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American Steel
  
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The Phoenix from the Ashes
by KATELYN MOORE
American Steel Products just might be Swainsboro’s best kept secret.
American Steel Products is a private and locally-owned company with its corporate office in the Richard L. Brown Industrial Park (located just off the Empire Expressway) in Swainsboro. The company operates an 80,000 square foot manufacturing facility, newly constructed in 1995 by the Swainsboro / Emanuel County Joint Development Authority, and employs an 80-person workforce. The company also maintains a satellite sales and engineering office in Demorest, Georgia.
American Steel Products (ASP) has provided material for the construction industry for over 75 years. For the past 20 years, ASP has focused on supplying security products specifically designed for the detention industry. ASP engineers and manufactures prison doors, door frames, windows, control stations, guard towers, and other security products for the construction and renovation of penal facilities. The company also provides blast-resistant steel window embeds for U.S. embassies in the Middle East, North Africa and other terrorist-plagued regions. These high-security embeds are virtually impregnable and impossible to be blown from their cement encasements. In conjunction with detention hollow metal, ASP has designed and manufactured sophisticated security products for two Federal Reserve Bank facilities in Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala.
ASP is currently the second largest manufacturer of detention hollow metal in the United States. The company has built over 1,000 prisons spread across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and even South Africa. These include federal penitentiaries, state correctional facilities, county jails, municipal justice complexes, Immigration and Naturalization detention facilities, as well as local jails and police lock-downs. ASP has supplied products to more federal penitentiaries than any other company in the nation.
American has worked to build the largest and highest security level facilities in the country. It has supplied product for the Federal Correction Complex in Florence, Colorado: a super-maximum security Level VI facility, touted as the most secure prison in the nation. In addition, in 1998, ASP completed work on the Arizona State Prison Complex (5700 beds), in Buckeye, Arizona, one of the largest prison facilities in the country.
American Steel sells its products to detention equipment contractors, who install locking mechanisms, glass, and hardware. The complete package is then sold to general contractors. General contractors in the detention industry are overseen by construction managers, who are in turn overseen by the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The industry is unique in that it is extremely difficult to “break into” (to use the obvious pun). Prison architects specify select manufacturers whose products they want for inclusion in their projects. Large projects have such stringent requirements that it is virtually impossible to secure the job unless the company has been in business for many years and can provide proof of having built large facilities in the past. For instance, the contract for supplying product to build the maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado, specified that the manufacturer had to previously have been involved in building a prison of the same size and complexity, in addition to having been in operation for more than 10 years. With standards and criteria such as these, the industry is kept deliberately small to maintain the value and quality of the manufactured products. ASP is among a very select group of companies able to meet the stringent requirements necessary to work on such large-scale projects.
ASP engineers and manufactures its security products to the strictest architectural design and testing standards. ASP’s products have undergone years of continually upgraded certification testing, administered and witnessed by authorized testing laboratories. Tests include impact and destruct testing whereby doors and frames are subjected to repeated 200 lb. blows from mechanical battering rams simulating thousands of blows, prison abuse and riot conditions. Successful completion and certification of these stringent testing requirements is one of the many prerequisites necessary to be a manufacturer of prison products.
According to the Pew Report on Public Safety and Public Spending, which forecasts America’s prison population from the year 2007 to 2011, America’s prison population is projected to increase by 192,000 to over 2.5 million inmates, leading the world in both number and percentage of residents incarcerated. One in every 100 U.S. adult residents is in jail or prison, an alarming 1% of the nation’s total adult population. The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing guidelines imposed since the mid-1980’s. For American Steel, this means a near limitless demand for its products. Based on the Pew Study, it is projected that $12 billion will be spent on new prisons, not including the cost of renovating existing prisons, many of which are over 100 years old. American Steel is well positioned to take advantage of this detention industry growth.
But success is not something American Steel takes lightly or for granted.
