Tag Archives: Albina Co. Inc. Company Information

New Estimator Has Joined the Albina Team

The last few years have been sensational for Albina Co., Inc. We have seen a great deal of change in our industry and have been fortunate to recognize growth in our capabilities, capacity and in both our shop and office team members.  We are excited to introduce the newest member of our Estimating / Project Management team, Joseph (Joe) Daniels. Joe is joining Aaron Hughes, Mark King, Brad Lund, Stuart Hasman and Brian Smith in Albina’s Sales department. Joe has many years of experience in the steel and fabrication industry and has worked in Albina’s shop, as an Ironworker, since July 2014. Joe has developed an outstanding reputation at Albina and will be a welcomed addition to our outstanding sales and estimating team. Joe possesses a comprehensive work ethic and will service Albina’s customers just as you have grown accustomed to from the other members of our team. We are confident Joe’s commitment to quality and integrity will make him a valuable resource as our company and your business continue to grow. You can contact Joe or any of our other existing sales staff with your estimating and technical needs at 503-692-6010. Joe’s email is jdaniels@albinaco.com. Thank you for your continued support.

Joe Daniels joins Albina Co., Inc. Estimating Team
Joe Daniels

The “Springfield Flame” Graces the Cover of the West Coast Edition of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine!

Check out the cover spot and three page feature article on Albina Co., Inc. in the June/July West Coast Edition of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine. Pages 24-26! Portland artist Devin Laurence Field produced the laser-­cut stainless steel flame sculpture and Albina Co., Inc. bent 18″ STD A53B ERW 10 lens x 40 ft down to a 42 ft radius for the sculpture.

We had such a great time working with Linda and Kim to highlight and showcase all of the amazing curved steel projects we have done in Oregon, Washington, and California. Some projects featured in the article include:

Portland International Airport Curved Steel Canopy
Portland International Airport Canopy
Daly Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum Curved Steel Roof
Dale Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum- Seattle, WA.
The Spheres Curved Steel Spheres
“The Spheres” Seattle, WA.

Happy Father’s Day

I’m proud of my hard work. Working hard won’t always lead to the exact things we desire. There are many things I’ve wanted that I haven’t always gotten. But, I have a great satisfaction in the blessings from my mother and father, who instilled a great work ethic in me both personally and professionally. –Tamron Hall

Father’s Day is upon us! Father’s Day is particularly important to me as I lost my father, Bill, over 8 years ago, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him or get a reminder of him while at work. It can be a phone call from someone in the industry who used to work with him, it can be an old quote I see come across my desk with his name on it, it can be my daily rounds through the shop where I can still see him problem solving with a machine operator on a particularly challenging job. Whatever it may be, I always remind myself that I am a representative of the Smith Family and the steel bending business that my grandfather and father helped to build. Jaime and I have been building on their values for many, many years now and feel great about where we have been able to take the business. All three generations have worked in both the shop and office during our careers. A fourth generation spends their summers pulling weeds, washing windows and doing database entry in their spare time. We have four generations of family who believe in the steel industry and believe in the value of hard work. I have no idea if my son and daughter will be interested in taking over the family business some day, but if they do, I am confident that they will work hard, be honest and carry on the traditions we have lived by for the last 80 years! I am a proud business owner and a proud Father. Happy Father’s Day to all you Father’s out there! 

Bill & Brian Smith-2001

Utah District Courthouse Spiral Staircase Graces Cover of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine in June!

Check out the cover spot and three page feature article on Albina Co., Inc. in the June Rocky Mountain Edition of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine. Pages 18-20! We had such a great time working with Linda and Kim to highlight and showcase all of the amazing curved steel projects we have done in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Some projects featured in the article include:

Sun Valley Music Pavillion in Sun Valley, ID. 220,000# of pipe rolled ranging from 10" Sch80 to 10" XXH
Sun Valley Music Pavillion in Sun Valley, ID. 220,000# of pipe rolled ranging from 10″ Sch80 to 10″ XXH
Custom Signage at Entrance to Yellow Stone National Park Attraction "Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park"
Custom Signage at Entrance to Yellow Stone National Park Attraction “Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park”
Ellie Caulkins Opera House Denver, CO. 210 lengths 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 3/16" angle rolled to numerous compound radii
Ellie Caulkins Opera House Denver, CO. 210 lengths 1-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ x 3/16″ angle rolled to numerous compound radii

Feature Article & Cover Shot in May SW Edition of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine

Check out the two-page feature article on Albina Co., Inc. in the May Southwest Edition of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine. We had such a great time working with Linda and Kim putting the article together.

The article highlights several projects that we have participated in specifically in the states of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Our company history, philosophy and future goals are also touched on in the piece. 

