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Meet Brian and Jaime Smith of Albina Co., Inc.-"If You Are Persistent, You May Get It. If You Are Consistent, You Will Keep It."
STEADY & STABLE I can't tell you how many times I have had a customer tell me that they are going to have to pull business from us because they found a lower price supplier, that they are new to the steel industry and want to give someone else a try, that another supplier promised them a better delivery schedule or better quality. Whatever the reason, I always justify my price and schedule to the customer and then I tell them "We appreciate your business and our relationship, and we will be here for you when you need us." The key word here is "when", not "if." I never have to justify the quality of our products or service, as both speak for themselves, and I can say with certainty that is not why we ever loose an account. A few weeks will go by, and guess what? I get a phone call that the new supplier can't meet the delivery schedule, or that the product fails in comparison to what we were providing them, or they are going to go over budget for having to repurchase material and incur additional labor costs. And my response again is "We are here for you. What do you need?" Anyone can be persistent and promise you a better price, product or schedule to get your business, but can they be consistent and keep your business? Albina Co., is consistent, steady and stable. We have an extremely loyal customer base, and in the rare occasion that someone leaves, we almost undoubtedly always see them return. [caption id="attachment_1285" align="aligncenter" width="1224"]Brian and Jaime Smith Brian and Jaime love to explore the many amazing restaurants in the Greater Portland Metro area. They are foodies and love a good brunch or happy hour menu! This picture was taken at one of their favorite restaurants "Meriwether's." If you are in town, give us a call! We would love to introduce you to all the wonderful eats in PDX. [/caption]
Curved Rectangular Tube Steel Bridge at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Segerstrom Center for the Arts, originally called Orange County Performing Arts Center, is a performing arts complex located in Costa Mesa, California, United States, which opened in 1986. Albina Co., Inc. recently completed rolling rectangular tube steel 6" X 4" X .250" WALL A500 GR B bent the hard way to a 14’-3” center line radius. We are unique in how we bend square and rectangular (HSS) for a number of reasons. When we roll bend HSS we typically fill the material with mandrels, where we turn the hollow material into a solid. This helps minimize distortion without increasing the thickness of the material. Also during roll bending we use custom made radius corner tooling to match the radius corner of different thicknesses of HSS material. This match between tooling and material result in much higher quality bends. When we bend stringers for spiral staircases we do not fill the HSS material with permanent structural members to control distortion. Instead, we have developed methods to hot bend or induction bend HSS materials to a spiral configuration without filling the hollow part of the material. This unique process allows our customers to take HSS stringers for their staircases without added weight or inconveniences of filler materials. [caption id="attachment_1276" align="aligncenter" width="1536"]Curved Steel Bridge Segerstrom Center for the Arts TS 6" X 4" X .250" WALL A500 GR B bent the hard way to a 14’-3” CLR.[/caption]
Rolled Steel Channel at The Great Park in Irvine, California
Albina Co., Inc. recently rolled 10,000 pounds of channel C15 X 33.9# A36 for The Great Park in Irvine, California. All of the material rolled with the flanges in and is architecturally exposed structural steel. The Great Park is a non-aviation reuse of the decommissioned Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro with a focus on sports, agriculture, and the arts. In 2017, two new construction projects were approved and consist of an ice facility and a sports complex. Albina has the ability to bend all mill supplied sizes of channel which includes C3x4.1# through C15x50#. [caption id="attachment_1270" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Rolled Steel Channel at The Great Park Rolled Steel Channel at The Great Park[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1271" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Rolled Steel Channel at The Great Park 10,000# of C15 X 33.9# A36. All material rolled with the flanges in and is AESS.
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Look for Curved Steel on Your Summer Adventures to State Parks, Zoos, Campgrounds and More!
