21 11, 2020

The Best Jobs in Steel Processing: Steel Service Center Listings

andre2020-12-15T18:49:22+00:00November 21st, 2020|News Blog|

Are you dynamic, hardworking, smart, and ready for any new challenge? If you fit this description, you are a person of steel. Come join one of America’s most prestigious industries, with a history as colorful and powerful as any. This is not your grandfather’s steel service and processing industry. Today, more than ever, experienced, and skilled workers are needed to run all the aspects of our sophisticated steel processing plants.

Common steel processing job listings include:

Metallurgist and Quality Testing Specialist – Inspects and tests all incoming steel master coils and outgoing finished goods to customers to meet customer and in-house quality requirements.

Processing Equipment Operators – Highly trained to set-up and run all steel service center equipment including pickling, galvanizing, slitters, leveling, cut-to-length, blanking, and other processes.

Plant Maintenance Specialist – Provides repair and scheduled maintenance services to keep the operations of the plant reliable and efficient.

Plant Scheduling Planner – Receives processing work orders from an inside sales specialist and schedules plant equipment and processing equipment operators to complete customer purchase orders for processing services and finished goods.

Plant Safety Specialist – Provides training and support to ensure the health and safety of employees and to meet all state and national regulations and reporting requirements.

Outside Sales Associate – Utilizes marketing and company product and services information to call on new and existing customers to sell products and available services.

Steel Products and Process Quoting Specialist – Supports the sales team with accurate and competitive quotes to meet the customer product specifications and cost targets.

Steel Purchasing Specialist – Works with steel mills to buy master coil steel inventory and other products to support service center cost, quality, and delivery timing to meet the customer needs.

Steel Logistics Specialist – Schedules and negotiates cost for all truck and rail freight to support timing for incoming master coils and outgoing finished goods to customers.

Inside Sales Specialist – Manages all purchase orders from customers for new and repeat steel finished goods and processing requests. Creates work orders to all the service center internal groups for required steel master coils, requesting internal processing services, and shipping finished goods to the customer.

HR Specialist – Recruits, hires, provides training for new employees, and company benefit support. Ensures that the company is meeting all EEOC and other regulations and reporting requirements.

IT Specialist – Provides all computer-related services and equipment to support company requirements.

Marketing Specialist – Creates marketing information in various media formats describing the capabilities, manufacturing specialties, and locations of company assets.

With the sophistication of the today’s steel environment, workers in service centers and processing facilities are the foundation of success for steel companies. That’s why companies like NMC foster a respectful and appreciative atmosphere designed for the well-being of the workers. As one of the largest-growing, independent steel service centers and processing facilities, NMC is constantly looking for new talent ready to help in the expansion of the business. NMC offers a competitive benefits package for team members:

Quotes from our workers:

“I like […]

30 09, 2020

Steel Processing at National Galvanizing

andre2020-09-30T19:24:37+00:00September 30th, 2020|News Blog|

Today, modern chemists must face the same problem that one element posed to the Egyptians thatshould have destroyed the pyramids. It’s that ubiquitous element that threatens everything made by humans: water. As frost formed inside the stone structure at night and expanded with the morning, slow cumulative damage should have been done to the pyramids. For many years, this mystery defied the explanation of archeologists, however was eventually solved. A detailed study concluded that ancient Egyptians relied on technology to defy the power of water: they had invented a primitive form of cement.

Water threatens the integrity of modern structures. Steel, the very backbone of modern civilization, rusts when it comes into contact with water. Technology has been the answer for modern man, just as it was for the pyramid builders. Various techniques have been developed to prevent steel from corroding. One of the most sought after by leading industries is galvanizing. Both long-lasting and cost-friendly, galvanized steel can resist rust for 70 years or more. The characteristics of the environment where it is used, and the thickness of the protective coat can influence the lifespan of the steel. Today, a sophisticated process known as hot-dipping is used to galvanize steel. Essentially, galvanizing adds a zinc-iron coating to the metal, forming a protective layer. The multi-step process described below gives galvanized steel its protective qualities:
1) The steel is cleaned in a degreasing solution.
2) After being cleaned, the steel is pickled by running through various tanks containing hot sulfuric acid.
3) The steel is then fluxed in an aqueous solution (typically zinc-ammonium chloride).
4) After the flux, the steel is galvanized through immersion in a vat of molten zinc.
5) Afterward, the steel is inspected for consistency and a complete coating.
Galvanized steel has a low, initial cost, and no need for maintenance. It also provides other important advantages:
• Rust resistance: The iron elements in steel are incredibly prone to rusting, but the addition of zinc acts as a protective buffer between the steel and any moisture or oxygen.
• Easy inspection: It is easy to tell how strong a galvanized coating is just by looking at it. There are also quick stress tests that can determine how thick the zinc coating is.
• Sacrificial anode: This ensures that any damaged steel is protected by the surrounding zinc coating. It does not matter if the steel section is completely exposed; the zinc will still corrode first.
• Longer life: With galvanization, a piece of industrial steel is expected to last 70 years in average environments and can last over 20 years with severe water exposure. No maintenance required.
Galvanization is part of a larger framework in steel preparation. Clients can benefit through facilities that can apply various processes to steel including hot-dipped galvanizing. That’s why National Galvanizing’s state-of-the-art facility enables pickling, galvanizing, galvannealing, and slitting, all in one location. As a joint venture between National Material L.P. and Heidtman Steel, National Galvanizing has an unparalleled structure for quality, high-speed supply that serves the automotive, heavy truck, agricultural, garage door hardware, and HVAC industries, among others.

