Dofasco Inc.
Dofasco Inc. has one of the most innovative, productive and empowered workforces in North America. The goal of our workforce has shifted from growth measured by capacity, to growth measured by value-added steelmaking. As a result, Dofasco has become one of the most profitable steel operations in North America based on earnings per ton.
Each one of our 7,400 skilled employees is part of a pro-active team, entrusted to suggest better ways of working, maximize the performance of new technologies, discover ways to improve quality, fine-tune or completely re-build systems, enhance customer support, and find ways to save money for both our customers and shareholders.
This corporate culture is known as the Dofasco Way, and it has been the driving force in employee relations since the company was founded in 1912.
Dofasco was the first Canadian company to introduce profit sharing to motivate the workforce and have employees benefit from the company’s success. In 2002, Dofasco employees in Hamilton shared $51 million — the second largest payout in the history of our profit sharing plan.
We have also consistently provided some of the most progressive training programs in the industry, spending more than $15 million a year to further develop and enhance the skills of our people.
In addition, Dofasco also operates a 100-acre park in Stoney Creek, Ontario, with facilities for staff recreation, education and meetings.
Employee incentives and investments in people are giving Dofasco a significant edge in a more aggressive and hotly competitive steel industry. Our focus is firmly fixed on innovation and measurable performance.
Attrition is less than one per cent, and productivity has increased 50 per cent since 1990, which is about twice the rate of the Canadian manufacturing sector. Our employees feel they have a stake in the company and something to gain in preserving and expanding the Dofasco Way.
History
Hamilton, Ontario has been the home of Dofasco since 1912, when C.W. Sherman founded the Dominion Steel Casting Company to manufacture castings for Canadian railways. Later named Dominion Foundries and Steel, the company merged with its subsidiary, Hamilton Steel Wheel Company in 1917. The name was officially changed to Dofasco Inc. in 1980.
1917-1940
During its first year of operation, the fledgling company produced just over 29,000 tons of steel castings. In comparison, Dofasco shipped more than 4 million tons of steel product in 1999.
In 1918, Dofasco fired up the first universal steel plate mill in Canada. This was the beginning of a series of pioneering initiatives that would set the course of Canadian steelmaking throughout the century.
The 1930’s were an important decade for Dofasco. It defined the company’s direction, and set new standards in employee relations. In 1935 and 1936, an idle steel finishing plant was converted into a cold rolling facility and Canada’s first tinplate plant. Dofasco remains Canada’s only producer of tinplate. Also in 1935, Dofasco became the first Canadian steelmaker to produce hot strip coils.
In 1938, Dofasco became the first Canadian manufacturer to introduce profit sharing. Profit sharing was the centrepiece of a unique employee relations package that, by the end of the decade, would include a company-sponsored pipe band, an annual picnic as a way to introduce management to employees, and one of Canada’s largest staff and family Christmas parties. First held in the tin mill in 1938, Dofasco’s Christmas party drew 44,000 employees, retirees and their families in 1999.
1940-1960
Wartime put added pressure on Canada’s heavy industries. In 1941, production started at Dofasco’s armour plate shop. Every inch of armour plate used to protect Canadian soldiers was manufactured by Dofasco.
By the 1950’s, Dofasco was riding the crest of post-war expansion. In 1951, it became a fully integrated steelmaker with the opening of its first blast furnace and coke oven. A second blast furnace would be added five years later. The highlight of the 1950’s, however, was the pioneering of basic oxygen steelmaking on the North American continent in 1954. Dofasco secured exclusive rights to the basic oxygen furnace technology in Canada from an Austrian steelmaker in 1953. Basic oxygen furnaces remain the common standard for steelmaking around the globe. In February 7, 1958, The Globe & Mail reported that “Post War Growth was Best Illustrated by Dofasco.”
1960-1970
Throughout the 1960’s, Dofasco continued to expand. A second Cleaning Line was installed in 1962, and a 56″ Temper Mill was added in 1965. Dofasco’s present Main Office was also opened at the Hamilton plant in 1962.
The late 1970’s were the beginning of a period of contraction for the North American steel industry. Between 1977 and 1996, 32 per cent of North America’s steelmaking capacity was wiped out. Nevertheless, Dofasco continued to innovate and improve its standards of customer service. A computerized system for the more efficient processing of customer orders was installed in 1973.
1980s-1990s
In 1984, Dofasco was licensed as the sole Canadian producer of Galvalume for the construction industry. And in 1985, The Globe and Mail was reporting that “steel industry watchers are beginning to run out of superlatives to describe the continued robust performance of Dofasco.”
In the 1990’s, Dofasco experienced another period of contraction, which caused Dofasco to seek new ways to gain and maintain a competitive edge in the changing global steel industry. The result was Dofasco’s Solutions in SteelTM strategy: investing more than $2 billion on technology, and putting an emphasis on value-added products.
Solutions in SteelTM has kept Dofasco at the forefront of innovative steelmaking in North America. In 1996, Dofasco fired up an electric arc furnace and slab caster, the first of its kind for any fully-integrated steelmaker on the continent.
In 1997, Dofasco opened its first tube mill. The mill produces tubular steel primarily for hydroforming applications.
In 1999, Dofasco started up its 72″-wide hot dipped galvanizing line joint venture with Arcelor of France. The name of the joint venture is DoSol Galva, and is commonly referred to as DSG. DSG incorporates Sollac’s hot dip coating technology to produce 450,000 tons per year of EXTRAGALTM, a corrosion-resistant galvanized steel primarily for automotive applications and with a particular focus on exposed auto body panels. EXTRAGALTM is established in the European automotive market as the cost-effective replacement for electrogalvanized material in exposed automotive applications. Dofasco is the exclusive North American marketer of DSG’s production of EXTRAGALTM.
2000 Onward
In 2001, Dofasco completed a $138 million upgrade of the Company’s Hot Rolling Mill in Hamilton. Built in 1983 with an original capacity of 2.4 million tons, the mill has been extensively upgraded over the years and in 2002 produced more than 4.5 million tons. The improvement program increased capacity enabling Dofasco to continue to support and grow its value-added product streams such as DoSol Galva and the tubular business. It will keep the Hot Mill at a world class level, increase capacity, enhance product quality, reduce cost and increase our ability to meet our customers’ needs.
In 2000, Dofasco purchased Powerlasers Limited, a leading manufacturer of laser welded automotive blanks and related components. A laser welded automotive blank is two or more sheets of metal seam-welded together into a single “blank” which is then stamped into a part. As a result of innovations in laser welding technology, a single blank can contain different types and thickness of steel. Powerlasers manufactures laser welded automotive blanks in Concord, Ontario and Pioneer, Ohio. It also has a unique Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) in Kitchener, Ontario where it builds equipment that integrates lasers into complete manufacturing cells and does research and development into laser applications and hardware (lasers and robotics). With the acquisition of Powerlasers, Dofasco has gained a strong position in the rapidly growing market of laser welded automotive blanks.
Dofasco’s second tube mill in Hamilton began commercial production in 2000. It has an annual capacity of 150,000 tons.
A third tube mill, located in Monterrey, Mexico, began operating in 2002. Dofasco de Mexico has an annual capacity of 150,000 tons.