Sneak Peek At ThyssenKrupp Steel

Recession Calvert What does the 4.2 billion dollar steel mill look like 2 years after groundbreaking? Click on the story to check it out!

by Tiffany Craig

Published: Thu, October 08, 2009 - 4:55 pm CST Last Updated: Fri, October 09, 2009 - 5:39 pm CST

CALVERT, Alabama - Nestled on 3,600 acres in North Mobile County, ThyssenKrupp looks more like a city than a steel mill.

Since breaking ground in November 2007, 4,200 construction workers have been busy.

Progress has popped up all over the site and TK's Scott Posey is giving our viewers a closer look.

Posey says it's hard to imagine what's off Highway 43, you just have to see it. "You can hear about it and hear the facts and figures. Until you're out here and put it relative to heavy equipment, relative to people and you're standing in the middle of it, it's hard to grasp."

No cameras have been into the new hot strip mill until now and this place is massive. "It's nearly 2,000 feet. That's roughly the length of 6 football fields just in this one mill." The steel production equipment is so heavy that the foundation has to be four feet thick."There's more concrete in the basement of the hot strip mill than there is in the foundation of the Sears tower in Chicago."

Inside and out, the steel and stainless mills are being built in eye-catching colors and there's a reason for that. "Studies have shown that creates a more pleasant working environment and also that the operators take better care of it when it's not just slapped with your standard gray paint."

There's still plenty of work to do in Calvert but the first mill should be completed by the spring of 2010. "We have spent the last two years working way more than 40 hours a week to get this start up off the ground."

TK is still the largest private economic project in the entire country and carries a price tag of 4.2 billion dollars.

If you are interested in working for ThyssenKrupp, click here.

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