Bringing Steel to Life
Steel impacts virtually every aspect of modern life. Our steelmaking and construction projects support the essential infrastructure that people rely on to live, work, grow and connect. Through all that we do, sustainability remains our goal and our way of doing business.
At their core, our mills are steel recycling facilities. Scrap metal goes back into the economy as we create new products and put them into circulation. Recycle, produce, fabricate, repeat—our operations encompass the entire lifecycle of steel.
In 1952, CMC raised the bar for our industry by becoming the first steel manufacturer in the U.S. to adopt the vertical integration model. We then expanded this approach to Europe. Our vertically integrated model allows CMC to remain a producer of high-quality steel, respond swiftly to changing customer needs and provide value to our investors.
Vertical integration in the circular economy
We fully embrace the fact that steel is infinitely recyclable. Our closed loop vertical integration model goes hand in hand with the principles of a circular economy, producing more benefits for the infrastructure of modern life.
As populations grow and resource consumption increases, the circular economy model seeks to decouple the relationship between economic production and the consumption of increasingly limited resources, such as energy and metals.
With our vertically integrated recycling model, CMC lives and breathes the principles of a circular economy. The many benefits include:
- Reducing or eliminating waste and pollution
- Leveraging the unique, natural resilience of steel, which can be recycled infinitely without losing its inherent properties
- Minimizing impacts on natural resources
In 2023, our vertically integrated manufacturing process kept nearly 18 billion pounds of scrap metal out of landfills. We collect scrap metal from our local recycling centers to transport to our steel mini and micro mills, where it’s melted, cast and rolled into steel shapes and later fabricated into finished steel products for the many markets we serve.
Our mills bridge recycling and fabrication—we can use nearly any type of steel scrap to make new steel products, creating a closed-loop system. Most of the coproducts and waste we produce is 100% recyclable.
In addition to the environmental benefits, our vertical integration model:
- Improves operational efficiencies
- Ensures supply chain resiliency
- Helps customers meet their own sustainability goals
Our model also helps us rapidly respond to changes in the business environment. Our downstream business keeps us in direct contact with the end customer—right to the construction site where our sustainable products are installed. This gives us insight into market trends and developments that help us better serve customers.
