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Picture this...the first night of our family trip to New York City. We were sitting in a packed Carmine's Italian Restaurant in the heart of Manhattan, enjoying the house red wine, the roar of the subway below us shaking our table every 2 minutes. All the great Italian meals you could think of and Jaime can't have any of them as she tries to avoid gluten! She thinks about it for a minute and says "I am going to have some spaghetti and meatballs! I WANT TO BE PART OF THE EXPERIENCE!" And it was worth it for her to take that chance and do something out of her normal comfort zone, because it was an experience that we will never forget. During dinner, we talked about this saying "I WANT TO BE PART OF THE EXPERIENCE" and realized that at Albina Co., Inc., WE PROVIDE AN EXPERIENCE FOR OUR CUSTOMERS. We are a full-service steel bending establishment and have every detail covered from the time we take your initial call to the time your bent material arrives on your door step. This is the EXPERIENCE you get when you work with us: We reply to every RFQ (request for quote) received letting the customer know that we have the RFQ. If not already defined, we will ask when the bid is required. This will allow us to schedule our work flow to meet our customers needs. Formal quotes are always prepared with great detail describing what the customer can expect from Albina if we are given an order. We never want the customer left to guess what they are going to receive from us. Confirmations are always sent to the customer for their final review and records. Once a purchase order is issued to Albina your order is promptly entered so we can schedule your job and procure material timely. Every order is reviewed by 3 levels of management (Scheduling, processing and QC). During review the details on a PO are confirmed to what has been entered on an Albina work order. We ensure a promised due date is met by employing a full time scheduling manager. This scheduling manager assigns your project to a machine and to Albina workers. This is done very early in the flow of a project. A project manager is assigned to every job that we process. The project manager will act as the point of contact for the customer regarding a project in process. Proactive Communications. Project managers review the schedule daily and identify if a project is going to be completed after the promised due date. In the unlikely event a project is delayed for whatever reason, the customer is promptly notified. All jobs are checked by QC upon completion and before they are turned in for shipping. Savings via optimized shipping. The shipping manager schedules all of the daily trucks and ensures that projects are scheduled for trucks on or before the promised due date. Albina is frequently shipping all over the United States and Canada. The high volume of trucks allows our shipping manager to combine smaller orders onto a single truck saving our customers money. Electronic tracking. After shipment, our shipping manager will email tracking information to our customer and emails MTR's (if required) to our customer. A follow up. Our job is not complete until you have your product and are completely satisfied. We view our customers as partners, and want open communications long after this order is concluded. Next month in Part 2, we will share some of the ways we are investing to give you the ultimate ALBINA EXPERIENCE. [caption id="attachment_1313" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] We recently took a family vacation to New York City, Gettysburg and Washington DC. We like to cover a lot of ground on vacations and take in as many sights as possible because we want "To Be Part of the Experience." We walked almost 90 miles on this vacation to ensure that we saw everything! This particular day we started in Brooklyn, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, through Tribeca in search of Taylor Swift (Of course! We have a 14 year old daughter!), through Soho and the East Village, ate pizza at the famous Bleeker Street Pizza, and ended in Times Square! What a day! [/caption]

Albina Co., Inc. was the bender/roller for the Amazon Curved Steel Bio-Sphere buildings in Seattle, WA. Albina bent 750,000# and 1,050 pieces rectangular tube steel bent the easy way and a portion bent off-axis. Almost 8 miles of welding work and grinding was avoided because of Albina’s ability to bend a portion of the project. Almost NO correction was needed during fabrication or erection as the bends fit to the fixtures within 1/32nd of an inch! See the most recent article published in the Seattle Times.

On a recent trip to Washington DC, we had the pleasure of touring the Capitol Building and we were able to capture some pictures of The Capital Visitors Center spiral staircase we bent years ago. The project consisted of flat and spiral bending of angle, channel, flat bar, solid square, wide flange (up to W18 x 76#) and square tubing (up to 10" x 10" x .500" wall spiral bent). [caption id="attachment_1302" align="aligncenter" width="3264"] Main Landing View of Capitol Visitors Center Spiral Staircase[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1300" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Capitol Visitors Center Spiral Staircase[/caption]

We are currently seeking an experienced Yard Manager/Lead to oversee our Shipping Department. Job duties include supervision & coordination of yard workers, organization of yard & storage areas to maximize efficiency & flow, the safe loading & unloading of flatbeds & LTL trucks. Qualified candidates will have 3+ years’ experience as a Yard Manger or Lead Material Handler. At Albina Co. we have mastered the art of steel bending, steel rolling and steel fabrication. We curve structural steel members, various sizes of round pipe and HSS material, and plate. We are a small family owned business servicing the steel industry since 1939 and we provide quality products and services that stand out from the competition. We are located in Tualatin and are able to service the entire United States and Canada from our single location! Job Description Responsible for coordination of shipping and receiving matters. Supervise loading crew and drivers. Determine work procedures, prepare work schedules and expedite material & traffic flow to optimize production efficiency. Perform inventory counts on raw material & component parts. Load, unload & check-in material and supplies with use of industrial equipment following company policies & procedures. Skill Requirements Working knowledge of Microsoft suite software products Ability to follow written and oral instructions regarding daily functions Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with other employees. Expert knowledge of material flow & effective material management Ability to drive a forklift. Both standard & extended reach Ability to handle & stack material in a safe manner Familiar with crane & sling capacity Experienced using proper lifting techniques using slings, clamps & other lifting devices Extensive knowledge of pipe, tube, structural steel & component part Physical Requirements Must be able to lift 50 lbs. occasionally & 35 lbs. repeatedly Must be able to stand/walk 8-10 hours a day May be exposed to excessive noise, welding gases and fumes, and inclement weather conditions. This is a Union position. Successful applicants must be able to pass a drug test Compensation: Wage: DOE Pension Plan & 401k Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance Vacation & PTO Favorable work schedule

I would like to share a recent email that I received from a customer in response to my recent blog post titled "If You Are Persistent, You May Get It. If You Are Consistent, You Will Keep It." "Good morning. First I’d like to thank you for your recent support. I know a company’s attitude comes from the top. You have a great group of “how can we make it work” people. It’s unfortunate that there is so much road between our office and yours. I’d be glad to share a glass of wine with you. The point of your news letter is well taken. The only things I’d add is that your steel bending estimators are always available to help and frankly guide fabricators as to the best wall thickness, etc, to meet the challenges and provide the best curved steel finished product. This gives us the opportunity to include the cost of forming and shipping in the bid at the start. The other thing is pretty simple. It’s not a question of can I afford Albina Co., it’s can I afford not to?"

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 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]

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"] TS 6" X 4" X .250" WALL A500 GR B bent the hard way to a 14’-3” CLR.[/caption]

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[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1271" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] 10,000# of C15 X 33.9# A36. All material rolled with the flanges in and is AESS.
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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. Happy Hollow Zoo is a small 16-acre zoo and amusement park in San Jose, California. Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park & Rodeo located in Cody, Wyoming. Centennial Center Park Platform and Amphitheater in Centennial, Colorado.

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!