Southwest Steel: A Fresh Perspective

Southwest Steel Fabrication (SSF) was founded in 1910 and is located in Bonner Springs, Kansas. The company has an immense 140,000 square foot plant that has the capacity for even the largest jobs. SSF successfully competes on the basis of its long standing reputation for excellence, the high quality of its workmanship, strong record of reliability in timely delivery, and perhaps most importantly, its rock bottom pricing. SSF is able to offer the lowest prices due to its strong expertise in fabrication cost management. The company’s products have been utilized in a number of prominent U.S. national landmark buildings and military locations, including the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri; the White House in Washington, D.C.; the Sandia Explosives Laboratory near Albuquerque, New Mexico; and, the NASA rocket assembly facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida. SSF has the certifications, the equipment, the expertise, and most of all, the right people to complete. 

Challenge

A mindset here was the common refrain, “that’s the way it’s always been done.” With a workforce that had been with the company for many years, in some cases decades, business processes and practices were not evaluated for improvement. The SOP was that if it has worked for all these years, no need to change it. While that was true in some cases, it was not true in all cases.

Approach

Approach: We looked to internal members of management to help drive change and growth, instead of change being forced by the new owners.

Outcome

The individual that was plant manager when we purchased the business has since been promoted to president. He is doing a great job and is running the company more efficiently than we could have hoped.

Dart Casting

Goal: Achieving a Vision

Challenge: The second-generation owners of the business wanted to diversify risk while partnering with a group that could help the company achieve growth and thus its full potential.

Eagle Precision

Goal: Trust Exemplified

Challenge: As a new owner, it is difficult to show the former ownership group, as well as the existing management team, that the new leader is the right one to guide and grow the business.

Nell Hill’s

Goal: Preserve a Legacy

Challenge: This iconic retail store was founded by a very dynamic lady that was/is revered within the industry. We sought to partner with an investment group with the goal of preserving what was so great about the business, but injecting new life.