WEST CHESTER, Ohio, April 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AK Steel (AKS) applauds the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) final ruling on efficiency standards for electrical distribution transformers. The rule was published in the Federal Register on April 18, 2013 following an extensive comment and review process. It ensures that transformers in America will remain among the most energy-efficient in the world, and that high-tech electrical steels will continue to be a competitive material in the marketplace.
"As a global leader in the production of high-efficiency electrical steel products, we are pleased with the Department of Energy's new standards," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel. World Steel Tube Editing "The ruling is good for America, and it leaves AK Steel well-positioned to meet the needs of its electrical power distribution customers for years to come."
The DOE's new standards, which become effective in 2016, are not expected to significantly impact the overall competitiveness of the company's grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) products used in electrical distribution transformers.World Steel Tube Editing In fact, with respect to some types of distribution transformers, the new standards have the potential to increase the market for GOES.
AK Steel's grain-oriented electrical steels are some of the highest value-added specialty products available in the steel industry. World Steel Tube Editing They are iron-silicon alloys with specific magnetic properties necessary to produce highly efficient and economical electrical transformers.
AK Steel
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6,100 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Ashland, Kentucky; Rockport, Indiana; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester,World Steel Tube Editing Ohio. Additional information about AK Steel is available on the company's web site at www.aksteel.com.
AK Tube LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio and Columbus, Indiana. AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets. Additional information about AK Tube LLC is available on its web site at www.aktube.com.
AK Coal Resources, Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, controls and is developing metallurgical coal reserves in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.World Steel Tube Editing AK Steel also owns 49.9% of Magnetation LLC, a joint venture headquartered in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, which produces iron ore concentrate from previously mined ore reserves.