Facilities

The operations of Bethlehem Structural Products Corporation are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Its principal products are structural steel shapes and piling products primarily for the building and construction markets and ingot molds for the metals industry. Principal facilities include three coke oven batteries, one blast furnace, two basic oxygen furnaces with a combined annual raw steel production capacity of 1 million tons, one 40-inch blooming mill, a 48-inch structural rolling mill, a 44-inch structural rolling mill, and an ingot mold foundry. The existing iron and steelmaking operations, which include the blast furnace, basic oxygen furnaces, the 48-inch structural rolling mill and related facilities, will be discontinued during 1995. Structural Products' utilization of raw steel production capability was 72 percent during 1994.

In 1994 Bethlehem announced a plan for Structural Products to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. Under the plan, Structural Products will focus on the production and sale of sheet piling, standard sections and light and medium wide-flange sections, which comprise about 80 percent of the wide-flange market in the United States. The plan is the result of a number of market developments, including a reduction in the demand for heavy wide-flange sections caused by reduced high-rise building construction activity, continued low occupancy rates in commercial buildings, trends toward lighter construction in buildings and delays in the rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure.

Structural Products will continue to manufacture heavy wide-flange structurals until it phases out its iron and steelmaking operations. Its 44-inch structural rolling mill complex will be upgraded and modernized and will be sourced with continuously cast steel produced primarily at Pennsylvania Steel Technologies' newly modernized state-of-the-art operations in Steelton, Pennsylvania. The plan should make the division more competitive and should permit production of certain wide-flange sections up to 24 inches. Other benefits include higher utilization of the 44-inch structural rolling mill, higher utilization of the steelmaking facilities at Pennsylvania Steel Technologies, improved product quality and better utilization of Bethlehem's overall financial and other resources.