Dennen Steel Corp.

We're steel experts. We're high-volume stampers.

We use our expertise to secure the best quality steel at the best price for our steel-intensive stamped parts customers.

Dennen Steel Corp. was founded in 1947 and became one of the largest steel service centers in the mid-west. It also became a high volume manufacturer of precision, metal-formed parts. By consolidating our direct steel-mill purchasing power with world-class coil processing, stamping, welding and assembly operations, we provide a unique portfolio of innovative and efficient solutions.

BUSINESS MODEL & VALUE PROPOSITION

Our business model is unique. We're different.

Our integration allows us to provide value that distinguishes us from most competitors. That’s because our 70 year heritage in material procurement and slitting, integrated with steel-intensive parts manufacturing, crosses typical purchasing boundaries. And that’s precisely how we deliver a larger constellation of capabilities, processes, technologies and expertise than any single service center or contract manufacturer. These advantages translate to tangible value for steel-intensive manufacturers.

Lower Raw Material Cost

After 70 years in the steel procurement business, our purchasing power can secure lower steel prices than our customers and competitors. The cost of raw material comprises up to 85% of the part cost, so reducing the steel price makes a major impact.

Lower Production Costs

Every step and every transition in the manufacturing process has a cost in terms of money, time and quality. Our unique business model eliminates steps, which improves speed, flexibility and quality, and reduces handling costs and middle-man mark-ups.

Faster & Leaner Manufacturing

As a seasoned and growing supplier to OEMs and Tier 1s, Dennen Steel’s organization-wide Lean Manufacturing System was designed to meet the demanding cost, speed and quality requirements of the automotive industry. For example, our Kanban manufacturing system manages upstream and downstream production activities, which adds tremendous flexibility, reduces cycle times and eliminates costs.

Tighter Quality Control

Our experienced staff metallurgists ensure that the steel delivered for each part exactly meets specifications. Working with customers and steel mills, they ensure that the raw material properties align with print specifications, and that high quality standards are consistently achieved.

Stronger Partnerships

With a 70 year reputation of professionalism and reliability, our success enables on-going process and equipment investments to meet the needs of our growing customer base. Dennen Steel is a diverse company, financially and operationally strong. We provide the stability and commitment clients require in a key manufacturing partner.

OUR HISTORY

Seventy Years as a Steel Service Center and Stamped Parts Manufacturer

After 70 years of organic growth, the foundation of our success is experience and expertise - not merely acquisitions of failed businesses. Our deep steel and manufacturing knowledge, sophisticated and mature processes, and efficient and modern production equipment deliver a unique value to high-volume customers.

In 1947, WW II veteran Cyron Dennen invested his life’s savings to found Dennen Steel Supply Company. Originally a steel brokerage and trading company, it specialized in buying and reselling rail carloads of government war surplus steel and aluminum.

When younger brother Philmore Dennen completed his college studies in 1950, he joined the firm that was then operated from a Quonset hut on Third Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The family business began to focus on galvanized sheets, selling mainly to local sheet metal fabricators.

In 1952 the company built a 25,000 square foot facility, which was immediately enlarged to 40,000 square foot to accommodate six shears and 80 employees.

Business was booming and the Dennen brothers saw the growth in slit, coil-fed stamping. To meet new customers’ needs they built a new 57,000 square foot facility in 1968. The new plant housed state-of-the-art slitters, leveling lines, overhead cranes and the industry’s first X-ray gauge measuring system, 50,000 tons of master coil steel inventory, metallurgists, and a larger purchasing and sales staff.

The new facility opened in 1968. In 1973, the company name was changed to Dennen Steel Corp. and plans began to build a new 175,000 facility with immediate interstate highway access.

The Second Generation Takes Over

In 1980, Andrew Dennen joined the company, followed by his brother Peter in1984 and a new business model emerged. All under one roof, Dennen Steel added new slitting equipment and new coil-fed stamping presslines to their steel purchasing and master coil processing work. The result is a continuous, integrated production stream that begins with steel procurement and ends with stamped and assembled parts.

In 2004, the company opened its 35,000 square foot facility in Burns Harbor, IN to support greater Chicago-area and midwest customers.