Analysis
June 8, 2026
SMU Community Chat: JSW USA's Simon upbeat on Baytown, Mingo Junction
Written by Ethan Bernard
Longtime steel veteran Robert Simon is excited about the transformation taking place at JSW Steel USA. And he has a rosy outlook for the rest of the year.
Simon, CEO of JSW Steel USA, a subsidiary of India’s JSW Steel, sat down with SMU Editor-in-Chief Michael Cowden last week for a Community Chat.
He’s been at JSW USA since March 2024 but started in steel at Oregon Steel Mills, where he spent over 20 years. It was later part of Evraz North America, and now part of Orion Steel Companies. He has also worked at Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Steel Dynamics Inc.
In a wide-ranging conversation, he touched on an upcoming outage at its Baytown, Texas, plate mill (there’s also a pipe and tube mill there). He also spoke about improvements taking place at the company’s Mingo Junction, Ohio, steel slab and HRC mill. Of course, these were just a few of the topics touched upon. To see the whole interview, click here.
Outage
As upgrades continue at its Baytown plate mill, Simon said there will be a six-week outage in August.
“Unfortunately, it falls during a very hot market,” he said, referring to increasing demand and prices. In fact, the company expects positivity in the marketplace going forward, “really for the remainder of the year, at least.”
Simon noted customers are aware of the outage and the company is working to “plan as well as we can for them.”
“But we’re committed to the improvement, and we’re going to carry out the outage and make sure that it happens,” he added.
Baytown upgrades
The outage comes amid ~$110 million in previously announced upgrades, which are “pretty much all related to the plate mill.”
The company is putting in a new leveler as well as accelerated cooling.
“We’ll be able to increase our direct quenching capability, putting in new water systems,” he continued. “We’re really opening up markets that allow us to exploit the capabilities of our mill. We have a mill that can make plate up to 156 inches wide.”
Simon said the Baytown upgrades should be completed and equipment up by the end of the calendar year, and “most definitely by end of the fiscal year,” which ends March 31.
Mingo Junction
At the Mingo Junction mill, Simon said the $145 million in improvements are basically complete.
He said Mingo will now be able to cast 12-inch slabs, “which it’s never been able to do.”
Simon noted that Mingo Junction is producing over 90% of the slabs for Baytown and is quickly approaching 100%, and should be there within the next six weeks.
“This is very exciting for us,” Simon said.
When he spoke at SMU’s Tampa Steel Conference in February, Simon had noted that the melt shop at Mingo Junction had completely frozen pipes. But that problem is well behind them.
The caster is up and running, Simon said. “We’re making some very beautiful slabs. Very proud to say that.”
