Heidtman Steel upgrading, hiring
Heidtman Steel upgrading, hiring
Posted: Friday, June 14, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 7:15 pm, Fri Jun 14, 2013.
BY DAVE KURTZ
BUTLER — Heidtman Steel expects to add at least 17 jobs as a result of $7.5 million in upgrades over the next four years, the company says in its application for a property tax abatement.
The steel service plant southwest of Butler currently employs 158 people, its application says.
A committee of three DeKalb County Council members reviewed the application June 3. They gave a favorable recommendation for the full, seven-member council to approve the tax abatement at its July 1 meeting.
The hiring target is “a very modest number,” Heidtman Steel operations manager Maureen Cagnet said Thursday. “Easily, you will see those 17 people brought in over the next two years,” she added,
Cagnet predicted hiring two or three people by the end of June and seven within the next six months.
The company’s application says the 17 jobs will add nearly $650,000 in payroll at an average wage of $18.75 per hour. Its current payroll is $6 million.
Heidtman Steel operates on C.R. 59 alongside the Steel Dynamics steel mill.
“We take what’s rolled out of the mill, we clean it or descale it,” Cagnet said. Starting with huge steel coils from Steel Dynamics, “we cut those to size, so they can be used in different applications.” she said.
Steel prepared by Heidtman Steel goes into products such as automotive parts, heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment and lawn mower decks.
“It’s been a pretty good year for automotive as far as the big three,” Cagnet said. “We’re one of the preferred choices of where they get their steel.”
Upgrades at Heidtman Steel will involve both its main plant and sheet-cutting facility, Cagnet said. The plants enclose 510,000 square feet.
The improvements from the $7.5 million investment will involve a crane rail that transports giant coils of steel, a recoiling unit and a scrubber system that cleans the air.
“The investment … is going to help us increase throughput, maximize our capacity,” Cagnet said. “It’s going to help us become more efficient.”
