Roller Tables Inside ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor Works

ArcelorMittal's Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago, Indiana, sits along Lake Michigan and ranks among the largest integrated steel mills in North America. The facility traces its roots to Inland Steel, which built the plant starting in 1901 and operated it for most of the 20th century before a series of mergers led to ArcelorMittal's ownership in 2006. Roller tables like these move slabs and billets between processing stages, using motor-driven rollers and chain drives to carry red-hot steel through the mill without manual handling. The long production bays, built with overhead monitor roofs to vent heat and admit daylight, are typical of early 20th-century steel mill construction and remain a defining feature of the Indiana Harbor complex.

Photo taken in July 2016.