Steel Fabricators of Monroe, LLC

Steel Fabricators of Monroe was started in 1973 as a sister company to a regional steel erection firm started in Monroe, LA, in 1965 by Don Beach. After growing up in an ironworking family and operating a steel erection firm for a few years, Don recognized the importance of two things that a customer or an erector needs from a steel fabricator — fabricating quality steel that fits and scheduling on-time deliveries to keep the erector productive. These two thoughts define the mission statement of Steel Fabricators of Monroe, LLC today.

After a 2400 square foot roof was erected to house a dirt floor shop, Don along with John Hunter, a college intern enrolled in the local university’s School of Construction Management, hired four employees and began serving the local commercial and light industrial construction market. The company enjoyed a methodical steady growth in size and sophistication. The company was quick to embrace technology utilizing CNC equipment to help facilitate growth, efficiency, and accuracy. As other employees were added, Jane Brown and Joe Tannehill also being products of the School of Construction Management along with John Hunter, through a management buyout, purchased Mr. Beach’s interest in the firm in 2006. Today the three owners serve as the company’s CFO, VP of Sales, and President respectively.

In the late 70’s Steel Fabricators started an industrial fastener company which was later sold to company managers. Also, along the way in the early 80’s, following market demand, the original union steel erection firm was closed down giving rise to a non-union steel erection firm that was started as a subsidiary of Steel Fabricators. That firm was operated successfully until 1998 when it sold to company managers much like the fastener company and the parent company would later do as well.

Today Steel Fabricators of Monroe, LLC operates on an approximately 20-acre site with over 130,000 square feet of fabrication space and enclosed heated painting area. Additional space of over 37,000 square feet currently serve as warehouse, training, lunch rooms and maintenance facilities. Company offices are housed in a 12,000 square foot two story office building located on site as well.

The company operates several sophisticated CNC machines to facilitate cutting, coping, drilling, burning, and parts location marking in the fabrication process. It also utilizes electronic tablets for paperless drawing presentation in the shop environment along with updated fabrication software and bar coding technology. The company holds quality certification from the American Institute of Steel Construction with a Standard for Steel Buildings and a Sophisticated Paint Endorsement levels of quality certification. Quality inspectors hold certification for Welding Inspection, NDT Weld Examination, and Paint Application and Inspection.

The company’s birth from an erection company has focused the direction and influences decisions of how the company approaches each project. The company’s experienced management team and well-trained staff takes pride in the ability to sequence, manage, fabricate, and deliver projects in erectable sequences to the customers’ specifications and quality expectations and to the steel erectors’ schedule requirements. In addition, the firm’s core values and continuous improvement efforts offer a refreshing option to serve the construction industry throughout the nation.