Recently, we came across this beautiful photograph from our September 1928 edition that reveals the humble beginnings of one of the nation’s most innovative and powerful steel companies.
This photograph shows workers at the American Rolling Mills Company manufacturing galvanized iron sheets. The American Rolling Mills Company (ARMCO) was founded in Middletown, Ohio in 1989 by George Verity.
The company was among the first in the nation to allow workers to organize in “shop committees,” the earliest iteration of workers unions.
At the time, steel production was a laborious process, but in 1921, one of the plant’s workers, John Butler Tytus developed a revolutionary new wide-strip continuous rolling process, inspired by the rolling process he’d observed in his father’s corrugated box mill as a child, in which Fourdrinier machines were used to produce paper rolls.
With this new automation, the company went from producing 520 tons of steel per month to 40,000 tons of steel per month.
Related: One-Stop Guide to Sourcing U.S. Steel Suppliers
ARMCO continued to grow, and by the year 1940 had built twenty-six plants across the U.S. becoming Armco Steel Corporation and then Armco Inc. in 1978.
Eventually, the company merged with AK Steel Corporation in 1999, which was acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs Company, headquartered in West Chester Township, OH.
Today, the company operates ten plants altogether, producing flat-rolled carbon, stainless, and electrical steel products, primarily for the auto industry.
The company produces 5.5 million tons of steel per year, employing 9,500, and was recognized as GM’s Supplier of the Year in 2019.
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Read more from the archives!
How This Small Illinois Manufacturer Made 2.5 Million Globes in 48 Hours for WWI Troops
What Manufacturers Were Saying About Tariffs in 1930
Sources:
https://www.metalworkingworldmagazine.com/a-short-sheet-metal-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Butler_Tytus
https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/American_Rolling_Mill_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK_Steel_Holding
