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  #21  
Old Posted Sep 6, 2008, 2:28 AM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
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nobody is hating on Stelco....I'm just calling you out on your unfounded comment that Dofasco was "only good at PR".
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  #22  
Old Posted Sep 6, 2008, 3:30 PM
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And the call-out is legitimate if one assumes my comment was intended to be taken as literally as possible. If I must clarify, my comment was made in reference to the artifically rosy public image the company spun for itself over the years--in contrast to Stelco, which frankly speaking was never good at telling it's story locally.
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  #23  
Old Posted Sep 7, 2008, 1:36 AM
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it's true that dofasco employees have benefitted from stelco's blood and sweat but that doesn't change the fact that they've been an excellent employer and comporate citizen over the years. my wife hated her job there but she was paid well and treated fairly over the term of her employment. if she didn't loathe steel so much she'd have stayed forever.
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  #24  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2008, 12:18 PM
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Dofasco announces Christmas shutdown
Two-week complete shutdown at ArcelorMittal Dofasco

November 13, 2008
Naomi Powell

ArcelorMittal Dofasco will shut down all Hamilton operations for two weeks at Christmas as it continues to struggle with a massive downturn in demand for steel.

More than 5,000 hourly and salaried employees of the steelmaker will be required to take vacation or unpaid leave during the shutdown, to begin on Dec. 22.

Only essential staff will remain at the Burlington Street plant as all steelmaking comes to a halt.

“This is for two reasons and one is to give our employees time with their families over Christmas,” said spokesperson Larry Meyer. “It’s also a cost-containment opportunity that will also allow us to save some money.”

Meyer said very few employees would have to take unpaid leave during the shutdown. No layoffs are planned.

“This is to make sure we don’t, on a longer-term basis, impact our full-time employees.”

The moves comes on the heels of the former Dofasco’s announcement last week that it would slash production by 40 per cent.

The cut is in line with parent company ArcelorMittal’s plans to cut global production by one third as steel pricing and demand plummet.

Meyer said the decision to shutdown all operations was made in the days following that announcement.
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  #25  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2008, 2:09 PM
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Fuel costs are down and demand is down, what a change from a few months ago when fuel was high and it was cheaper to make steel here than to ship it from overseas.
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  #26  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2008, 2:44 PM
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Originally Posted by flar View Post
Fuel costs are down and demand is down, what a change from a few months ago when fuel was high and it was cheaper to make steel here than to ship it from overseas.
And there was demand for steel a few months ago. Demand has disappeared.
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  #27  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2008, 3:28 PM
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I'm curious to see if there will be any noticeable effect on pollution here in Hamilton, with both Stelco and Dofasco shut down over Christmas.
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  #28  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2008, 3:42 PM
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Could actually be worst. It'll be a good time to clean up the factory. Wouldn't be surprised if there was more pollution dumped into the water and black soot in the air to flush everything out.
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  #29  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2008, 6:01 PM
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ArecelorMittal cutting 9,000 jobs worldwide

November 27, 2008
The Canadian Press
LUXEMBOURG — ArcelorMittal is planning “voluntary separation programs to be launched across the group,” aiming to trim as many as 9,000 employees — three per cent of its global workforce.

The world’s biggest steelmaker, whose holdings include Dofasco of Hamilton, said Thursday the focus of the downsizing “is primarily on non-production employees,” particularly in selling, general and administrative functions.

ArcelorMittal said it aims to cut SG&A spending by US$1 billion a year “in response to the current economic situation.”

Thursday’s statement offered no details of the impact on specific operations of ArcelorMittal, which employs 326,000 people in more than 60 countries and had 2007 sales of US$105.2 billion.

ArcelorMittal, which claims to produce about one-tenth of the world’s steel, has already slashed global production by one-third, cutting output at Dofasco by 40 per cent through at least the rest of this year.

The Hamilton plant will shut down for two weeks over Christmas, requiring 5,000 workers to take unpaid time off.


http://www.thespec.com/Business%20News/article/473268
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  #30  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2008, 5:56 PM
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Dofasco cutting salaried hours

Majority of 1,900 losing a day a week
December 05, 2008
Naomi Powell
ArcelorMittal Dofasco will move the majority of its 1,900 salaried staff to a shortened work week as it contends with a “very depressed” economic environment.

Beginning January 5, employees will work four days a week instead of five, the firm’s CEO wrote in a letter to employees this morning.

“In these difficult market conditions, it is critical that we do everything possible to maintain the stability of our operations,” wrote CEO Jeurgen Schachler.

Employees will use one day of vacation time each week. They will collect employment insurance once their vacation time runs out.

The average ArcelorMittal Dofasco worker has 24.4 years of service and six weeks of vacation time.

