Metallus chief executive officer Michael Williams said the furnace, along with a thermal treatment roller furnace at its Gambrinus facility in Ohio, will facilitate more consistent reheating, improve product quality and increase throughput efficiency.

“In fact, the bloom reheat furnace has recently demonstrated a run-rate of approximately 150 tons per hour, compared with approximately 100 tons per hour using our legacy assets, along with significant improvements in temperature uniformity,” Williams said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “These modern and efficient assets position us to better serve growing customer demand across all end markets, and we anticipate they will also improve our operating leverage over time.” 

The furnace is part of a broader project funded through a U.S. Army initiative to develop a reliable and resilient supply chain of industrial partners.