ACIPCO plans to spend $55 million on an expansion at American Steel Pipe in Birmingham. (Special)Updated at 2:44 p.m. to clarify products made by American Steel Pipe.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – American Steel Pipe, a subsidiary of ACIPCO, will spend $55 million to expand its Birmingham operation with the addition of a processing facility and other improvements, the company announced today.
The 150,000-square-foot processing plant will be built alongside the company’s North Mill and will house testing equipment and a system that bevels the ends of pipe. The existing processing plant will be connected to the company’s South Mill, doubling its processing capability.
A company spokeswoman said the expansion will not create new jobs initially. The company employs about 1,650 in Birmingham.
The company also will make other improvements to its North Mill, resulting in major improvements in efficiency, said Jon Noland, division sales manager for American.
“The entire operation will be practically new,” Noland said in a statement.
The project will eliminate a constraint in processing, and could as much as double the output of the plants.
“That would mean an annual capacity of around 700,000 net tons,” Noland said.
Birmingham Mayor William Bell praised ACIPCO for the investment, saying the company has been an important corporate partner for the city for more than a century.
"This expansion by ACIPCO places the company in an even stronger position as a major competitor in the global market, and we are very appreciative for yet another investment of capital by the company and ACIPCO's (1,650) jobs in our city," Bell said in a statement.
Brasfield & Gorrie will build the new processing plant, ACIPCO said. Work on the new facility is expected to begin by the end of this year and to be completed in 2014.
“Our aim is to have the new facility online by this time next year,” said Joe Thomas, senior engineering project manager for American Steel Pipe.
ACIPCO’s American Steel Pipe makes pipe for the oil and gas industry.