Community and industry leaders attended a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the incoming paint expansion at the Steel Dynamics Inc. plant in Lowndes County.
The $100 million expansion was announced last May. It will create 40 new jobs at SDI, according to general manager Madhu Ranade. The hiring for most of those positions will be in the second quarter of 2016. The plant, which currently employs around 650 people has already hired six employees as supervisors and maintenance staff for the new expansion, Ranade added.
The expansion will add a state-of-the-art paint line and Galvalume capability, Ranade said. With these additional products, customers can make SDI a one-stop shop. Galvalume production will begin in the third quarter of this year and painted steel production will begin in 2017.
“We’ll be standing here come January or February of next year to celebrate (the) inauguration of the new paint line,” Ranade said.
Attendees at the groundbreaking ceremony included Steel Dynamics Inc. CEO Mark Millett, Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins and Gov. Phil Bryant. All three spoke at the event.
“There’s not a better team sport in the world than economic development and providing jobs and futures for people who can live the American Dream, and what a place to do it: right here in the Golden Triangle,” Bryant said.
He predicted that more companies would benefit from being close to steel production plants and that the expansion helps move the region into the future. Bryant also pledged to do whatever was necessary for the plant to succeed, from education of workforce to infrastructure needs.
SDI is the fourth biggest steel producer in the United States, making revenues of more than $10 billion, according to Higgins. The company began in 1993 and bought the facility in Columbus in September of 2014 from Russian steel company Severstal. Millett called the facility state-of-the-art, but said it was really the people working for the plant that made it successful.
“This is a happy day for SDI for sure, and it’s what we’re all about, honestly,” he said. “We believe in people. We believe in creating opportunities for people, creating a culture in which they can do better in life, where they can feel ownership in a company and just (be) part of what we do. And our success is 7,700 employees, their innovation, their creativity, their dedication each and every day.”
SDI has seen a production increase of 40 percent, according to Higgins.
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