Indiana Harbor Works

Indiana Harbor, east of Chicago, is the largest steel complex in the USA, producing 10 million tons of steel per year. Historically it was two separate plants, now known as the East Works, and the West Works. The East Works was established by Inland Steel in 1901. By 1961 it had over 20,000 workers. The newer and smaller West Works was founded in 1923 by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, which became part of LTV Steel in 1984. Mittal, an India-based international steel company, has owned both since 2004. Mittal and the European steel company Arcelor merged in 2006, to become ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company. There are five blast furnaces operating at the site, two on the west side and three on the east. Overall, the plant produces mostly wide strip steel and rolls of sheet metal for the automobile industry.