Proximity to SDI keeps business smooth for MS Steel Processing
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Economic developers like landing large manufacturers, but when industries that can use what that manufacturer produces move in, that’s even better.
Those complementary industries provide a ready market for the product, or in the case of Mississippi Steel Processing, get it ready for the end user.
The Lowndes County company takes rolled steel produced by nearby Steel Dynamics and cuts it down to the specifications needed by its customers who then turn it into finished products.
Being located so close to SDI cuts down on transportation and production costs for both Mississippi Steel Processing and its customers, and it cuts down the time needed to get from roll to the finished product which is used in a variety of ways.
“If you’re going to the shopping center, and you look at the shelves; that’s a steel shelf. And, at one time that was a master coil. It has to be slit and then processed and then punched out so that it can be a shelf. So, literally, it is everywhere,” said Mark Reynolds, GM/VP of operations at Mississippi Steel Processing.
Altex Tube is another user of steel from SDI that has moved closer to the plant.
Economic developers are banking that Aluminum Dynamics will draw similar complementary businesses when it is up and running.