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Latest News
UPDATED 3/30/07
The roll industry has been strong throughout the past few years
particularly due to the huge increase in Chinese steel production. Although
the western countries have seen a reduction in roll manufacturing capacity,
China
is adding capacity every year.
The most concerning development in roll manufacturing has been the cost
of nickel. Nickel is a primary alloy for indefinite chill type rolls used
in the late finishing stands of hot strip mills. Throughout the last half
of the nineties and into 2003, the cost of nickel (LME) varied from a low
of $2.00/lb up to $4.00/lb. A plateau followed this during 2004 & 5
when nickel was fairly stable at $7.00/lb. Since early 2006, there has been
a steep increase to present costs in excess of $20.00/lb. The result of this
ten-fold cost increase coupled with other metal cost increases has resulted
in making metal, by far, the highest cost center for all roll producers.
The reaction to the huge metal cost increases has been a story in and
of itself. Fearing ever increasing roll prices, roll users have been
ordering rolls far into the future. Deliveries for new rolls reached
historic proportions. To help protect themselves from nickel’s
ten-fold cost increase, roll producers introduced metal surcharges. More
recently, rolls are often quoted with a fixed price and a variable price
adder which reflects metal and energy cost at a base level. As the cost of
these metal and energy items change so does the variable price portion of
the price. This seems to be the only way to handle the "nickel
crisis." Unfortunately, the roll user cannot accurately budget his
roll cost, and the roll producer cannot determine his price until after the
purchase is complete. Budgets, forecasts, and financial analysis become
very difficult.
United continues to do well in the market. Centrifugally cast plate
mill work rolls (many for China),
high chrome steel and semi-high-speed steel roughing mill work rolls
continue to increase their share of our total production. These growing
product lines pushed our heat treat department past its’ capacity. In
early 2007, we commissioned a new, highly efficient gas-fired heat treat
furnace to help satisfy the every-increasing demand.
Due to the high metal cost, we now lathe cut all roll bodies and
recycle the turnings. The older technique of rough grinding the barrel
produced huge quantities of sludge that had to be sent to a land fill at
considerable expense.
SARCO (South African Roll Co.) has been setting production records. The
South African steel industry is doing well, and SARCO has earned a
reputation for reliable, high quality rolls. A good reputation travels
fast; export shipments have increased to unprecedented levels.
From our prospective, the rapid growth in Asia
has forced us to refocus our mission. United will supply rolls that
consistently meet customer requirements at a competitive price. To assure
our commitment to this mission will require continuous improvement through
the entire process. The development and marketing of high technology rolls
is paramount to our success.
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