Arcerion Steel Corporation: Difference between revisions

Roughly a decade after the founding of [[Easthampton]], Arcerion Steel Corporation was registered with the Lieutenant-Governor's office as a Crown Corporation, although shortly thereafter it was bought back by private investors, notably John O. Marsden, Reginald Billsworth, and Adam F. Chauncey. With the initial founding of the company, mining operations were set up for iron ore strip mining, with ground broken in 1849, a year after the company was registered. The strip mine began by using a light rail network to transport the ore to Chester-on-Moore but under the supervision of the first steel magnate, John O. Marsden, there was an opportunity to secure funding from the Arcer government and the [[Ardmori Crown]], and establish the company's first steel plant.  

=== First Factories (1848-1902) ===

The first steel factory, employed a few hundred naturalized Arcers, Ardmori immigrants, and indigenous labourers began its operations in refinement of raw iron ore into finished, flat rolled steel, the first finished pieces being shipped via the [[Arco National Railway Service|Arcer National Railway Service]] (ARNS) to Chester-on-Moore in 1851. Marsden ensured that wharf and dockyard facilities were bought, and worked on building and establishing a relationship with merchant mariners from [[Burgundie]] to ship the steel abroad, seeing as the Arcer shipbuilding industry had yet to create any large commercial freighters, instead focusing on inland expansion and railways, as the Ardmori government and Crown was contributing the majority of the ships and naval commerce to their Cronan colony.  

Thanks in part to a large number of foreign buyers, Arco Steel was becoming one of the major industrial competitors in Crona, allowing the opening of a second factory by by 1970. Increases in orders from Crona, Levantia, and Sarpedon meant that a subsidiary company was set up in conjunction with major ship builders in [[Foxhey Governorate]], Arcerion Steel Shipping Lines, which allowed for a more seamless integration of the steel exports, staffed by a number of former members of the [[Royal Arcerion Naval Service]]. This coincided with a secondary factory, constructed adjacent to the first in Easthampton, and doubled the amount of employees to several thousand across its many divisions now.  

As of 1880, the company now separated into three divisions, Iron Ore Extraction, Manufacturing, and Shipping/Exports. Marsden overall maintained on the board as Chairman but had consolidated power and pushed out Billsworth and Chauncey, replacing them with 'company men' who had worked their way up the corporate ladder since Arco Steel's founding three decades before. Steel exports to Levantia had continued to grow, and with the industry now becoming the single most important company in Easthampton, Arco Steel was poised to be the largest corporation in Arcerion by 1900, but with the arrival of the [[First Great War]], there was a distinct shift. Battles as part of the Arco-Paul conflict spilled out of Washakara and into Easthampton, damaging the plant's ability to produce steel. The [[Arcerion Parachute Regiment]], at that time the Duke of Lincolnshire's Regiment, was awarded a regimental battle honour for defending Easthampton, and set their Regimental Headquarters within Factory No.1's own offices, and their mortars and artillery in the plant itself. This spawned an affiliation between the two organizations, and with the war's conclusion and Arco Steel continuing production and operations, Marsden annually paid for a Christmas Dinner to be put on for the Regiment, a tradition that continues in modern times.  

=== Interwar & [[Second Great War]] Period (1906-1943) ===

[[File:Easthampton Railyard.jpg|thumb|One of the railyards owned by Arco Steel in Easthampton. ]]

The firm maintains seven steel factories, all located in Easthampton or the surrounding area. The original plant is only partially operational, with most production for modern steelmaking being transferred to Factories No.3-7, constructed in the 1960s and the most modern of the facilities. Plans by the Board of Directors to renovate the first three facilities have seen difficulties going through modernization due to political impediments that have thus far been immune to lobbying. The factories cover a wide area over thousands of acres, and have the ability for both steelmaking and finishing facilities as an integrated mill, and have the largest annual capacity of any Cronan steel manufacturing plant, ironworks, or mill. The Easthampton City Council recently approved the increase of land purchasing by Arco Steel, on the caveat that certain underused or underdeveloped areas of the city considered to be of lower socioeconomic status are to be renovated as part of charitable contributions to the town in return for favourable land purchasing rights.  

=== Railroads & Ports ===

The commanding influence that Arco Steel has in the National Railway Service is a byproduct of 19th and 20th century investment in the Southern Rail networks in Moorden governorate. The company maintains sizeable railheads in Easthampton, Chester-on-Moore, Kurst, and Port Hughes, all of which serve as part of the vertical integration of the steel business to enable the manufacturing facilities to get finished steel through port functions and abroad with ease. This is concurrent with investment in Chester-on-Moore expanding the size of the Chester Wharf and the docking facilities at Port Hughes, both of which can now accommodate a larger amount of marine traffic from [[Burgundie]], [[Alstin]], as well as [[Malentine Sea|Malentine]] and Songun Sea freighters. The rail lines from Easthampton to Kurst are the busiest cargo and freight rail lines in Southern Crona.  

Arco Steel has also invested heavily in the Heartland rail line, from Easthampton-Kurst-[[New Archduchy|Adriansville]], to allow for steel to cross the [[Odoneru Ocean]] and enter Northeast Crona.  

=== Kinnaird Steel Building ===

=== Foreign Offices ===