A Profile of the Steel Industry

Chapter 1

Introduction

The steel mill and the auto plant were the icons of the 20th-century industrial economy. By the 21st century, many people viewed steel as Big, Ugly and Gone to China. An informed observer would have the picture that in the 1980s the traditional big steel mills were overtaken by the modern smaller “minimills.” Then, after 2000 the whole business shifted to China. Not so. In manufacturing, The World Is Not Flat! Public discourse about globalization is dominated by simple models such as the existence of Chinese low wages means all manufacturing will inevitably re-locate there. The real world of industry is much more complicated and even hopeful. The steel industry has continuously been forced to remake itself, which it has ...