Published: November 13, 2008 07:15 am      

Historic moment

AK Steel’s shutdown could be a first

ASHLAND — Trying to place the impending shutdown of AK Steel’s Ashland Works into a historical context is difficult.

That is because, other than planned outages for maintenance and during work stoppages, no one can seem to recall another time in the plant’s 85-year history when it has been shut down completely.

Even in the depths of the Great Depression, the mill managed to soldier on, albeit on a reduced schedule.

AK Steel announced Tuesday it would temporarily suspend its local steel-making operations because of the current economic crisis, the struggles of the automotive industry in particular. The shutdown is expected to result in between 600 and 650 workers being furloughed.

It’s not known how long the shutdown will last. Based on foreseeable market conditions, production there could begin again in early to mid-January, the company said.

AK Steel also said the plant was being placed on hot-idle status, which would enable it to be restarted quickly if business conditions improve. A handful of workers will be kept on to maintain the idled operations, the company said.

Mike Hewlett, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 1865, which represents hourly employees at the mill, said there had not been another time during his 40 years with the company that the plant had been shut down because of a lack of orders. He also said he was unaware of another time when essentially the mill’s entire work force had been idled.

Local historian George Wolfford said the impending shutdown of the mill was a first to the best of his knowledge.

Wolfford, a former Independent staff writer, said there were parallels between the plant’s current plight and the hard times of the Depression.

“The basic cause was the same, a lack of orders from car and appliance makers, whose expected customers were without money or credit,” he said.

However, the mill, which was then operated by AK Steel’s predecessor, the American Rolling Mill Co., or Armco, never had to cease operations completely during the Depression years, although it did operate on “part-week, cutback” schedules, Wolfford said.

“If there was an order, the mill would start up each week, rolling until orders in hand were met; then shutdown would come,” he said.

Wolfford said he was told by the late Harry Nicholson, former manager of the Ashland Works, that the plant’s “ace in the hole” was culvert stock, with commitment between Armco and its Metal Products Division that guaranteed a rolling startup each week. A single order from the Pennsylvania Highway Department provided a half-year’s worth of work, he said.

“Ashland Works made money every month but one, all through the Depression years,” Wolfford quoted Nicholson as saying. “In January 1930 we ‘wrote down’ the value of our inventories because prices had dropped out of sight, and took a loss that one month only.”

The Ashland Works began operations six years before the stock market crash of 1929. By 1938, the work force at the plant had grown to about 3,800. At its peak, the plant employed more than 5,000.

The closure of the hot strip mill in 1992 resulted in nearly 1,000 jobs being removed from the plant. However, many of those cuts were done by attrition, and many older workers nearing retirement age were offered incentives to go ahead and retire. Also, a number of workers whose jobs were affected by the closing were able to transfer to a sister plant in Middletown, Ohio, Hewlett said.

The closing of the hot strip mill meant the end of the Ashland Works’ days as a fully integrated steel facility, capable of processing steel from its beginning as iron ore to its finish as banded steel coils. By having its rolling capabilities, the plant became what is known as a “doughnut” mill, so named because it has a hole in the middle of the process.

The Ashland Works’ principal function is producing steel slabs, which are shipped to other AK Steel facilities for rolling. Some of the coils are returned to the local mills for finishing and shipment to customers.

AK Steel also said Tuesday its east Ashland coke plant would continue to operate, albeit on a “reduced level.” About 275 employees work at the coke plant; it is not immediately known how many jobs at that facility will be affected.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.