Paragon Tube, 1605 Winter St, Fort Wayne, IN 46803, US

In 1993, Steel Dynamics set out to do something that had not been done in the United States for many years. That was to create a new, independently financed, American steel company. The company's Butler, Ind., operation includes value-added facilities producing cold-rolled steel, galvanized sheet and painted coils. In 2003, Steel Dynamics purchased an additional galvanizing facility in Jeffersonville, Ind. Its second greenfield mini-mill, located in Columbia City, Ind., began production of structural steel in summer 2002. The company's structural and rail mill ship a wide variety of wide-flange beams. In 2002, Steel Dynamics acquired an idle mini-mill in Pittsboro, Ind., to form a new Steel Dynamics Bar Products Division. The new division began production and shipments of special-bar-quality steels late in 2003. The Steel Dynamics operations have brought the company's annual steel production capacity to more than 4 million tons a year. It trades on NASDAQ under the symbol STLD. The company is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Ind.