A2Z Manufacturing Cover Shot
50,000# of Bent Steel Provided by Albina Co., Inc. for Sloan Park- Home of the Chicago Cubs Spring Training Facility

We Can Save You Money! (How to Read a Quote)

Have you ever had trouble reading one of our quotes? I hope the answer to that questions is “No”, but if for any reason it is not, we have put together a brief video to show you “How to Read Our Quotes.” If quotes are not being read accurately, it is possible you are not comparing apples to apples when analyzing our quote against our competitor’s quote. You could actually end of paying more if you do not understand what the quote consists of.  The biggest thing is material. More often than not, we quote material on our bid, so our TOTAL number is more because material is included. You may look at the TOTAL number and think we are too high. BUT, instead of  being “high” we were actually the LOW PRICE, once you compare apples to apples. Our quotes will consist of one or all of the following 3 elements: Material, Labor and/or Freight. Both the email you receive and the attached quote will clearly identify which of those 3 elements are included in the quote. Please take the time to watch this brief video so that you can understand what our quotes consist of and avoid the mistake of paying too much for a project. 

How to Read Our Quotes
LINK TO VIDEO: HOW TO READ OUR QUOTES

NOW HIRING: ESTIMATOR/PROJECT MANAGER

Candidate must have extensive steel fabrication and estimating (bidding) experience (a minimum 5 years’ experience). It would be ideal if the candidate has actual shop fabrication or bending experience as well. Candidate must be well connected in the bending and fabrication industry and have a strong reputation for customer service. High-level ability to use Geometry, Trigonometry, AutoCAD and computer based Excel spreadsheets.

Duties include: Read & interpret shop drawings to come up with bending and fabrication estimates. This candidate is responsible for all levels of the bid process as well as post-bid project management. Work with a team of estimators and project managers to initiate improvements in our current bid process and develop new standards / rules for estimating bending and fabrication.

Compensation DOE. 
This is NOT an entry-level position.

Please email or fax your resume Attn: HR Director: dwilson@albinaco.com or 503-692-6020 (fax)

Meet Brian and Jaime Smith-“Making Magic Happen”

We just returned from the happiest place on Earth (Disney World) and while we should be rested after 9 days of vacation, we are exhausted!!! Disney, just like everything else in our lives, involved strategic planning almost six months in advance just to ensure we could have a hot meal and ride the most popular rides. And even with all that planning and preparation, Jaime and I found ourselves constantly evaluating the efficiencies of the parks, the bottlenecks we faced, and how we thought Disney could improve the experience of park-goers. Don’t get me wrong, we had great family time, and Disney is one of the most successful companies around, but I think the lesson we took away from the trip is that even if we think we have things all figured out and are doing things the way we think you want them done, we can’t rest on our laurels and we need to be constantly evaluating how we can make your experience in doing business with us an enjoyable (and dare I say “magical”) one. 

On our trip, we were constantly on a roller coaster, jumping from one ride to the next, never a dull moment. That is the same feeling we have about how the spring is shaping up here at Albina Co. We have so many great and interesting projects going on right now! We are rockin’ & rollin’ on so many different types of material! So many industries…agricultural, structural, aerospace, mining, food processing, and so much more! Below are just a few projects we shipped out recently! 

Feature Article in “Tube & Pipe Journal” Magazine

As we continue to strive to be an industry leader with our “out of the box thinking” and with our push to work smarter with the use of technology, we sat down for an interview with the “Tube & Pipe Journal” to discuss what exactly we are doing to achieve our goals. Log into the digital edition of the “Tube & Pipe Journal” to read the fabulous article written by Eric Lundin!

Working Smarter with Technology!

After many years of consideration, we determined it was the right time to move our shop workers into personal digital devices and start “working smarter.” The initial desire was to have workers get rid of the old, antiquated paper time card system and move to a better digital solution. What evolved was a very powerful personal digital device that shares a wealth of information internally and externally. Some highlights include:

1. Picture Vault. Operators have the ability to take pictures of a customer’s project during various phases of production and easily upload those pictures for sharing with the customer via our website. 
2. Time cards. We no longer fill out paper time cards or punch a clock. Workers are able to apply time automatically to orders and machines with a simple click of the button. All of the time is automatically tied into our job costing and payroll system avoiding double entry and extra handling of paper time cards.
3. Daily and Weekly Schedules are now available for all workers on their personal device, instead of being on a central computer that all workers had to walk to.
4. MTR’s are now available for workers to review for all jobs that require heat numbers to be verified and transferred.
5. Internet allows workers to access our Bending Calculators page and use our powerful bending calculators to help with daily math.
6. Email is available to certain workers that have Albina email accounts to allow for documented communication between workers.
7. Scientific calculators are available to all workers.
8. Access to Albina’s vast library of tooling.
9. Access to saved production notes for repeat parts.
10. Access to setup pictures that can be zoomed to get a detailed view of what is required.
11. Ability to preview a work order without tracking down printed paperwork.
12. Access to a company wide vacation schedule so workers know when vacation time is coming up and when vacation time is available.
13. Ability to preview a purchase order and receive a purchase order.
14. Ability to update job status and mark when parts are complete in real time.
15. Performance Review. Each worker has the ability to review production productivity and production efficiency percentages weekly, monthly and annually.These personal digital devices have become very powerful tools for our workers and certainly help with efficiency. We continue to strive to be an industry leader with innovative, “out of the box thinking.”