Several steel mills have the cost-cutting continuous casters that you mention.

And for Geneva, plans to build a vital continuous caster have been shelved until the economy rebounds.

The company's first continuous caster was put into operation in May 1980.

A new continuous caster was installed between 1998 and 2000.

Among improvements to its physical plant is a $250 million continuous caster, which converts liquid steel directly into slabs, installed in 1992.

The money will be used for pollution control equipment, improved rolling mills and a continuous caster, a $200 million apparatus that cuts costs by 10 percent.

Armco decided to invest $100 million on a continuous caster that may make the mill viable.

The companies would have split the $400 million cost to install new machinery like electric furnaces and continuous casters.

And Bethlehem intended to invest $140 million to $180 million for a new continuous caster and other equipment.

That amount included $240 million for a new continuous caster, which produces steel for more than 25 percent less than the traditional method.