An ingot production process for making standard grades of vacuum degassed steel, vacuum arc remelted steel, vacuum oxygen decarburised extra low carbon steel, and vacuum oxygen decarburised vacuum arc remelted extra low carbon steel, comprising the steps of charging solid scrap into an arc furnace in an amount sufficient to comprise at least the bulk of the weight of steel which is to be subsequently subjected to vacuum treatment, the quantity of scrap charged into the arc furnace for the first heat of a plurality of heats together with the subsequently added alloys being greater than the desired quantity of treated heat teemed into primary moulds at a teeming station, adding heat to the solid scrap to melt the solid scrap to thereby form a melt, providing a tapping vessel, preheating the tapping vessel prior to tap to about 1100°C (2000°F), tapping at least the bulk of the melt from the arc furnace into the tapping vessel to thereby form a heat, but leaving a portion of the melt in the arc furnace following tap to form a heel, subsequently charging a quantity of scrap for the next succeeding heat into the arc furnace which quantity of scrap is less than the quantity of treated heat to be teemed at the teeming station, whereby the subsequent scrap charge plus at least a portion of the heel together with any subsequently added alloys comprise at least the desired quantity of the next treated heat to be teemed into ingot moulds, transferring the heat in the vessel to a ladle metallurgical furnace station, adding alloys to the heat in the ladle metallurgical furnace station in an amount sufficient to bring at least some constituents of the heat up to desired constituent levels for this stage of the process, increasing the temperature of the heat at the ladle metallurgical furnace station sufficiently to super-heat the heat with respect to a desired teeming temperature, transferring the super-heated heat to a vacuum treatment station, subjecting the super-heated heat to a vacuum and a purging gas in an amount sufficient to stir the super-heated heat so as to expose the surface of the heat, and also portions of the heat remote from the surface, to the vacuum whereby hydrogen and oxygen in the super-heated heat are removed from the heat by exposure of the heat to the vacuum, subjecting the heat to an absolute pressure of 133 Pa (1 Torr) or below during a significant portion of the dwell time of the heat in the vacuum environment, terminating subjection of the heat to the vacuum and the purging gas at a time after degassing of the heat has occurred and the temperature of the heat has reached an acceptable teeming temperature, removing a vacuum tank top, lifting a ladle with the treated heat, by a crane, which grips the ladle at its trunnions (167, 168), placing the ladle on a teeming car, which teeming car includes a ladle positioning frame structure, which includes a pair of slightly V-shaped transverse cradle members (172, 173), which are fast at their ends with longitudinal cradle anchor members (174, 175), and are, in turn, fast with two main transverse struts (176, 177), the anchor members forming a rigid sub-frame which is fast with a vertically moveable base frame having longitudinal sides (178, 179), raising and lowering the base frame by jack means (180, 181), which are secured to vertical posts (182, 183, 184, 185), receiving the ladle in a rigid wheeled frame formed by longitudinal sides, the wheeled frame riding on a track, attaining lateral movement of the rigid wheeled frame with respect to the track by operation of screw jacks (224, 225), thus transferring the treated heat to the teeming station, teeming a desired quantity of the treated heat into at least one ingot mould at the teeming station, and solidifying the teemed heat at the teeming station to form a vacuum treated ingot, the heating and treatment of the steel in said ladle metallurgical furnace station and said vacuum treatment station being for a period of time which, when added to the transferring times, is less than the time required to form a melt ready for tapping in the arc furnace.