“By taking this extraordinary step we are doing everything within our power to adhere to our principle of providing stable employment for permanent employees. We want to avoid the drastic measures that you have seen being implemented at other companies in similar situations.”

ArcelorMittal Dofasco will shut down for two weeks at Christmas, sending 5,000 workers home.
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  #31  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2008, 6:27 PM
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They did this years ago but only the hourly employees got the hit then. So needless to say the hourly people weren't happy when it didn't effect the salaried workers. So in reality it was discrimination then. So they put a stop to cutting only the hourly employees, and were put back on full time hours. Now I bet the salaried employees will be pissed when it didn't effect the hourly employees this time. Now the salaried people can see what's it like to have this system like the hourly employees did years back when they didn't.

As for the Xmas shutdown, during those 2 weeks Dofasco does have 5 stats. Xmas, Boxing Day, New Years, plus 2 floaters. So most people will only have to take 5 days vacation time. Most of the times the company will allow 2009 vacation time to be used during the 2008 Xmas vacation time. So bottom line they won't lose money during this time for the shutdown, only vacation time will be used. Unless a person chooses not to use up vacation time then only 5 days pay will be lost.
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  #32  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2008, 6:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drpgq View Post
I'm curious to see if there will be any noticeable effect on pollution here in Hamilton, with both Stelco and Dofasco shut down over Christmas.
They usually keep a skeleton crew in for the Xmas time as it costs a lot of money to shut down a furnace and restart it. Hard to say if they will shut them down this Xmas with the ecomony the way it is though.
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  #33  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2009, 1:26 AM
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Word is Dofasco will shut down even longer.
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  #34  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2009, 3:00 AM
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Not good news at all but it doesnt surprise me with the ecomony.

I just went to A/M message board and apparently the coke ovens did not shut down. No rumors on the board of it shutting down in the near future.

Last edited by MsMe; Jan 14, 2009 at 4:01 AM.
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  #35  
Old Posted Feb 2, 2009, 1:48 PM
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Economy kills Dofasco clean-energy plant
Would have powered steelmaker, 400,000 homes

February 02, 2009
Tyler Hamilton
Torstar News Service
Steel maker ArcelorMittal Dofasco and electricity developer Sithe Global Power have scrapped plans to construct a "clean" power plant fuelled partly by captured waste gases.

The 500-megawatt facility would have produced enough electricity for 400,000 homes as well as industrial-grade heat for the Hamilton-based steel manufacturer. The ambitious project, said Dofasco spokesman Jim Stirling, simply got "caught up in the current economic times."

But some industry observers argue the Ontario government, despite talk of smart infrastructure spending and more efficient energy use, shares part of the blame for failing to support such initiatives just when they're needed most.

"For a large project like this the government should be stepping in and asking what they can do to make it happen," said Keith Stewart, an energy researcher with environmental group WWF-Canada. "It would be great for economic stimulus. It would create jobs here in Ontario, and it's going to help save existing jobs."

The proposed facility was a combined heat and power or "co-generation" plant, meaning the waste heat from electricity generation is used locally by an industrial "heat host" or as part of a district heating system.

It's considered a highly efficient use of fuel compared to the production of power and heat through separated systems. Denmark, for example, gets 55 per cent of its electricity from hundreds of small and large CHP plants that also provide heating to cities and towns.

Some of the cleanest plants, like the one proposed in Hamilton, use waste gases from industrial operations that are otherwise flared and vented into the atmosphere. Sithe's plant would have obtained 20 per cent, or 100 megawatts, of its power from waste gases captured from Dofasco's steel-making operations. The rest would have come from natural gas.

The bottom line: one-fifth of the plant's power would come from free fuel that emits no additional greenhouse-gas emissions.

As well, the plan was to recycle the waste heat from electricity generation to produce industrial-grade steam for Dofasco. "The real point of this would be energy efficiency," said Stirling.

As far as power projects go, it made good sense. Ontario needs cleaner electricity that will reduce its dependence on coal. Dofasco needs to become more efficient in an increasingly competitive sector. Already, amid the economic downturn, the steel maker has had to cut 500 staff since July and its remaining 1,900 employees have been moved to a four-day workweek.

But officials at Sithe and Dofasco just couldn't make the economics of the project work, an even greater challenge during a credit crisis that has inflated the cost of borrowing.

Tom Casten, a pioneer in the recovery of energy from industrial processes, isn't surprised that Sithe and Dofasco pulled the plug. He said the programs set up by the Ontario Power Authority that are supposed to stimulate development of co-generation have been designed in a way that limits the number of projects likely to be developed, even under favourable conditions.

"It's unbelievable how much they've stacked the deck," said Casten, who estimates there is more than 11,000 megawatts of potential industrial and commercial CHP projects in Ontario – more than enough to completely displace the province's reliance on coal power.

