Transferring molten metal from the furnace to the ladle

Nucor Corporation is an American company based in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, that produces

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

and related products. It is the largest steel producer in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the largest recycler of

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Nucor is the 16th-largest steel producer in the world. Along with Commercial Metals Company, it is one of two primary suppliers of

rebar Rebar (short for reinforcement bar or reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or steel reinforcement, is a tension device added to concrete to form ''reinforced concrete'' and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid ...

used to reinforce concrete in buildings, bridges, roads, and infrastructure in the U.S.

Current operations

To supply its mills, Nucor uses

electric arc furnace An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a Industrial furnace, furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundry, foundries for producin ...

s and

continuous casting Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby melting, molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" Billet (semi-finished product), billet, Bloom (casting)#Bloom, bloom, or Slab (casting)#Slab, slab for subsequent ro ...

to melt scrap steel as opposed to

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

s to melt

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

. In 2024, the company produced and sold approximately 18.5 million tons of steel and recycled 18 million tons of scrap. None of Nucor's mills is unionized and the corporate culture is opposed to

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

History

After REO Motor Car Company, founded by Ransom E. Olds, sold its operations and initiated

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

proceedings, a group of dissident activist shareholders, noticing the existence of a usable tax loss, successfully challenged the liquidation in a proxy fight in September 1955 and forced REO to take over a tiny nuclear services company called Nuclear Consultants, Inc. in a

reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

. The company was renamed "Nuclear Corporation of America Inc." and relocated to offices in the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The organization's attempt to recast itself as a nuclear industry services company was unsuccessful, and it followed the example of other companies in the 1950s and 60s by attempting to become a conglomerate, moving its headquarters to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. It made several acquisitions, including the Vulcraft Corporation, a steel joist manufacturer located in

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropol ...

. Vulcraft was founded by Sanborn Chase, who died at an early age, leaving the company to his widow. Nuclear purchased Vulcraft from Chase's widow in 1962 and hired F. Kenneth Iverson as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. In March 1965, the company again filed for bankruptcy. Iverson, head of the only profitable division, took over as head of the company due to lack of interest in the job from others. Iverson reorganized Nucor around its only profitable business, the steel fabricator Vulcraft. All other businesses were either sold or liquidated. In 1966, the company moved its headquarters to

to be closer to its main Vulcraft plant in South Carolina. In 1968, unable to get favorable steel prices from American manufacturers and unhappy with the imported steel available at the time, Iverson, a metallurgist by training, extended Nucor vertically into

steelmaking Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. Steel has been made for millennia, and was commercialized on a massive scale in the 1850s and 1860s, using the Bessemer process, Bessemer and open hearth furnace, Siemens-M ...

by building its first steel bar mill in Darlington, South Carolina. The company purchased an

, which was far cheaper than the traditional steel

, with a $6 million

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

secured by all of the company's assets. Production delays and staffing problems resulted in losses, but earnings soared in 1971 and 1972. In 1972, the company, recognizing that it was now misnamed, adopted its current title, Nucor Corporation. That year, it became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. In 1988, the company opened its building products division. In 1989, Nucor opened a facility in

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville () is a city in Montgomery County, Indiana, Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The c ...

, the first mini mill in the world to produce flat rolled steel using thin-slab technology. In March 2000, a joint venture, owned 47.5% by Nucor, 47.5% by BlueScope, and 5% by

IHI Corporation , formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharge ...

was formed to license Castrip technology. This technology allowed for

of sheet steel directly from molten steel without the need for heavy, expensive, and energy-consuming rollers.

Acquisitions and divestitures

Closures and new investments

List of CEOs

* F. Kenneth Iverson (1965–1996) * John Correnti (1996–1999) * H. David Aycock (1999–2000) * Dan DiMicco (2000–2012) * John J. Ferriola (2013–2019). * Leon J. Topalian (2019–present)

Environmental issues

In 2000, Nucor agreed to spend $98 million, including $85 million for new air pollution control equipment, $4 million to monitor and reduce pollution in communities near its plants, and a $9 million civil fine to resolve allegations by the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

and the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

(EPA) that it had not adequately controlled the emission of toxic chemicals into the air, water, and soil in

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Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. The settlement was "the largest and most comprehensive environmental settlement ever with a steel manufacturer." In 2016, the company unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit to block the EPA from adopting a plan to control visible pollution in

. In 2023, the company signed an agreement with

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

for carbon capture and storage of up to 800,000 metric tons from its direct reduced iron plant in

Convent, Louisiana Convent () is a census-designated place in and the parish seat of St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States. It has been the parish seat since 1869. It is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area . As of the 2010 census, its population was ...

. The plant had been criticized for its emissions.

References

External links

{{Authority control 1955 establishments in New York City 1970s initial public offerings American companies established in 1955 Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Manufacturing companies based in North Carolina Manufacturing companies established in 1955 Steel companies of the United States