Blog posts tagged with 'steel industry news'

Albina Co., Inc. started out as family business in 1939. Brian's grandfather (John) and father (Bill) both served in CEO and Presidential roles before Brian took over in 1998. Brian has worked in all aspects of the business from helping in the shop as a teenager, to managing the Accounting Department straight out of college, to the role of President and CEO which he has maintained for nearly 20 years. Brian's wife, Jaime, serves as the Marketing and Advertising Manager. Together, Brian and Jaime created the business plan required for the move to their current facility in 2000 and have worked side-by-side for the last 17 years to grow Albina into one of the most well-known and highly regarded steel bending companies in the country. Every month, Brian and Jaime will share their thoughts on the importance of family in business. June 2017- LOYALTY Loyalty is defined as faithfulness to commitments or obligations. We pledge loyalty when we get married, when our kids are born,when we are part of team, when we work as a collective unit and when we form personal and professional relationships. Loyalty is showing complete and constant support. Being part of a family business means that we take care of our "Albina Family", we honor our commitments to employees, vendors and customers and we stand by the relationships that we have built on trust, over the many decades our family has been in business. Brian and Jaime are huge Blazer fans and love the game of basketball. Both played at Lake Oswego High School and Jaime went on to play Division I at the University of Minnesota. Both of their children play and they love spending time together as a family both playing and watching various levels of hoops. Go Blazers!

We are continuing our efforts to reduce our collective dependence on fossil fuel and we are installing a solar power system on our shop roof to derive clean, pure energy from the sun! We are doing our part to go green and reduce our carbon footprint. Just today, over 100 panels were installed! 168 panels were installed in just two days and that includes panel installation and wire management! Here is what we are doing: • We are installing a 135kW (kilowatt) system. • The panels will be covering the roof of our 4th bay (this bay is 12,500 square feet)….that is a lot of solar panels. • Our building is perfect for solar as we have no shading and the panels will be southern facing for optimal efficiency for all seasons. • One array of solar cells will be 45 ft x 106 ft and the second array of solar cells will be 45 ft x 113 ft. • We will generate our own power for use. If we have excess power it will go back to the grid. What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint? Do you consider the what your vendors or suppliers are doing to combat greenhouse gas emissions and global warming? People who are continuously looking for ways to improve their output without having an adverse effect on the environment is the type of vendor you want working for you. Vendors who look for new and innovative ways to improve their business will be the same ones that will give you a quality product and care about the outcome of your project.

It is our pledge to our customers that you are never surprised at the end of a project. We will confirm our anticipated delivery schedule at time of order acceptance. If something occurs to change that anticipated delivery schedule, your project manager will contact you to make sure you are aware of any scheduling changes. Many of our return customers come back to us due to our unparalleled customer service and communication. One customer recently told Albina management that they have used other benders in the past and will only use Albina moving forward. Never had they been so well informed throughout the production process. Albina provided answers to questions before the questions were even asked. Another example of customer service is our automated shipping notifications. The morning after an order ships, Albina sends an email informing the customer of the method of shipment and tracking number if available. This will allow our customers the ability to track their shipment as soon as it hits the road. Also included with this email are any MTR’s, if required, so the customer doesn’t have to wait for these critical reports to arrive with the shipment. Our customers have the reports (electronically) even before receiving their shipment. We know that customers rely on the information we provide and make plans based on the information we provide. We strive to meet or exceed every customers wants and needs.

Albina continues to be one of the steel industry leaders in safety. Our shop workers always approach their jobs with safety in mind. We have a team of workers and management that make up our safety committee. These team members meet monthly and conduct onsite walk throughs in our steel bending shop to identify potential safety hazards. These hazards are always promptly remedied to avoid any potential issues. While most companies want to avoid safety inspections from OSHA, Albina welcomes these inspections. In fact we volunteer for OSHA safety inspections every year! Along with OSHA inspections we team up with a local vendor to act as our outside safety consultant. This vendor assists with our safety committee, educating us on current safety regulations and conducts safety walk-through’s with our safety committee team. Albina is proud of being an industry leader in safety and continues to make improvements keeping our steel bending shop as safe as possible.

The steel bending world, and life, is 360 degrees - now technology is too. We will be offering a drawing for a new Samsung Galaxy S7 Smart Phone and GearVR (virtual reality) googles next week when we exhibit at the NASCC (North American Steel Construction Conference) in San Antonio. Visit our BOOTH #8130 and see for yourself how awesome this new technology is and step into our virtual shop to experience the bending process first hand. One lucky winner will win a new phone and the virtual reality googles! Don't miss out on this opportunity. Sign up today!