If you just take the time to really study your surroundings when you are out on your next summer adventure, you might just see some great examples of curved steel applications. Albina Co., Inc. specializes in helping fabricators create architecturally appealing signs for commercial, recreational, and transportation applications. Some projects include structural steel entry-ways and signage for state parks, zoos and campgrounds. Other applications include signage for public transportation stations, recreational facilities and commercial buildings. Below are a few projects we have done over the years so keep your eyes peeled on your next adventure to see if you can spot some curved steel! Curt Gowdy State Park is in Cheyenne, Wyoming at the foothills of the Laramie Mountains. tube bending curt gowdy state park Happy Hollow Zoo is a small 16-acre zoo and amusement park in San Jose, California. bending pipe happy hallow zoo bending pipe happy hallow zoo bending pipe happy hallow zoo Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park & Rodeo located in Cody, Wyoming. Curved Steel Sign at Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park Centennial Center Park Platform and Amphitheater in Centennial, Colorado. Curved Steel Canopy at Centennial Center Park in Colorado
Albina Co., Inc. Provides End Users With Tools to Successfully Quote and Understand Their Curved Steel Project
Albina Co., Inc. provides a plethora of tools on their website to allow end users the ability to not only make important steel bending calculations with the bending and spiral bending calculators, but we also provide a number of conversion charts, weight and dimension grids and reference guides. We want the end user to understand what we are quoting, why we need the information that we do, how we quote and ultimately we want the end user to understand the nuances of using curved steel on a project. We also provide calculators to aid in determining tangent materials and bend tolerances for different material types, sizes and bending processes. Visit our "Calculators" page to gain easy access to these tools. Bookmark the page for future reference!
Meet Brian and Jaime Smith of Albina Co., Inc.-"Is Your Business Honorable? Do You Take Pride in the Service and Product That You Provide?"
Albina's number one goal is to provide customers with competitively priced steel bending services resulting in quality products, on time. We honor our commitment to this goal by continuously fulfilling our obligations and meeting our customers needs. We have a very high regard and respect for our customers, vendors and employees and we hold many of them in very high esteem as if they were a part of our own family. We are proud of the many partnerships and relationships that we have built over the years. The reason we have such longstanding relationships in the steel bending industry, is not only because we have been around for nearly 80 years, but because of the pride that we take in the quality of our work and the service that we provide on each and every job. We feel satisfied only when the commitments we have made to our partners are fulfilled. Pride is not only reflected by our team putting our hearts and souls into your end product, but can also be seen in our many efforts to improve our working environment and the community around us. a) Albina Co., Inc. donates to many local and national Charitable Organizations including CONSANO, Meals on Wheels PDX, The Hunger Drive, Assistance League of Greater Portland, Sherwood Education Foundation, Local Sports Teams, etc. b) We purchase steel from service centers in the USA. Our bent steel products are "Made In The USA" out of our facility in Oregon. c) We have taken many steps to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing our power usage. In the last 12 months we have undergone significant capital expense to "do our part" by installing a 134.4 kW solar array and we replaced every interior and exterior lighting fixture / bulb with LED replacements. d) Recent Upgrades to our phone systems and internal camera systems to increase our ability to communicate, track and share real time data seamlessly within our shop and externally with customers and vendors. e) We have made huge efforts over the last few years to bring in new equipment, service/update older equipment, and we have actually designed and built our very own, one-of-a-kind, CNC induction bending process. It is small companies like ours that will make American great again because we run an honorable business and we take pride in our work. We are all learning, that in this very difficult and scary time in our world, that it is the little things that matter and it is the intangibles that help determine who, what, when, where and why you should do business with someone. [caption id="attachment_1240" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Brian and Jaime Smith- Happy 4th of July! Happy 4th of July! We like to spend America's Birthday with family and friends. We have spent many 4th of July weekends at the beautiful Oregon Coast, in the Central Oregon high desert, or just hanging around the neighborhood having BBQ's and enjoying the amazing Oregon summers. We wish you all a happy and safe 4th of July! [/caption]
