've increasingly turned to lighter alternative metals like aluminum.
"Aluminum costs 40 percent more than steel to achieve a 20 percent weight savings," ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor General Manager Wendell Carter said. "And steel has a lot of advantages like formability."
For the last few years, ArcelorMittal has been developing a new generation of advanced high-strength steels at ArcelorMittal R&D in East Chicago. New grades are significantly stronger than traditional steel, so less of it can be used in vehicles, which reduces the weight, improving mileage and lowering tailpipe emissions.
Since cars are designed years in advance, ArcelorMittal engineers work directly with automakers on new grades of steel and potential applications, such as a Usibor door ring for the Honda Acura. Changes come so fast that many of the cars on the road today contain steels that didn't even exist a decade ago, Carter said.
"These activities contribute to sustainability, not only today, but in the future," Carter said. "Our product research and development is at the forefront of steel innovation."
The steelmaker has been investing $200 million in ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor in East Chicago in order to better produce new automotive grade, including a caster that cranks out a range of Martinsite steels. The mill in East Chicago is the only one in the world where that particular advanced high-strength steel is made.
"We might lose doors and heat shields," Carter said. "But we're not going to lose the underbody and that's the franchise."
Vehicles such as the Ford F-150 still require a lot of steel, even if the body is now aluminum, Carter said.
"Ford is still a great customer, and steel is still a large share of that vehicle's base," he said. "We're thankful to have their business."
Some vehicles have switch from aluminum bases back to advanced high-strength steels and ArcelorMittal also is working to establish relationships with Telsa, which makes electric cars with an aluminum body.
"I'm prideful of steel," Carter said. "But we're able to do the lightweighting that's needed."
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