NMLP […]

6 08, 2020

Steel and Recycling: Fun Facts!

andre2020-08-06T19:53:22+00:00August 6th, 2020|News Blog|

Here at National Material Company, we thought we’d pause, reflect, and share some good news and fun, interesting facts about the steel industry.

In 2016, Azo CleanTech reported that steel is the most recycled material in North America. The metal comes not only from cans but also from construction scraps, automobiles, and appliances, and it can be turned right back into steel that can be used in the same applications.

Recycling is at the core of the steel industry’s commitment to sustainability. According to steel.org, the North American steel-making furnaces “consume nearly 70 million tons of domestic steel scrap in the production of new steel.” By using steel scrap to make new steel, the North American steel industry conserves energy, emissions, raw materials, and natural resources. This commitment drives the reduction of steel’s environmental footprint, while producing advanced, highly-recycled steel products that meet an advancing society’s needs.

Here are some fun facts about steel and recycling:

Steel products can be recycled repeatedly without loss of strength.
Recycling steel saves the equivalent energy to power about 18 million households for a year.
More than 80 million tons of steel are recycled each year in North America.
For every ton of steel recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved.
Almost 69 percent of all steel is recycled in North America each year – more than paper, aluminum, plastic, & glass combined. North America’s average steel recycling rate has been in excess of 60 percent since 1970.
More than 95 percent of the water used for making steel in North America is recycled.
One scrapped car produces more than four steel utility poles.
95 percent of the steel taken from commercial construction demolition sites was recycled and made into new steel products in 2002.
100 percent of a steel roof can be recycled. Asphalt roofs – zero percent. (Steel roofs provide your family with excellent protection against wind, water, snow, ice, and fire and are even hail-resistant. Asphalt roofs actually weigh twice as much as steel roofs. Steel roofs can last over 50 years, while traditional roofs last only 17 years!
Steel food cans are the most recycled food package. 24,000 community recycling programs in North America collect steel cans. Canned food is as nutritious as its fresh and frozen counterparts upon preparation! Canned goods do not contain preservatives!!
All 99 pounds of steel in the average major appliance can be recycled to make
new steel products.

Also, according to Utah Recycles, there are many more encouraging examples of how the steel industry’s commitment to recycling is helping to save the planet. Steel only takes up to 100 years to fully decompose in a landfill, whereas it takes plastic 1000 years to break down (aluminum can take 200 years, tin can take decades)! Recycling steel takes 25% less energy and creates only 25% of the water and air pollution required to produce steel from raw materials. About 70% of all metal is […]

14 05, 2020

EDI – Value-Added Benefits in the Steel Industry

Patton Quinn2020-05-14T15:52:23+00:00May 14th, 2020|News Blog|

If your company takes part in supply chain processes, then you know how easy it is to lose control of the entire document flow and how important it is to have real-time access to reliable information regarding the delivery process. In traditional methods of business to business (b2b) communication, misunderstandings can often occur. Often, these misunderstandings are regarding collection and loading time, load capacity, product specificity, how the goods were packed and sent, and status of delivery. Manual entry data can result in incorrect documents, invoice totals can be erroneously entered, inaccurate invoice information can delay payment date, and delay receiving money to buy raw materials. Paper documents can become lost or filed in the wrong file and thus be difficult to find. Electronic data interchange, or, EDI, optimizes data exchange and management, and improves b2b communication and processes. EDI includes payment, invoices, delivery confirmation, delivery, packing, and ordering.

Like many other early information technologies, EDI was inspired by developments in military logistics. The complexity of military operations that required vast quantities of data and information about transported goods inspired the first innovations in large-scale communication, which later shaped the first TDCC (Transportation Data Coordinating Committee) standards in the United States. Among the first integrated systems using EDI were Freight Control Systems. An example of this is the London Airport Cargo EDP Scheme (LACES) at Heathrow Airport, London, in which a modem-like system would forward information to agents who would directly enter information into the customs processing system, reducing the time for clearance.

EDI provides a technical basis for automated commercial “conversations” between two entities, either internal or external. The term EDI encompasses the entire electronic data interchange process, including the transmission, message flow, document format, and software used to interpret the documents. EDI is the computer-to-computer exchange of business documents in a standard electronic format between business partners.

Each term in the definition is significant:

● Computer-to-computer – EDI replaces postal mail, fax, and email. While email is also an electronic approach, the documents exchanged via email must still be handled by people rather than computers. Having people involved slows down the processing of the documents and also introduces errors. Instead, EDI documents can flow straight through to the appropriate application on the receiver’s computer (e.g., the Order Management System) and processing can begin immediately.
● Business documents – These are any of the documents that are typically exchanged between businesses. The most common documents exchanged via EDI are purchase orders, invoices, and advance ship notices. But there are many, many others such as bills of lading, customs documents, inventory documents, shipping status documents, and payment documents.
● Standard format – Because EDI documents must be processed by computers rather than humans, a standard format must be used so that the computer will be able to read and understand the documents. A standard format describes what each piece of information […]

30 07, 2019

NMC’s Steel Processing Capabilities

andre2019-09-12T20:08:50+00:00July 30th, 2019|News Blog, NMC Media|

As the leader in steel processing capabilities, supply chain management, and inventory control, NMC is the perfect choice for any customer in search of the best experience possible. A dedicated work force, state-of-the-art slitters, cut-to-length lines and warehouse storage capabilities make NMC the premiere steel manufacturing company in North America. Locations throughout The United States and Mexico offer a logistic advantage resulting in a more efficient service to conserve our customer’s most valuable resource: cost.