As we near Inauguration Day, lets take a look at Trump's Infrastructure plan and how it will affect the steel and manufacturing industries in particular. A few of Trump's infrastructure plans as obtained from (https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/an-americas-infrastructure-first-plan)

• Create thousands of new jobs in construction, steel manufacturing, and other sectors to build the transportation, water, telecommunications and energy infrastructure.
• Put American steel made by American workers into the backbone of America’s infrastructure.
• Implement a  plan for a cost-effective system of roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, railroads, ports and waterways, and pipelines.
• Approve private sector energy infrastructure projects—including pipelines and coal export facilities—to better connect American coal and shale energy production with markets and consumers.
• Incorporate new technologies and innovations into our national transportation system such as state-of-the-art pipelines, advancements in maritime commerce, and the next generation of vehicles.
• Make clean water a high priority. Develop a long-term water infrastructure plan with city, state and federal leaders to upgrade aging water systems and wastewater infrastructure.

If Trump is able to follow through with some of his plans and promises, the steel industry could play a key role in rebuilding America's infrastructure.

As 2016 comes to a close, we take a look back on some of the improvements we have made as a company to help better service the steel industry and our customer base. Equipment and tooling upgrades to increase capacities and product offerings. We added two new rotary draw benders, a 6" Coast Wallace with a carriage assist and overhead clamp.and a Pines #6 with a customized back boost, to our current inventory of equipment. We plan to fully tool these pieces of equipment allowing us to offer countless new radii options for our customers growing needs and demanding lead times. Shop floor redesign to maximize workflow efficiency and utilization of space. Before our new machines arrived, we completely restructured our shop allowing us to group similar machines in common areas. The result is improved material flow, increased production, and more efficient production. Welcomed Stu Hasman as an additional Regional Director of Sales. We are confident Stuart's commitment to quality, customer service and his integrity will make him a valuable resource as our company and your business continue to grow. Energy Efficient Lighting in Shop & Office. Solar Panel project coming in 2017. As Albina Co., Inc. continues to try to reduce our carbon footprint and be environmentally conscience, we completely retrofitted our entire production shop and office facility with energy efficient lighting this year. We are examining the potential to add solar panels on the South side of our building roof to reduce power consumption in early 2017.

Why Albina's Production Team is simply the best in the industry!

• Knowledgeable management, estimating / project management, production workers, etc. that are industry experts for bending with many years of experience (longevity).
  • excellent training for every position;
  • family business with information handed down from generation to generation;
• Dedication to our positions, Albina and our customers, results in quality products and quality service.
• Small company creates a friendly atmosphere to customers;
• All of our workers take a great deal of pride in what we do and what we provide to our customers.
• Availability for emergency situations/services.
  • We have staff ready to work OT to get quick turn-around jobs done. Also have an after-hours call list for shutdown projects.
• Our staff will put in the extra effort to research how to do something prior to just using trial/error. Be it a new bending process, a complicated bending configuration or a new weld process that we have to write, our staff excels in finding a way to get the job done right.
• We are an all-union shop with skilled workers!

[caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Albina Production Team[/caption]

CONSANO is a platform that enables you to donate any amount (small or large!) directly to a medical research project that matters to you. Consano connects individuals directly to specific medical research projects. Albina recently made a generous donation to the following studies: a) Why Does Cancer Kill You b) Targeting Metastatic Breast Tumors with Stem Cell Loaded Oncolytic Viruses c) Finding and Treating New Types of Lung Cancer Doing Things Differently d) The Genomics of Young Lung Cancer e) Changing the Way We See Liver Cancer If you feel passionately about a cause, check out the CONSANO website for more information on how it works and how to donate.

Beaverton, OR. March 10, 2015 — Assistance League® of Greater Portland today announced that Albina Co., Inc. has donated $10,000 to support the local chapter of the national nonprofit Assistance League. The family owned Albina is based in Tualatin and specializes in metal bending and fabrication. Formed in 1939, Albina is an industry leader in structural steel bending, steel rolling and steel forming. Among other custom products, they produce state of the art canopies, roof trusses, bridges, store fronts, stadiums and parking garages. Albina’s products are also found in exercise equipment, furniture, on playgrounds, bike racks, custom handrails, fences and more. Albina can produce virtually any metal component that needs to bend or curve without the use of pre-formed fittings. The sponsorship was made in conjunction with Assistance League’s fiftieth anniversary of community service in the greater Portland area. Assistance League of Greater Portland has provided local philanthropic programs since 1965. Assistance League’s member volunteers provide four community service programs. The programs serve children and victims of violence by providing new school clothing, enrichment activities for troubled youth at a residential treatment facility, personal history books for foster children, and clothing for women who have been assaulted and must forfeit their clothing in the emergency room. In addition to grants, sponsorships and donations, funds are raised at Assistance League Thrift and Consignment Shops at 4000 SW 117th Avenue in Beaverton.