Planes, trains, and automobiles: familiar trappings of holiday travelers around this time of year. A steel plant in Pueblo, CO, is benefitting from the continuing growth of at least one of those ever-enjoyable travel methods: with the need for head-hardened steel used in laying rails expanding, the facility will be stepping up its production in 2012. This growth in investment will be accompanied by further efforts to produce higher-quality rail steel, capable of handling the heavy-duty demands of railcar coal transport in addition to travel and commuter rail.
Our work here at Keats Manufacturing is a bit removed from high-impact rail construction, but the repercussions in the industry at large are apparent. Our products do, of course, involve steel, and we’ve seen a number of commodity suppliers come and go over the past few years, in the face of waning production and a difficult economic climate. An investment of this caliber by any raw material producer is a sure sign of strength in the larger manufacturing world – and we also applaud the continued innovation in an industry as well-established as steel production.