SMS earns Optimus Steel mill services contract

Burnham, Illinois-based Scrap Metal Services LLC (SMS) has announced that its mill services division, SMS Mill Services LLC, has reached a multiyear agreement with Optimus Steel LLC to provide on-site scrap management services at the Optimus facility in Beaumont, Texas.

Optimus Steel produces a range of wire rods, coiled rebar and billets. The Beaumont electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill has current melt capacity of around 700,000 tons per year and rolling capacity of 800,000 tons per year. The mill was formerly operated by Brazil-based Gerdau S.A. until it was sold in early 2018 to a Florida-based ownership group that renamed it Optimus Steel.

Optimus Steel and SMS say “key synergies” in the arrangement include shared consulting and management solutions to support Optimus’ productivity enhancement strategies, and the companies cite “shared values in safety, excellence, innovation and collaboration [in] forming the building blocks to a long-term business relationship.”

“This contract is an integral part of SMS’s ongoing efforts, which includes a diversified presence in the domestic and international markets, as SMS is targeting and actively expanding its mill service activities to align with its overall growth initiatives,” says Jeremy Kirchin, CEO of SMS.

Comments Jim Kerkvliet, CEO and president of Optimus, “We are pleased to have found a partner that is aligned with the business philosophies of Optimus Steel and supports our goal of becoming a world class steel mill in terms of safety, quality, value and innovation. This agreement with SMS helps us to continue to strive for perfection in everything we do.”

SMS operates scrap processing, steel mill services, ship dismantling and recycling and truck and railcar dismantling facilities in the United States. The company supplies ferrous and nonferrous scrap commodities to domestic and international consumers and offers brokerage and trading services to other scrap companies. Together with its affiliates, SMS has operations in the United States, Europe and Mexico. It describes SMS Mill Services as a provider of mill support, processing and management services for metals producers.