A major capital investment being made at Valbruna ASW Inc. in Welland will form and solidify a bright future at the 102-year-old steelmaking factory, says president Tim Clutterbuck.
Formerly known as Atlas Steels and later ASW Inc. after a number of changes in ownership, the company was purchased in October 2019 by Valbruna, a company headquartered in Italy that also has a facility in Indiana.
In summer 2021, the melt shop’s electric arc furnace, built in the mid-’70s and upgraded once in the late ’80s, will be replaced by a much more modern, state-of-the-art model, Clutterbuck said.
“It’s going to increase our efficiency, improve our cost effectiveness, and improve our environmental footprint.
“It’s the heart of our operation,” he said about the importance of the incoming piece of equipment.
It will be manufactured by Tenova, a company specializing in solutions for the metals and mining industries.
Clutterbuck did not want to get into details about the price tag that comes with the new furnace, citing the “humble nature” of the company’s new ownership.
He called it an “expensive venture,” also saying the new equipment “adds the best available technology” in the industry, and that it could lead to new products being manufactured locally.
It may also lead to more than a dozen jobs being filled about a year after the furnace is up and running, said Clutterbuck, adding the plant on Centre Street would move from 12 hours of operation per day to 16 hours, boosting production by 15 per cent.
Clutterbuck said the new expenditure is an indicator that the local factory and its European ownership have big plans ahead at the site that employed 3,000 people in the late ’30s and early ’40s during the Second World War.
“We want to do more of what we’re good at,” said Clutterbuck.
“We’re committed to this business, and we’re committed to people in this community,” he added.
Valbruna ASW Inc. offers a combination of carbon, stainless, and other specialty steel-making capabilities.
Flexible steel refining methods include: argon oxygen decarburization, vacuum oxygen decarburization, vacuum degassing, and ladle metallurgical station, said the company’s website.
Tenova said in a news release it will increase the plant’s hourly melt shop production rate, as well as the “effectiveness and reliability in the production of high-quality steel and stainless steel.”
The new equipment “guarantees the correct and effective execution of the working cycle in relation to the production of different steel grades,” said Tenova.
It also optimizes improves the storage of production data, as well as the safety of the operators in the plant.
“It’s going to be a really good thing for everybody,” said Clutterbuck, referring to employees, North American and international customers, the community and the company.
There are about 110 employees at the Welland factory today, a considerable difference from the 33 who worked there 10 years ago.
Atlas Steels was built in 1918. By 1948, it was considered the largest specialty steel company in Canada, exporting goods to 53 countries.
In 1963, Rio Algom Ltd. purchased the company and operated under that banner until 1985 when the factory became a standalone company, Atlas Specialty Steels.
Atlas and its assets were sold to Slater Steel in 2000, then closed in 2003.
In 2010, ASW Steel Inc. emerged as a new entity possessing virtually all of the assets previously held by MMFX Steel of Canada, a company that took over operations at the site in 2006.
It was bought by Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp. in 2016, before the current ownership’s acquisition last year.
