AK Steel receives supplier award from Honda North America

AK Steel, headquartered in West Chester, Ohio, has announced it has received a supplier award for environmental achievement from Honda North America Inc., Torrance, California. The award in the Conservation of Natural Resources category was presented at Honda’s 23rd Annual Supplier Symposium in Columbus, Ohio, recognizing AK Steel for a project at its Rockport, Indiana, facility that resulted in reduced water and energy consumption.

“We are honored to receive this supplier recognition from Honda,” says James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of AK Steel.  “This project is just one example of our ongoing work to encourage recycling, recovery, reuse and reduction, where possible, of water and energy in our operations.”

The award was given as part of Honda’s Environmental Achievement Recognition. The voluntary program recognizes suppliers who achieve environmental excellence in at least one of three different categories, including pollution prevention, energy reduction and conservation of natural resources, according to the company. The purpose of the program, Honda says, is to recognize suppliers’ efforts in completing projects with Honda Green Factory benefits and to communicate and share projects and ideas with other suppliers.

AK Steel’s Rockport Works produces a full-range of carbon coated, cold rolled and stainless steels. The facility is located on the Ohio River in southwest Indiana. The state-of-the-art carbon and stainless steel finishing operations are housed in more than 1.75 million square feet of buildings, says AK Steel. The plant incorporates automated guidance vehicles and automated cranes to move steel through the various finishing operations.

AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs approximately 8,000 workers at eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants across Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.