STI Member Profile: Growth, Sustainability and Solutions

There are a lot of things going on at Nucor Tubular Products, a leading manufacturer of structural steel tubing throughout North America. And for the last 17 years he has been at Nucor, Group Sales Manager Doug Rife has seen a lot. What really excites him about the Nucor team is how they have contributed to the growth of the industry and the progress they have made with strengthening their partnerships while offering enterprise-wide solutions to customers.

“[My favorite thing about the business is] being a part of an enterprise and team of leaders that lends itself to helping our partners find solutions to their everyday challenges,” says Rife. “Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention the incredible partnerships we have with our customers.”

Rife is most proud of how the team has been able to maximize the strength of our supply chain to offer sustainable solutions to our partners. It’s also about the relationships the team has formed that have helped develop partnerships to better serve construction, heavy equipment, service centers and renewable energy provider industries.

“Nucor operates five sheet mills,” says Rife. “That gives us the most reliable and sustainable supply chain in the industry. Our integration with our sheet mills, which is the feedstock we use to produce all of our tubing products, allows us to be the only producer that can guarantee all of our material originated from an electric arc furnace (EAF). EAF steel has a global warming potential (GWP) of one-third of the GWP of the alternate steel-making method. Obtaining our sheet from inside the enterprise also ensures there will be no supply chain disruptions. Together, we work very closely with our newly formed Construction Solutions Group to find innovative solutions and new opportunities for our customers.”

Nucor provides an extremely diverse product portfolio, including HSS, sprinkler and standard pipe, foundation piling, conduit, and a wide range of products to the solar market. They also offer industry-leading embodied carbon material supported by facility-specific environmental product declarations. “We bring huge value to customers looking for one-stop-shop solutions,” says Rife. “And our online customer portal is widely recognized as a market-leading platform in our industry.”

The full list of steel tube grades and sizing is as follows:

Hollow Structural Sections (HSS)

• Squares – from 2″ SQ x 1/8″ wall to 14″ SQ x 5/8″ wall
• Rectangles – from 2 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ x 1/8″ wall to 16″ x 8″ x 5/8″ wall
• Rounds – from 1.666″ OD x 0.109″ wall to 16″ OD x 0.688″ wall

Standard Pipe

• 1″ NPS, 0.133″ wall to 8″ NPS, 0.322″ wall

Fire Protection Sprinkler Pipe

• 1″ NPS to 8″ NPS, Schedule 7, 10 and 40

Electrical Conduit

• Meets UL6, UL 797 and UL 1242 standards
• 1/2″ to 4″ for EMT and IMC
• 1/2″ to 6″ for GRC

Mechanical Tubing

• Squares – from 1/2″ SQ to 3″ SQ
• Rectangles – 1″ x 1.5″ to 4″ x 2″
• Rounds – 0.75″ OD to 4″ OD
• Walls – 0.031″ to 0.135″ (16 through 11 gauge)

Specifications

• ASTM A500               
• ASTM A513               
• ASTM A252               
• ASTM A1085             
• ASTM A847               
• ASTM A53                 
• ASTM A135/A795
• CSAG40.2

Value-Added Offerings

• In-house band saw cutting
• I.D. flash removal
• In-house mechanical properties testing
• Charpy V-notch testing
• Pipe beveling
• Miter cutting

When it came to joining STI or not, the decision was easy. Rife says Nucor and STI both strongly support the “opportunity to come together as one voice” with the community to help make steel and steel tubing the material of choice. Being in the STI community helps them keep up to date on market information, competitive materials and other threats to steel. Rife particularly appreciates STI’s HSS Capability Tool for specifiers and fabricators to discern what shapes are produced and who produces them.

With Nucor and STI, Rife is proud of the difference Nucor has been able to make in the industry. “A simple value we preach with our team is that we come to work every day to build a highly successful and sustainable business,” says Rife. “While we are still in the beginning phase of our journey, we are extremely excited about what the future holds. Our ability to offer the most sustainable supply chain and market-leading solutions to our customers will continue to drive us forward.”