Location: ATI Vandergrift Operation (formerly a U.S. Steel mill) in Vandergrift
Featured guests: Mike Bench (director, operations), Jordan Turgeon, (senior leader, operations) and Christine Crowell (senior engineer, technology) from ATI
3 things that surprised me:
1. Though ATI just announced the completion of a multiyear expansion of its Vandergrift Operations, steel has been manufactured on this site for over 100 years. The plant was initially built as an Apollo Iron and Steel facility in the late 1800s before becoming part of the U.S. Steel Corp.
2. ATI’s state-of-the-art advanced materials finishing operation turns out specialty steel that can withstand high temperatures and high stress and can be used to construct everything from airplanes to pipelines to spaceships. Mike and Jordan did their best to explain how the massive spools of steel are unrolled and then heated to over 2,000 degrees in a furnace as they go through an “annealing process” that alters the structure to make it softer but also less likely to break.
3. As the seemingly endless roll of steel moves through the machine, it can be attached to another length of steel to make it even longer. Christine explained that they could make a piece of a mile-long steel. Some customers might want a mile-long piece of steel to build a multi-mile pipe system with fewer seams.
One thing that didn’t make the final cut: To get around the expansive warehouse, many of the employees ride bikes to get from one end of the production line to the other.
Want more Yinzer Backstage Pass? Check out to Microbac’s Warrendale laboratory where they test local foods for deadly pathogens.
