First Stage Processing

Temper passing, cutting to length, stretch leveling, blanking and slitting from coils into sheets, shapes or strips, known as First Stage Processing, is a critical step in transforming metals into products.

Olympic Steel began as a distribution company in 1954, purchasing steel coils and sending them to be processed at local toll processing centers. For the next 30 years or so, that was the business model that allowed the Company to grow. Sol Siegal, one of the founders of Olympic Steel, believed owning equipment that could break down would affect the ability to turn a profit. When Michael Siegal, Sol’s son, became CEO in 1984, he brought a new perspective and belief that the Company should have more control over its own destiny. Around 1986, Olympic Steel invested in its first cut-to-length line and installed it in the Bedford Heights, OH facility. It was one of the largest lines in the country at the time, and how we began first stage processing.

From that first half inch, 96”-wide cut-to-length line, expansion into first stage processing became a core focus of the Company. After the initial public stock offering in 1994, expansion continued with the addition of Olympic Steel’s first temper mill in Cleveland in 1996, the second major piece of equipment.

Over time, with expansions and acquisitions, we have grown our first stage processing capabilities to include:

• Twelve slitting lines [Milford, CT; Minneapolis, MN; Winder, GA and our Berlin Metals and Integrity Stainless subsidiaries]
• Nine cut-to-length lines [Cleveland, OH; Milford, CT; Minneapolis, MN; Schaumburg, IL; Winder, GA]
• Three 4-high temper mills [Bettendorf, IA; Cleveland, OH; Gary, IN]
• Two stretch leveling lines [Minneapolis, MN; Winder, GA]
• Two stamping/blanking lines [Winder, GA]
• Two new cut-to-length lines expected in late 2025 [Minneapolis, MN; Schaumburg, IL]
• One new slitting line expected to be in operation in spring of 2026 [Berlin Metals]

FIRST STAGE

First Stage Processing is fittingly named – it is the first step in transforming a steel coil into manageable pieces (strips, rectangles or shapes). We buy product in coil form, including hot rolled, cold rolled, stainless, aluminum, galvanized and galvannealed material. Each coil is slit into strips that we recoil or flatten and cut into rectangles or predefined shapes. The metal can be shipped to customers as sheet, narrower coils or parts at that point, or it can be used in downstream processing such as laser cutting, machining, forming or welding.

Each division oversees their own pieces of processing equipment, with their local Operations Manager, General Manager and support from Terry Rohde, Vice President – Operations and the Corporate Operations Team to continue to operate safely and efficiently.

Olympic Steel touches a multitude of industries with our first stage processing. Large companies often referred to as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) including John Deere, Caterpillar and Great Dane have worked with us for a long time, some for decades, even before we provided value-added processing, also known as fabrication services, in our facilities. One unique product we produce on one of our temper mills is Oly-FlatBrite^®, a Hot Rolled, Annealed and Pickled (HRAP) stainless steel, which is used on the back end of truck trailers, the rear frames of Walmart trucks and in the stainless steel tank industry.

OUTLOOK

Olympic Steel is continuing to focus on our first stage processing as a fantastic synergy that allows us to feed our growing downstream (value-added/fabrication) business. Our wide range of manufacturing processes and capabilities allows us to support our key customers and OEMs while driving our strategy of safe, profitable and sustainable growth.

Learn more about our processes, divisions, family of brands, business segments and subsidiaries at Olympic Steel Academy!