In 1933, a small, family-owned manufacturing business called American Steel was started in Brooklyn, NY. In 1973, it was moved to Farmingdale, Long Island, NY, and in 1994 was purchased from the founding family by the MacGregor Group, a Connecticut-based detention equipment contractor. The MacGregor Group’s plan was to purchase businesses that would represent every facet of building for the detention industry. Due to the high cost of operation in the New York area, they conducted a national search to determine the best place to relocate the company’s manufacturing operation, and in 1995, Swainsboro became American Steel’s new home. Ken Feldman, the Vice-President of Operations in New York, along with Robert Dihrberg, the plant manager, relocated with nine other employees from the New York operation to Swainsboro. Simultaneously, in Georgia, Swainsboro-native Craig McNeely, ASP General Manager, hired 90 local residents to complement the New York staff.
An industrial “spec” building, the first in a new industrial park just off the Empire Expressway, became a bustling hive of activity as concrete slab was poured, plumbing and electrical lines were run, and 40 truck-loads of manufacturing equipment were brought from Long Island to enable ASP to set up operations.
Every piece of equipment from the Long Island location had to be disassembled and brought to Swainsboro, and then reassembled at the new facility. Every bit of inventory had to be moved, which included hundreds of tons of steel. There were orders to be filled and prisons to be built during the entire relocation and setup process. Though it was difficult, the staff of ASP managed to train new employees and push out orders even as the machinery was being assembled, working long hours seven days a week.
But harder times were ahead. Problems began to arise with the MacGregor Group, leading to the near-collapse of the company. For fourteen months after ASP relocated to Swainsboro, the MacGregor Group continually funneled ASP’s profits into other ventures, racking up enormous debt, including payroll taxes, machinery payments, mortgage payments to the local Development Authority, local banking obligations and even the employee payroll itself. All of the financial business of the company was conducted through the MacGregor Group, so that by the time it became apparent how severe the financial damage had become, it was almost too late.
As a means of temporarily preserving operations, local creditors and attorneys put the company into state court-mandated receivership, with Ken Feldman designated as the court-appointed receiver to legally shield the company from the MacGregor Group. After a long legal battle, the MacGregor Group temporarily regained control of the company by filing for federal bankruptcy protection. ASP workers and supervisors alike pulled together and signed petitions threatening to resign their positions if the MacGregor Group was placed back in control of the company and if Feldman was relieved of his position. With the support of his staff, Feldman and Harry Moses, Jr., of Vidalia, were able to pull together a group of investors and form Coastal Plain Ventures, LLC (CPV). Moses had been the general contractor instrumental in the build-out of ASP’s Swainsboro facility. The investment group purchased the assets of the former company and began the process of stabilizing the operation. Throughout the entire ordeal, American Steel never lost a day of production and continued to supply its customers, a feat to be monumentally proud of.
When Coastal Plain Ventures purchased the assets of American Steel, the company had been cleared of its debt due to the MacGregor Group filing for bankruptcy. However, the new company, CPV, voluntarily assumed nearly $5 million in debt from the former company, citing small town values as its reason for wanting to repay the monies due the local Development Authority, local banks, and the IRS. As a result, the taxpayers of Emanuel County were spared the additional tax burden of having to step in and service the county-guaranteed bonds issued to finance the American Steel project.
Thirteen years later, in 2008, American Steel is completely debt-free. In March of this year, the company paid off its building mortgage nearly two years ahead of schedule. In addition, the company has also invested $2 million in capital upgrades, ranging from new equipment to new offices.
American Steel currently supports a diverse 80-person workforce while infusing approximately $3 million annually into the local economy. Career opportunities leading to upper level and supervisory positions exist for both skilled and trainable workers in the areas of mig, tig, and arc welding; CNC and other computer controlled press operations; spot-welding; assembly; finishing, and shipping. In addition to paid holidays and vacations, the company also offers employees the opportunity to participate in its group health insurance plan and its’ 401K company-matching retirement program.
American Steel’s unique market niche positions the company in an almost recession-proof industry, thus affording its’ family of workers the security of steady employment in the midst of today’s turbulent economy. Having developed a reputation for on-time delivery of quality prison equipment, American Steel is poised to consistently secure a sizeable share of the federal, state, and local detention and prison equipment market. Given national security concerns ranging from domestic crime, to illegal immigration, to international terrorism threats; the company’s potential for long-term growth and sustained success are bright.