Of that, about 3,000 megawatts could come from "waste energy," such as lost heat or flue gases from chemical factories, refineries, glass plants and other operations.

Casten argued that the power authority is only half-heartedly pursuing the opportunity. The agency doesn't value the true environmental benefits of local CHP projects, specifically the ones that recycle waste energy, or appreciate the economic benefits in the form of job creation and improvements to industrial competitiveness, he said.

There's also the fact that local power production requires less infrastructure to support it. For example, generating power and heat where it's used means there's no need to put up expensive transmission lines to bring the power to a remote location.

Compare this to the Nanticoke coal-fired generating station, which requires massive infrastructure to carry that electricity into cities like Hamilton and Toronto. More than half the energy in the coal is released into the air during combustion as waste heat, and "line losses" during the transmission of electricity – energy lost on power lines in the form of heat – averages 7 per cent and can reach 20 per cent during times of peak demand.

The power authority said it takes these factors into account when assessing CHP projects, but Casten said the agency is lowballing the potential cost savings. "If you're putting new (CHP) generation in downtown Toronto you may be able to avoid a new transmission line that costs more than the generation itself," said Casten.

The benefits of CHP have not gone unnoticed south of the border, and many expect the new Obama administration will spur development as part of its massive economic stimulus package.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a comprehensive report that praised the potential of CHP and recommended what it called "high-deployment policies" that by 2030 would attract an estimated $234 billion (U.S.) in investments and create nearly 1 million highly skilled technical jobs.

Doing so would save enough fuel each year to provide heat and electricity to half of U.S. households. "Emissions could be reduced by more than 800 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking more than half of the current passenger vehicles in the U.S. off the road," according to the report.

Ontario's approach to CHP has been less ambitious, though experts acknowledge the projects can be risky. CHP can help certain industry players become more competitive, but the power authority must also consider whether a weakened company in a struggling industry can be relied on for signing a 20-year contract.

What if, after just a few years, an industrial heat host closes shop? If Dofasco, for example, were to shut down its Hamilton facility, then Sithe would no longer have access to waste gases or have a customer for the plant's heat. As a result, the plant would no longer be viable.

Jason Chee-Aloy, director of generation procurement at the Ontario Power Authority, said it becomes a balancing act – even more so during a recession – between the pursuit of clean and efficient power, the need to make industry competitive, and the mandate to protect ratepayers from unnecessary risk.

"We realize the economy is an issue and we are really paying attention to that. That speaks to some of the complexities with combined heat and power," said Chee-Aloy.

But critics say the agency has been overly cautious. Only seven CHP projects totalling 414 megawatts have been awarded power-purchase agreements from the power authority since 2006. The agency is currently seeking another 500 megawatts through a second round of contracts, but a number of potential bidders – including Sithe and Dofasco – withdrew before last Thursday's application deadline.

Not that these companies didn't invest money and time before getting to that stage, said WWF's Stewart. "They're typically spending $300,000 to $1 million just to do the engineering work. If you're going through the bidding process, that's a lot of money to spend if you're not sure you're going to win."

Enwave Energy Corp., known for building and operating the world's largest deep lake-water cooling system in Toronto, was one potential bidder who decided in the end to withdraw. Enwave wants to replace its natural-gas boiler system used for district heating with a superefficient gas turbine system that would produce both heat and 20 megawatts of electricity, 24-hours a day, for the city.

Get enough of these facilities operating throughout Toronto and building a third transmission corridor into the city could be avoided, some say. It would also be cleaner. "There would be a big reduction overall of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution," said Kevin Loughborough, vice-president of major projects at Enwave.

The project hinged on Enwave's ability to sell the electricity to the province, meaning it had to snag a contract with the power authority. It tried during the last round of contracts and was turned down. It was considering a second attempt but, after reviewing the rules and assessing the economic outlook, isn't so sure now.

"It's more stringent," said Loughborough. "They've put a cap on how much they're prepared to pay, and with the Canadian dollar going down to 80 cents it makes importing equipment, like generators from the U.S., that much more expensive. So it's putting pressure on our business case."

It's frustrating, he said. "We want to do it badly." (Enwave has since found out all applications for multi-megawatt power projects in downtown Toronto are being turned down until Hydro One does upgrades to a transformer station so it can safely take new supply.).

The power authority has clearly stated that it's not prepared to pay more than $2,000 for every kilowatt of electricity a CHP facility is capable of generating. Loughborough said it seems like an arbitrary cap, and is far lower than current estimates for the cost of building new nuclear plants, some even exceeding $6,000 per kilowatt.

Chee-Aloy called the cap an "informed" calculation. "It's really a guiding measure," he said.

