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Friedman Industries, Inc. announces the opening of its newest steel coil processing plant located in Decatur, AL. The facility is designed to convert hot-rolled coils received from the adjacent Nucor Steel Company mill into hot-rolled sheet and plate relieved of distortions commonly associated with coiled steel through the use of temper-passing and leveling equipment.
The new facility, located on 47.3 acres adjacent to the Nucor Steel Company mill, began operating in August 2008. With 48,000 sq ft of plant and warehouse, plus another 2,000 sq ft of offices, the new Friedman operation can serve a wide range of customers within 500 miles of Decatur, Alabama. The new plant follows the Friedman business model of locating next to a major steel mill that translates into reliable supply, higher productivity and lower production costs. Temper-passing and leveling result in significantly flatter and more consistent steels, with the improvements becoming even more pronounced in higher-strength alloys.
The cost and time saving benefits of Friedman temper-passing and leveling capabilities are increasingly important in a world where higher-strength materials and tighter tolerances are best handled using today's more precise, more expensive plasma and laser cutting CNC equipment.
By eliminating such common coiled-steel problems as coil set, center buckle, crossbow, wavy edge, and even twisted strip, tempered products enable end users obtain higher yields and expedited production schedules with less risk of damaging sensitive equipment. As manufacturers continue to upgrade from older hydraulic or mechanical rigs to today's precision production systems, the high cost of damage to machinery due to slightly inconsistent raw material, and the lost production that results, make temper-passed and leveled steel products an increasingly attractive value.
Customers also benefit from another Friedman facility being located within 300 miles of the new Decatur plant. This relatively short distance allows each location to play backup to the other. This redundancy assures the service that Friedman is renowned for delivering.
Coil processing operations are located in Hickman, AK and now Decatur, AL. In addition, through its Texas Tubular Products Division located in Lone Star, Texas, Friedman manufactures, processes and distributes pipe products. Friedman also purchases and markets sub-standard hot-rolled coil through its XSCP Division and offers processing services on customer owned material on an "as quoted" basis.
Friedman has an in-house sales force that markets the company's coil, plate and sheet products and processing services primarily in the midwestern, southwestern and southeastern sections of the United States. These products and services are sold principally to steel distributors and to customers fabricating steel products such as storage tanks, steel buildings, farm machinery and equipment, construction equipment, transportation equipment, conveyors and other similar products.