Spiral Staircase for "The Hopservatory" at Worthy Brewing in Bend, Oregon
Albina Co., Inc. recently completed 14,000 lbs. of bent steel to create a beautiful spiral staircase at Worthy Brewing in Bend, OR. Bent steel materials for the project included: MC18 X 42.7# A36 spiral bent lengths with flanges in and lengths with flanges out were bent down to a 9 ft plan view radius! Landing pieces were also spiral bent down to a 9’ 8” radius. C15 X 33.9# A36 for the inside landings were spiral bent down to a 8’ 9” outside radius (plan view). Bend, Oregon is located on the eastern edge of the Cascade Mountain Range along the Deschutes River and is a popular tourist town known best for the many outdoor activities offered and world famous micro-brews. Worthy Brewing Co. broke ground on Feb. 24, 2012 off U.S. Highway 20 on Bend’s east side — it’s Bend’s 1st east side brewery – and with a beer garden, hop garden, and Hopservatory. The spiral staircase winds up to The Dome at the top of the rotating Hopservatory where visitors can view the cosmic skies through an OGS 16” RC Reflector telescope. [caption id="attachment_1235" align="aligncenter" width="500"]The Hopservatory at Worthy Brewing Spiral Staircase Close up of Spiraled Steel Channel[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1236" align="aligncenter" width="500"]The Hopservatory at Worthy Brewing Spiral Staircase Spiral Bent Steel Channel[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1237" align="aligncenter" width="500"]The Hopservatory at Worthy Brewing Spiral Staircase Spiral Staircase Leading to The Hopservatory Dome[/caption]
21,000 Lbs. of Steel Bent for Providence Medical Building in Medford, OR.
Albina Co., Inc. recently completed 21,000 lbs. of bent steel for a curved steel entry way and canopy at the Providence Medical Building located in Medford, Oregon. The bent steel material consisted of: Tube Steel 8" X 6" X .250" WALL A500 GR B Bent the EW to a 22 ft radius. Tube Steel 6" X 4" X .250" WALL A500 GR B Bent the HW to a 17 ft radius. Tube Steel 6" X 3" X .250" WALL A500 GR B 4 lengths bent the EW to a 23 ft radius and 4 lengths bent the HW to a 17 ft radius. Tube Steel 6" X 6" X .250" WALL A500 GR B Bent to a 44 ft radius. [caption id="attachment_1230" align="aligncenter" width="500"]Curved Tube Steel Providence Medical Building Medford, OR. Curved Steel Entry-Way at Providence Medical Building Medford, OR. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_1231" align="aligncenter" width="500"]Curved Tube Steel Providence Medical Building Medford, OR. Square and Rectangular Structural Tube Steel Bent to Various Radii[/caption]
We Continue to Supply Bent Steel for the St. Alphonsus Project in Idaho
We continue to provide bent steel for the St. Alphonsus Medical Group - Emerald Clinic in Idaho. We recently supplied another 20,000# of bent steel for the St. Alphonsus project. This phase of the project included: Tube Steel 8" X 4" X .375" WALL A500 GR B Tube Steel 16" X 4" X .375" WALL A500 GR B 2" X 2" X 3/16" ANGLE A36 Tube Steel 14" X 4" X .625" WALL A500 GR B Tube Steel 4" X 2" X .188" WALL A500 GR B Tube Steel 8" X 2" X .250" WALL A500 GR B All of these materials were bent on our state of the art roll bending equipment in a cold state. Everything was provided to AESS standards.
Does Your Construction Project Require Bollards?
Albina just recently completed work on a project that required 252 pcs of 2” Sch40 A53B ERW pipe bent for bollards. Each “staple” bollard was bent on a 6” center-line-radius (a double 90° configuration). All parts were held to a +/- 1/8” center-center dimension and they had to avoid all moisture (they could not rust). To avoid rust, all raw material and then finished product were store inside our facility. Prior to loading on a truck all parts were placed on pallets and covered with shrink wrap to protect them from moisture.
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