The agency, he added, is open to accommodating broader government policy objectives if directed. 
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  #36  
Old Posted Sep 17, 2009, 9:28 PM
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Excellent news!

Dofasco to spend $16M reducing emissions

September 17, 2009
The Canadian Press
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/636768

HAMILTON, Ont. — ArcelorMittal Dofasco plans to spend more than $16 million to reduce emissions at its Hamilton operations over the next three to five years.

The company, formed when the world’s largest steel maker bought the former Hamilton-based Dofasco Inc. three years ago, said the so-called Blue Skies plan will seek to improve air quality in Hamilton.

“Blue Skies is the next step in ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s longstanding and continuous commitment to reduce its environmental footprint. Hamilton’s air quality has improved significantly in the last 10 years, and we will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that this improvement continues,” stated Jim Stirling, ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s general manager of environment.

Projects include equipment upgrades aimed at reducing coke and byproduct plant emissions from the company’s blast furnace operations, and $1.5 million will be put towards cutting down on road dust. The investment will also go towards improving energy efficiency and water quality.

More than $10 million of the funding will be invested by the end of 2010. The rest will be phased in over the following four years.
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  #37  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2009, 2:29 AM
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So they scrapped a clean energy plant in favour of spending a fraction of the amount on cleaning their existing plant. Its a start..
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  #38  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 3:03 PM
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Dofasco looks to hire 100 more workers
Part of $100m plan to fire up third blast furnace

January 06, 2010
http://www.thespec.com/Business%20News/article/698164

ArcelorMittal Dofasco is looking for 100 more good employees.

Company spokesperson Larry Meyers said today the company “is looking at between 300 and 400 new people” for the operation this year.

“Many of those people are already here. Our hiring is under way,” he told Talk 820. “We have committed to them.”

But he said “there are still about 100 more jobs out there for anybody who is looking.”

Myers said of those hired, some have commitment letters and others are hired as casual employees looking to move to permenant at some point.

“We are trying to staff ourselves so we can adjust to market conditions as readily as possible.

Dofasco is looking for university grads, college graduates and skilled tradespeople, he said.

The move is in line with the company’s stated  plans to fire up a third blast furnace at its Hamilton plant as steel markets show tentative signs of improvement.

The $100-million project will see the steelmaker increase use of its electric arc furnace in a bid to hike steel production by 20 per cent.

"Our goal is to get the blast furnace up and running by next summer," Dofasco's Andrew Sloan said before Christmas. "We believe this will allow us to better serve our customers and the market."

A similar plan to expand production was shelved last year when the global economic downturn caused a dramatic decline in steel prices and demand. Markets have improved since then, in part because of government stimulus plans, such as Cash for Clunkers.
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  #39  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2010, 12:04 PM
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As reported in yesterday's Spectator:

Quote:
ARCELORMITTAL CANADA GETS SUSTAINABILITY NOD

ArcelorMittal Canada has been named one of the most sustainable companies in the country.

Toronto-based Corporate Knights magazine named the Hamilton firm to the top position among foreign-controlled companies in Canada.

In a separate ranking, Vancouver-based Mountain Equipment Co-op topped the list. The outdoor recreation company has a store in Burlington and was honoured for its board diversity, low resource use, sustainability mandate and strong supply chain management.

The winners were recognized for their commitment to managing environmental, social and governance issues. More than 3,000 companies were assessed.

"Clearly, the ArcelorMittal group is delighted to be named and recognized for its leadership in managing its business according to the principles of sustainability," ArcelorMittal Dofasco president Juergen Schachler said in a news release.

"Making the list this year, particularly after going through challenging economic times, this shows our commitment to sustainability continues to be a priority and is a strong endorsement of ArcelorMittal's approach to managing its business in Canada."

Corporate Knights focuses on corporate social responsibility.

ArcelorMittal Canada's operations include its Hamilton-based steel-making facilities, pipe and tube plants in Hamilton, Woodstock, London, Brampton and LaSalle, Que., and slab mills and mines in Quebec. The company also operates four scrap-processing facilities -- two in Quebec, one in New Brunswick and one in Ontario.
The complete 2010 Best Corporate Citizen lists can be found here
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  #40  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2011, 4:42 PM
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ArcelorMittal invests $253m at Dofasco
Liberals add another $43.6m at steelmaker

http://www.thespec.com/news/business...53m-at-dofasco

ArcelorMittal will spend $253 million over the next two years to increase production and improve energy efficiency at its Dofasco operation.

The Ontario government will kick in as much as another $43.6 million to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions at the Hamilton plant.

Company officials and Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello announced the spending Tuesday morning.

The plan is to significantly increase production of galvalume, a specially coated steel with double the durability and corrosion resistance of galvanized steel.
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