According to ASP President /CEO Ken Feldman, “The company’s greatest asset is its employees. Their hard work, commitment, and unwavering loyalty fuels and sustains the company’s growth and success. I am very proud of these people and admire their dedication and sense of purpose, and the respect with which they treat one another. They unselfishly put the needs of the company ahead of their own. This, I feel, is our most rewarding accomplishment. Working with them is a true privilege.”
ASP’s continuing challenge and mission is to build the premier detention equipment manufacturing company in the nation; while creating a model company that honors commitments to customers, employees, community, and suppliers.
American Steel Products is a true success story: a well-established, locally-owned business, brought back from the brink of disaster to become a highly competitive, nationally recognized company poised to meet the challenges of the future.
American Steel Products is a private and locally-owned company with its corporate office in the Richard L. Brown Industrial Park (located just off the Empire Expressway) in Swainsboro. The company operates an 80,000 square foot manufacturing facility, newly constructed in 1995 by the Swainsboro / Emanuel County Joint Development Authority, and employs an 80-person workforce. The company also maintains a satellite sales and engineering office in Demorest, Georgia.
American Steel Products (ASP) has provided material for the construction industry for over 75 years. For the past 20 years, ASP has focused on supplying security products specifically designed for the detention industry. ASP engineers and manufactures prison doors, door frames, windows, control stations, guard towers, and other security products for the construction and renovation of penal facilities. The company also provides blast-resistant steel window embeds for U.S. embassies in the Middle East, North Africa and other terrorist-plagued regions. These high-security embeds are virtually impregnable and impossible to be blown from their cement encasements. In conjunction with detention hollow metal, ASP has designed and manufactured sophisticated security products for two Federal Reserve Bank facilities in Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala.
ASP is currently the second largest manufacturer of detention hollow metal in the United States. The company has built over 1,000 prisons spread across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and even South Africa. These include federal penitentiaries, state correctional facilities, county jails, municipal justice complexes, Immigration and Naturalization detention facilities, as well as local jails and police lock-downs. ASP has supplied products to more federal penitentiaries than any other company in the nation.
American has worked to build the largest and highest security level facilities in the country. It has supplied product for the Federal Correction Complex in Florence, Colorado: a super-maximum security Level VI facility, touted as the most secure prison in the nation. In addition, in 1998, ASP completed work on the Arizona State Prison Complex (5700 beds), in Buckeye, Arizona, one of the largest prison facilities in the country.
American Steel sells its products to detention equipment contractors, who install locking mechanisms, glass, and hardware. The complete package is then sold to general contractors. General contractors in the detention industry are overseen by construction managers, who are in turn overseen by the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The industry is unique in that it is extremely difficult to “break into” (to use the obvious pun). Prison architects specify select manufacturers whose products they want for inclusion in their projects. Large projects have such stringent requirements that it is virtually impossible to secure the job unless the company has been in business for many years and can provide proof of having built large facilities in the past. For instance, the contract for supplying product to build the maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado, specified that the manufacturer had to previously have been involved in building a prison of the same size and complexity, in addition to having been in operation for more than 10 years. With standards and criteria such as these, the industry is kept deliberately small to maintain the value and quality of the manufactured products. ASP is among a very select group of companies able to meet the stringent requirements necessary to work on such large-scale projects.
ASP engineers and manufactures its security products to the strictest architectural design and testing standards. ASP’s products have undergone years of continually upgraded certification testing, administered and witnessed by authorized testing laboratories. Tests include impact and destruct testing whereby doors and frames are subjected to repeated 200 lb. blows from mechanical battering rams simulating thousands of blows, prison abuse and riot conditions. Successful completion and certification of these stringent testing requirements is one of the many prerequisites necessary to be a manufacturer of prison products.
According to the Pew Report on Public Safety and Public Spending, which forecasts America’s prison population from the year 2007 to 2011, America’s prison population is projected to increase by 192,000 to over 2.5 million inmates, leading the world in both number and percentage of residents incarcerated. One in every 100 U.S. adult residents is in jail or prison, an alarming 1% of the nation’s total adult population. The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing guidelines imposed since the mid-1980’s. For American Steel, this means a near limitless demand for its products. Based on the Pew Study, it is projected that $12 billion will be spent on new prisons, not including the cost of renovating existing prisons, many of which are over 100 years old. American Steel is well positioned to take advantage of this detention industry growth.
