SMI switches to CMC brand.

The steelmaking and fabricating units that formerly operated under the Structural Metals Inc. (SMI) name are changing their identities to become the CMC Steel Group.

A new name and logo will be in place for the former SMI operations effective March 1, 2006, according to corporate parent Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), Irving, Texas.

The company says the new corporate identity will "provide a cohesive, instantly recognizable identity associated with its core business."

Murray McClean, president and COO of Commercial Metals Co., says, "Since CMC has grown larger and stronger over many years, offering more services in more places to more customers, the company needs a single, streamlined identity system that helps customers worldwide always know when they're doing business with CMC."

Russ Rinn, president and CEO of the newly named CMC Steel Group, says, "For years the more than 11,000 employees in the CMC family have operated in over 150 worldwide operations, utilizing many different business names with different logos. Now, it's time to bring our corporate family together under the unifying CMC name and utilize common logos."

Commercial Metals Co. and its subsidiaries manufacture, recycle and market steel and metal products, related materials and services through a network that includes steel mini-mills, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, a copper tube mill, metal recycling facilities and marketing and distribution offices throughout the United States.