At Bethlehem's Burns Harbor, Ind., plant, sometimes it takes more than one month from when the blast furnace makes the hot metal to when the final product leaves the shipping dock. Last year the team identified an unneeded week in the production cycle of Burns Harbor's new hot-dip galvanizing line. The Bethlehem work team also examined each plant's product mix to eliminate production inventories. Parts of the product mix, particularly small orders, present problems for production schedules. The capacity of the plants' BOFs far exceeds the tonnage of some of the smaller orders.
Operators can mix small orders with larger orders requiring the same grade of steel.
Some special-grade small orders, though, require their own heats. So the mill produces large quantities of those special orders at one time. This allows the plant to run at full capacity. But the large quantities also mean that Bethlehem must keep an inventory of the special-grade order. Special orders can sit in shipping storage for months before final delivery, Teasley says.