TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Finnish steelmaker Ruukki on Tuesday opened its US headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a new Canadian headquarters in Toronto, as it expanded in North America.
Kevin Kale, who the company said has 17 years of experience in the steel industry, would head the Ruukki office in Pittsburgh, and the Canadian business would be directed by new country manager Peter Tuomi, who had an extensive background in mining, materials handling equipment and steel processing.
The entire North American operation would be managed by VP for the Americas Josu Piña.
Ruukki called Pittsburgh "the heartland of America's once-booming steel industry".
The firm said that despite it having sold steel products in the US through an agent in the past, Tuesday’s announcement marked the company's aggressive, “full-bore” expansion into the North American market. The company would drive sales, marketing, technical customer service, technical support and its distribution network through its Pittsburgh and Toronto offices.
Manufacturing and research and development would, however, remain at its state-of-the-art steelworks in Finland.
Ruukki did not state how many employees would be working in Pittsburgh and Toronto.
The $3.8-billion firm markets itself as a sustainable specialty steelmaker. It has 9 000 employees and operations in 30 countries. It had $3.78-billion in sales in 2012.