Without doubt, the minimill revolution has had profound and lasting effects on the world steel industry. Minimills—small-scale steel plants embodying a superior technology and, more importantly, more streamlined management processes—emerged more or less simultaneously in the United States, Southern Europe, and Japan in the 1950s. Despite a limited product range, minimills grew to more than 20 percent of production in all these regions by 1990.

Such plants were still, however, precluded for technical reasons from participating in steel's largest market—the sheets used in automobiles, containers, and other major markets. This changed with the commissioning of Nucor's Crawfordsville, Indiana plant in 1989. The success of this facility initiated a surge of new ones that are revitalizing the US steel industry. By the end of this decade, world-class mini-sheet plants will represent more than 25 percent of US hot-band capacity. By 2000, almost 60 percent of American sheet capacity will be highly competitive by international standards, up from less than 20 percent in the early 1980s—an extraordinary turnaround.

In stark contrast, Europe and Japan have adopted this new production process at a glacial pace. All told, there are around 10 million net tons of mini-sheet capacity operating in North America, Europe,...