Crain’s Cleveland Business...
Republic Steel to add nearly 450 jobs in Lorain
By Dan Shingler
November 16, 2011 

Lorain is about to get nearly 450 new jobs thanks to a planned $85.2 million investment by Republic Steel, the company announced today at an event with Ohio Gov. John Kasich. 

Canton-based Republic said its money will go toward installing a new electric arc furnace and supporting equipment at the Lorain plant, adding 449 jobs to its existing work force of 480 people. 

Republic makes highly-engineered steel at the plant, which has the strength and other qualities needed for use in transmissions, drive trains and other automotive and industrial applications — as well as seamless steel tubing used in natural gas exploration. 

The company said it wanted to expand in Lorain because of the plant’s proximity to customers in those arenas, as well as for the availability of local steelworkers. The additional furnace will produce 1 million tons of steel per year, Republic said. 

“The additional capacity created by the new furnace will allow us more flexibility and efficiency in delivering the highly engineered products our customers require,” Republic CEO Jaime Vigil said in announcing the expansion. 

The new construction, which the company said would begin only after it has ratified a new contract with its steelworkers’ union, is to begin in 2012. Republic said it hopes to have the new operation up and running in 2013. 

Republic is just the most recent local steel company to announce an expansion of its works in Northeast Ohio. 

For instance, Timken Co. in August announced its intention to invest $225 million in its Stark County steelmaking operations, following more than $200 million of investments it made in those plants since 2006. 

Also in Lorain, U.S. Steel has spent $95 million over the past two years upgrading its steelmaking operations in that city. 

Youngstown has seen the largest investment of all. Since 2010, V&M Star has been working on a nearly $700 million expansion of its tubular steel plant in that city, which is expected to create 450 and more than double the company’s local work force when it comes online in 2012. 

The development of shale gas deposits in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania is driving the need for more steelmaking capacity, especially for tubular steel, as drillers require more pipe to dig wells that reach a mile or more beneath the earth. 

While Republic did not specifically cite shale gas as a reason for its expansion, it did note that the Lorain plant makes seamless tubular steel products, which are in high demand in the shale gas fields. 

Read this and other articles at Crain’s Cleveland Business