United States Steel Corporation Establishes New Management Structure

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) has announced another logical next step in the company's Carnegie Way transformation journey.  By Jan. 1, 2015, the company's reporting segments – North American Flat-Rolled, Tubular and U. S. Steel Europe – will be realigned to achieve three strategic goals:

• Collaborate better with customers to create and deliver smarter, more innovative relationships in order to be a more customer-centric global solutions provider;
• Provide focus to Carnegie Way projects within the operating units including reliability centered maintenance and quality, with a continued commitment to safety; and
• Continue earning the right to grow by creating clearer and more focused and effective accountability with the new commercial entities.

"These commercial entities will put our company in a stronger position to be best-in-class in product innovation, customer service and solutions, as well as steel manufacturing," said Mario Longhi, president and chief executive officer of United States Steel.  "In today's global economy, it is important to be aligned as closely as possible with our customers and to help them address their ever-changing market demands.  We have always worked closely with our customers, large and small.  This realignment will help us get even closer to them, creating a more profound in-depth understanding of their needs which will result in mutual success," continued Longhi.

The North American Flat-Rolled realignment will include the creation of enterprise-wide commercial entities to specifically address the following markets: automotive, consumer, industrial, service centers and mining.  Each entity will be led by a business expert with vast knowledge of customers' current and future needs.  This business knowledge will help create better customer solutions.

Automotive Solutions will be based at the company's Automotive Center in Troy, Mich., where the company works jointly with customers to develop solutions utilizing the next generation of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) to address challenges facing the industry, including increased fuel economy standards and enhanced safety requirements.       

Consumer Solutions will closely align with customers in the appliance, packaging, container and construction markets.  The entity will have a robust presence with our tin customers, who represent more than one quarter of the entity's business.  Additional product lines within the unit include the company's COR-TEN AZP®, ACRYLUME®, GALVALUME® and Weathered Metals.   

Industrial Solutions will focus on the company's customers in the pipe and tube manufacturing market, as well as the agricultural and industrial equipment markets.

Service Center Solutions will align closely with service center and distributor customers.  These customers provide a critical bridge to a variety of different enterprises for the company. 

Mining Solutions will include all operations relating to the company's Minnesota Ore Operations facilities – Minntac in Mt. Iron and Keetac in Keewatin – as well as the company's iron ore equity joint ventures.  As the largest and lowest cost pellet producer in Minnesota, the company had a total taconite pellet production of 24.1 million net tons in 2013.  U. S. Steel's integrated steel plants will be the primary customers of the Mining Solutions entity.

In addition to the new commercial entities, the company also announced an increased focus on Flat-Rolled manufacturing operations.  The emphasis will be on implementing strategic initiatives, including reliability centered maintenance, quality and a continued commitment to safety. 

U. S. Steel Tubular Products' commercial and manufacturing operations, now Energy Solutions, will also be aligned to include customer solutions for the oil and gas industry, focusing on the go-to-market tubular goods business strategy, from mill to rig.  Based in Houston, this entity will build on the synergies of the company's nearby tubular operations as well as the U. S. Steel Tubular Products Innovation and Technology Center, which houses the company's tubular research and development facilities.

U. S. Steel Europe will become U. S. Steel European Solutions and is already aligning through The Carnegie Way transformation to accelerate focus on their customers.

These new management structures and commercial entities do not affect reporting segments as they currently exist.  The company will continue to have three reportable operating segments: North American Flat-Rolled Products, Tubular Products and U. S. Steel Europe.  For more information on these reportable operating segments, please see the company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2013.

The business leaders for the commercial entities will be announced following an internal and global executive search that is quickly reaching a conclusion. 

This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to market conditions and proposed operating practices. U. S. Steel has been, and we expect will continue to be, impacted by the current global credit and economic issues. In accordance with "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, cautionary statements identifying important factors, but not necessarily all factors, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements have been included in the Form 10-K of U. S. Steel for the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, and in subsequent filings for U. S. Steel.

United States Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., is a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 200 company with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe and an annual raw steelmaking capability of 24.4 million net tons. The company manufactures a wide range of value-added steel sheet and tubular products for the automotive, appliance, container, industrial machinery, construction, and oil and gas industries. For more information about U. S. Steel, please visit www.ussteel.com.

SOURCE United States Steel Corporation