With an annual capacity of over 500,000 tons, Claymont Steel focuses on customers with special product and service needs that are under-served by more traditional commodity-oriented steel plate producers Its facilities are specifically configured to provide steel plate in small order sizes and non-standard dimensions, which helps to differentiate Claymont from other steel plate manufacturers. The company serves all major plate markets including service centers, bridge fabricators, railcar manufacturers, heavy construction machinery and material handling equipment, mining equipment, storage tanks, pressure vessel, and shipbuilding. It produces carbon structural steel grades in thicknesses from 1/4” to 5-1/2” and HSLA from 1/4” to 5”, widths from 48” to 155”, and lengths up to 1,100” maximum.

Its major facilities consist of the following: a Melt Shop with one Swindell-Dressler 160-ton electric arc furnace, one Concast single strand continuous slab caster, and one automatic scarfing unit; a Plate Mill with one slab reheat furnace, one two-high, 120-inch roughing mill, one four-high, 160-inch finishing mill, one 160-inch hot plate leveler, one double-side trimming shear, one end shear/crop shear, automatic gauge control, and bar coding capability; and shipping to include common carrier pick-up availability, customer truck pick-up availability, and rail car facilities.

Claymont relies on a steady supply of scrap steel, which it remelts and uses to produce new custom steel plate in a 24-hour/7-days-a-week operation. Its goal of producing more steel and better quality steel plate quicker recently hit a small snag, though. Everything was running smoothly from rolling to shipping, but the company realized it had to put together an in-house solution to materials testing and documentation because increasingly, finished product shipments were sitting on rail cars, being held up by the delivery of outside QC test results.

During initial production cycles, Claymont relied on a number of materials testing labs, which performed adequately. However, as product demand grew, the company realized its customers could not always afford to wait for outsource turnaround. Typical lab results required 24 hours for tensile testing and 48 hours for impact testing.

“We have experienced corporate governance in the form of the Harvard Investment Group and senior management from throughout the domestic steel industry,” notes John Letskus, Claymont’s Testing Laboratory Supervisor. “This team is willing to invest in this company to enable us to better serve customers and grow the business.”

The latest example according to Letskus is a showcase materials testing laboratory commissioned in late July and capable of generating up to 300 tensile and impact test samples per day, a rate certain to keep pace with Claymont production. In assembling the lab, Claymont did its homework, investigating the equipment, systems, and software of numerous materials testing companies. It selected Tinius Olsen, because the company is so well represented in the metals industry and is well respected for its customer service. “These machines also offered us the best value for the money,” says Letskus.

From Tinius Olsen, Claymont purchased two 200,000 lbf Super L tensile testing machines, which it had installed in a small pit, as well as a 400 lb capacity impact tester. The Super Ls are designed to test 505s and flat specimens. Much of the operation is automated and is driven by Tinius Olsen’s Test Navigator software; it also includes a pneumatic release on the extensometers, which allows the extensometer to just fall away (in a controlled way) from the specimen at the appropriate moment in the test. A testing staff of six will run the new 4800 sq ft in-house lab for Claymont.

Claymont will be testing to a wide range of industry specifications, including from the American Assoc. of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI), the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM), the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Lloyd's Register, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD).

“It is very gratifying for a company like Tinius Olsen, whose own corporate roots go back to 1880, to partner with a market-focused newcomer like Claymont Steel, to help them achieve their goal of getting product to market quicker,” states Account Manager, John Kraus. “We look forward to supporting them in every way we can.”

"Our strategy of increasing sales of Custom Plate and Custom Burned Plate by investing in our facilities and people is clearly working," observes Chairman and CEO Jeff Bradley. " Through June, we have received orders from 50 new plate customers and in the second quarter shipments in our highly profitable custom burned plate business more than doubled."

Claymont Steel is an electric arc furnace mini-mill located on 425 acres along the Delaware River in Claymont, Delaware. For more information, contact: Claymont Steel, 4001 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, Delaware 19703, Office: (302) 792-5400, Toll Free: (800) 677-3769, Fax: (800) 374-1561, www.claymontsteel.com.

Tinius Olsen is a global provider of materials testing solutions (equipment, software, and calibration services) with over 125 years of testing experience. For more information, contact: Tinius Olsen, 1065 Easton Road, Horsham, PA 19044 USA, (215) 675-7100, Fax (215) 441-0899, www.TiniusOlsen.com.

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Press Contacts:

Wayne Hayward, Marketing Manager, Tinius Olsen
Phone: (215) 675-7100 Fax: (215) 441-0899
whayward@TiniusOlsen.com

John DeMarco, Claymont Steel
Phone: (302) 792-5469
hr@claymontsteel.com

Dan Ditzler, Newton Associates
Phone: (610) 964-9300 Fax: (610) 964-9306
dand@newtonassociates.com