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On Inauguration Day 2025, U.S. Steel will play a critical role in supporting the next president of the United States (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, subscription).

What’s going on: The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania–based manufacturer produced the 10 nails used in the First Nail Ceremony held last month on the West Front of the Capitol Building, signifying the start of the construction of the 2025 inauguration platform.

• On Sept. 18, “a bipartisan group of high-ranking lawmakers lined up to hammer the U.S. Steel nails into a wooden plank for the platform’s cornerstone.”
• The group included Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin.

The details: “U.S. Steel was chosen to produce the ceremonial nails from iron ore mined and processed in Ms. Klobuchar’s district, in Minnesota’s Iron Range, by U.S. Steel facilities in Keewatin and Mountain Iron.”

No easy feat: Though U.S. Steel has not produced nails in many years and had less than a day to turn around the custom order, it was able to do it thanks to the “innovative skills” of its Research and Technology Center in Munhall, Pennsylvania.

• “Engineer Dan Coughlin needed to find the proper material first. The steelmaker keeps an inventory of materials on hand at the Munhall R&D facility, including Minnesota iron ore, which was alloyed with other elements to produce the nails.”
• To inscribe “USS” on the nail heads, U.S. Steel used a CNC milling machine. It cut the nails using a high-pressure water jet stream.

Personal delivery: “Initially, [the company] planned to finish the nails by 4 p.m. for express delivery the next morning to Washington, D.C. But the nails were needed the night before the ceremony. Joe Bosko, an engineering technician, agreed to drive them himself.”