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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Versatility, efficiency and quality service bring success STEELFAB has delivered steel products and fabricated steel structures in Alaska for more than five decades Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
Some companies thrive on meeting the challenges of operating in a remote region like Alaska. Take STEELFAB, for example. Since 1948 this Anchorage-based steel company has defied the conventional view that a top-notch fabrication plant requires proximity to major markets in the Lower 48.
Richard Faulkner, STEELFAB’s president, attributes his company’s success to versatility and the delivery of high-quality, efficient services.
“You have to pretty much watch what you’re doing and make sure that you’re cost competitive — you have to make sure that you provide a service and make a buck at the end of the day,” Faulkner told Petroleum News recently.
Faulkner and his wife Janet purchased STEELFAB from the company’s original owners in 1988. Within a few years of the purchase the Faulkners undertook a major expansion of the business by extending the original 12,000 square-foot facility and upgrading the plant.
“From ‘91 to ‘99 we did additions and modifications to the facility, bringing the total square footage under roof to about 80,000 square feet,” Faulkner said. “In the process we upgraded everything that we had purchased and added to it.”
The company now employs 50 to 60 people year round, Faulkner said.
STEELFAB’s 10-acre site near Ship Creek in Anchorage sits within easy reach of road, rail and sea transportation. The company orders raw steel products such as angles, channels and plate from the Lower 48 and maintains a substantial stock on site — the company’s service center offers a convenient Alaska outlet for these raw products.
STEELFAB’s fabrication shop makes steel structures ranging from bridges to drilling rigs and steel doors.
“There’s not much that we haven’t built through the years,” Faulkner said. “... you name something built out of steel and we’ve probably built one.” Custom designs STEELFAB makes things to order rather than manufacturing standard products. A customer will provide a design or an engineering drawing and STEELFAB will cut, bend and assemble steel components to precisely meet the customer specifications.
“Everything is different — we don’t build a product per se, so we don’t build widgets all day long,” Faulkner said. “We get the bulk of our work through the bidding process.”
Some of the more prominent examples of STEELFAB’s work include the skywalk between the Egan Center and the Performing Arts Center in Anchorage, the new railroad bridge at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and some steel artwork in Anchorage. Made in Alaska Although the cold climate and other factors make fabrication costs in Alaska relatively high, Faulkner thinks that Alaska customers benefit from shopping locally rather than having things made in the Lower 48.
“We find that the general perception with folks here is that they’re better buying Outside — they think they’re getting a better product,” Faulkner said. “They don’t look at some of the hidden costs that are involved with it.”
For example, it usually costs more to ship up a completed product than it does to ship the raw materials.
“Generally if it’s already fabricated the freighting rate is much higher than ... if you bring in just a flat product,” Faulkner said.
In addition, STEELFAB’s large on-site stock of raw products usually enables the company to start a fabrication project without having to wait for material to arrive from the Lower 48. Combine that with the convenience of dealing with a local steel company rather than a distant manufacturer and customers can save quite a bit of time.
“We stock about 1,000 to 1,500 tons of steel at any one particular time and so we would have something to be able to get started on it and react to the (customer’s) project rather quicker than down south,” Faulkner said. “If they need something in a hurry we can build those pieces ... and get them to them. If you ship (a finished product) from the Lower 48 you have to hit a boat to get it to where it’s got to go.”
And Faulkner believes that manufacture in Alaska actually improves the quality of the results for local customers. In particular, a customer can inspect work in progress and discuss any issues that arise.
“Here they just show up at the door (saying) ‘I want to see how you’re doing’,” Faulkner said. Well-equipped shop To remain competitive and be able to fabricate a limitless range of goods STEELFAB has equipped itself with an impressive array of shop technology. Although other fabricators in Alaska have some of the same equipment, STEELFAB prides itself in its comprehensive arsenal of tools.
“As a rule we have everything everybody has and then some,” Faulkner said.
Equipment ranges from saws and welding torches to conveyor systems and overhead hoists.
One of STEELFAB’s more notable pieces of gear is the company’s 10-foot by 45-foot burning table, used for cutting shapes from steel.
“We have what we call a burning table which utilizes plasma,” Faulkner said. “It’s computer controlled, so anything you can draw we can cut ... depending on the thickness of the material we can cut up to 200 to 300 inches per minute.”
Another major item of kit bends steel beams into shape.
“We have a cambering machine so we can press a camber in a beam,” Faulkner said. “ ... the engineer will require the beam to have a certain camber in it so, whenever he loads it, it will come back into shape to accept the load better.” The company’s paint facility applies a protective coating to the steel. As well as coating items that STEELFAB fabricates, the paint facility can do work for other companies — all coatings follow customer specifications.
“We follow all the various specifications from anybody, whatever they’re looking for,” Faulkner said. Certifications STEELFAB maintains an impressive array of certifications that enable the company to manufacture almost any type of steel structure.
“If we can’t build it, either facility wise or certification wise, you can’t build it in Alaska,” Faulkner said. “There are other companies that maintain some of the certifications, but we maintain more of everything.”
Certifications include the National Sanitation Foundation, American Institute of Steel Construction, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Welding Society, United Laboratories and DOT certification for tanker repair and certification.
All of the certifications hinge on effective quality assurance and quality control.
“We have in-house quality control personnel and we have contract quality control personnel; third-party quality control personnel,” Faulkner said. “All of the (certification authorities) require us to maintain a quality assurance program ... and we do.” Versatility and quality Multiple certifications and a comprehensive toolkit bring the versatility that underpins STEELFAB ‘s success in Alaska — an ability to fabricate almost anything enables the company to service almost any customer.
“Our market is Alaska — we can’t ship from here to any place else and be competitive,” Faulkner said. “We have to go after multiple customers — we run all the way across the board from government agencies ... to every industry you can think of.”
Combine that versatility with the company’s efficiency and attention to quality and it’s not hard to see how the company has thrived for so long in the Last Frontier.
Editor’s note: Alan Bailey owns Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska
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