S & S Steel pdf (280 k)

“The market we go after requires a lot of service, a lot more time with the customers than the bigger building contract market,” says Harold. “Our philosophy has been to spend our dollars on customer service.”

Targeted Market
S & S Steel Building’s primary market is within a 40-mile radius of Arnaudville, LA (close to Lafayette) where their plant is located. Their “end users” tend to be interested in a 4,000 to 6,000 sq. ft. metal building for farm or commercial use.

This type of customer typically expects a quick result; they don’t want to hear that they are getting a building in eight weeks. So completion in four to five weeks is the plan.

“The work flow is a difficult thing to maintain. You don’t want to have too much work so you can’t do it properly, yet you need enough work to keep your plant going. We have to keep a close eye on that,” Harold explains.

Most buildings from S & S are sold, designed, manufactured at S & S, and erected within four weeks. But that’s not the end of the service.

If a customer has a problem, an S & S representative is there within 24 hours—usually the same day. S & S’s philosophy—“We have some problems like everyone else. It’s how you handle your problems that determines your success.”

Balancing Act
Time for this focused service has to be balanced with manufacturing since the metal components—including web, panels, trim, purlins, clips and frames—are produced at S & S.

Each S & S building begins with its own design, satisfying the customer’s specific needs. A building design software expedites the process and determines the component and part requirements. Then the project is sent to the shop for review, downloaded to appropriate equipment and production begins. With the one month timeframe from order to completion, quick turnaround and part accuracy are critical to keeping the company on track. That’s where the ADVANTAGE Precision Plasma Cutting Table came into play. It was added to the shop ‘s capabilities to provide faster production…with accuracy.

“We wanted more and more accuracy in our products,” says Harold. “We use the ADVANTAGE to cut the mainframe webs and they are a critical part of the building. They‘re the most expensive part of the building.” If a web is not cut properly, then the frame doesn’t fit.

As a trial run, S & S designed a building incorporating “every imaginable scenario.” While the Whitney service engineers were installing the ADVANTAGE, the parts for this building were produced and measured. Each part was “accurate to the T.”

Increased Production
John Stelly, who oversees production, said that most of the ADVANTAGE work was taken from the shears. When manual shearing was used to produce the webs, it was a three man operation. By moving the webs to the ADVANTAGE, their production became a two man operation and the production time was cut in half.

The versatility of the ADVANTAGE keeps it busy. The machine meets the challenge of cutting the multiple thicknesses needed for column and rafter webs, ranging from 10 gauge to 1/4".

“Before the ADVANTAGE we were doing it all manually. We created the paper drawings, the guys were shearing manually, dimensioning everything out, then putting the holes in manually,” says John. “Now, the situation is that the plasma cutter can cut out more web than we can assemble!”

But the machine doesn’t sit idle once web production is caught up. “When these guys get ahead of themselves, we bring in some flat sheets and burn out clips,” adds Harold. “We get maximum use from the machine.”

S & S has it’s complete clip inventory stored in the ADVANTAGE memory. Most of the 3/16" “bread and butter” clips are cut on the ADVANTAGE then moved to a punching operation. “We make tens of thousands of those clips a year and the savings since we installed the ADVANTAGE in February is tremendous.”

When a special clip is need-ed, it is designed, sent to the ADVANTAGE, and both the blank and the holes are plasma cut. Operator Chris Fontenot, was trained on the machine—his first CAD experience—when it was installed at S & S. He quickly brought its production up-to-speed and is very efficient at maximizing material usage by combining several jobs on the same plate.

Lean & Growing
“We were lean before it was cool,” says Harold.

About to celebrate its 25th year in January of 2003, S & S has grown from it’s two original partners, Harold and John, to 55 employees working in a 58,000 sq. ft. facility. Everyone is trained for multiple tasks.

Their lean initiative has helped them succeed in good and difficult economies. Even with the market slow-down, the plant has been at capacity for three years. Which says a lot when they have added the ADVANTAGE and increased production.

According to Harold and John, “We show growth on an annual basis, but it is controlled growth.” Major machine purchases are part of the plan every year…on a limited basis.

S & S philosophy—“Do what you do well and you will be successful.”