From STEEL GRIPS online steel production ArcelorMittal idles Indiana Harbour, USA, bar mill Feb 27, 2009 The No. 4 steel bar mill inside ArcelorMittal's Indiana Harbor East plant in East Chicago, Ind., has been shut for up to three weeks. The majority of the 450 workers will be laid off. The shutdown is part of a series of temporary cuts intended to reduce ArcelorMittal's global production by 45 percent. The bar plant makes steel in an electric arc furnace, and the 12-inch bar mill rolls the semifinished billets into bars. These special quality bar steel are used to make automotive axles and steering linkage. A spokesman told STEEL GRIPS that "the company is being forced to respond to (an) extraordinary economic environment." The bar mill’s idling stems from the downturn in North American automotive production, according to the spokesman. The spokesman declined to speculate whether the bar mill’s idling might extend beyond three weeks. © Copyright 2007 by GRIPS media