Nucor's $59M Steel Grating Plant in DeKalb County: What It Means for Midwest Structural Steel Sourcing

Nucor announced a $59 million expansion of its Vulcraft Indiana facility in St. Joe, DeKalb County, adding a 127,000-square-foot building on its existing 250-acre campus to produce steel grating: industrial flooring, walkways, platforms, and stair treads. Groundbreaking is targeted for Q4 2026, with up to 20 new jobs paying more than 150 percent of the DeKalb County average wage, added to the more than 300 people already on site.

The strategic detail most coverage has not named directly: Steel Dynamics' New Millennium Building Systems subsidiary is headquartered in Fort Wayne, fewer than 30 miles away, and grating has not been part of their publicly marketed portfolio, their core lines are joist and deck. Project specifiers who currently split grating and joist-and-deck orders across multiple vendors can now consolidate both at a single Vulcraft source. New Millennium's published product lines do not currently match that combination in the Midwest.

If you procure structural steel for facility construction or maintenance, the consolidation math may have moved in your favor. Get someone on this before the plant reaches full production in 2027.