The company (NYSE: AKS) celebrated the opening of its Research and Innovation Center on April 7. The $36 million, 135,000-square-foot facility is on 16 acres near AK Steel’s Middletown Works and West Chester headquarters.
“We are incredibly proud to open this state-of-the-art facility as part of our focus on driving leading edge products and processes as an innovator in carbon, stainless and electrical steels,” CEO Roger Newport said in a statement. “This new Research and Innovation Center is an important part of our strategy to ensure we are well positioned to surpass the needs of our customers today and for the future.”
The center, which includes 17 prototype laboratories, 17 analytical laboratories and 22 collaborative spaces for employees, customers and suppliers, will expand AK Steel’s capability to bring new steel products to the market that could change how companies design their products. AK Steel is the only steelmaker in North America producing carbon, stainless and electrical steel products along with carbon and stainless tubular products.
The new facility will also house AK Steel’s growing workforce. The company has expanded its innovation team by 30 percent over the past two years while also increasing the number of research and innovation projects it began each year.
AK Steel employs 8,500 workers at its eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants in six states and one tube plant in Mexico.
Source: Cincinnati Business Courier