But success is not something American Steel takes lightly or for granted.
In 1933, a small, family-owned manufacturing business called American Steel was started in Brooklyn, NY. In 1973, it was moved to Farmingdale, Long Island, NY, and in 1994 was purchased from the founding family by the MacGregor Group, a Connecticut-based detention equipment contractor. The MacGregor Group’s plan was to purchase businesses that would represent every facet of building for the detention industry. Due to the high cost of operation in the New York area, they conducted a national search to determine the best place to relocate the company’s manufacturing operation, and in 1995, Swainsboro became American Steel’s new home. Ken Feldman, the Vice-President of Operations in New York, along with Robert Dihrberg, the plant manager, relocated with nine other employees from the New York operation to Swainsboro. Simultaneously, in Georgia, Swainsboro-native Craig McNeely, ASP General Manager, hired 90 local residents to complement the New York staff.
An industrial “spec” building, the first in a new industrial park just off the Empire Expressway, became a bustling hive of activity as concrete slab was poured, plumbing and electrical lines were run, and 40 truck-loads of manufacturing equipment were brought from Long Island to enable ASP to set up operations.
Every piece of equipment from the Long Island location had to be disassembled and brought to Swainsboro, and then reassembled at the new facility. Every bit of inventory had to be moved, which included hundreds of tons of steel. There were orders to be filled and prisons to be built during the entire relocation and setup process. Though it was difficult, the staff of ASP managed to train new employees and push out orders even as the machinery was being assembled, working long hours seven days a week.
But harder times were ahead. Problems began to arise with the MacGregor Group, leading to the near-collapse of the company. For fourteen months after ASP relocated to Swainsboro, the MacGregor Group continually funneled ASP’s profits into other ventures, racking up enormous debt, including payroll taxes, machinery payments, mortgage payments to the local Development Authority, local banking obligations and even the employee payroll itself. All of the financial business of the company was conducted through the MacGregor Group, so that by the time it became apparent how severe the financial damage had become, it was almost too late.
As a means of temporarily preserving operations, local creditors and attorneys put the company into state court-mandated receivership, with Ken Feldman designated as the court-appointed receiver to legally shield the company from the MacGregor Group. After a long legal battle, the MacGregor Group temporarily regained control of the company by filing for federal bankruptcy protection. ASP workers and supervisors alike pulled together and signed petitions threatening to resign their positions if the MacGregor Group was placed back in control of the company and if Feldman was relieved of his position. With the support of his staff, Feldman and Harry Moses, Jr., of Vidalia, were able to pull together a group of investors and form Coastal Plain Ventures, LLC (CPV). Moses had been the general contractor instrumental in the build-out of ASP’s Swainsboro facility. The investment group purchased the assets of the former company and began the process of stabilizing the operation. Throughout the entire ordeal, American Steel never lost a day of production and continued to supply its customers, a feat to be monumentally proud of.
When Coastal Plain Ventures purchased the assets of American Steel, the company had been cleared of its debt due to the MacGregor Group filing for bankruptcy. However, the new company, CPV, voluntarily assumed nearly $5 million in debt from the former company, citing small town values as its reason for wanting to repay the monies due the local Development Authority, local banks, and the IRS. As a result, the taxpayers of Emanuel County were spared the additional tax burden of having to step in and service the county-guaranteed bonds issued to finance the American Steel project.
Thirteen years later, in 2008, American Steel is completely debt-free. In March of this year, the company paid off its building mortgage nearly two years ahead of schedule. In addition, the company has also invested $2 million in capital upgrades, ranging from new equipment to new offices.
American Steel currently supports a diverse 80-person workforce while infusing approximately $3 million annually into the local economy. Career opportunities leading to upper level and supervisory positions exist for both skilled and trainable workers in the areas of mig, tig, and arc welding; CNC and other computer controlled press operations; spot-welding; assembly; finishing, and shipping. In addition to paid holidays and vacations, the company also offers employees the opportunity to participate in its group health insurance plan and its’ 401K company-matching retirement program.
American Steel’s unique market niche positions the company in an almost recession-proof industry, thus affording its’ family of workers the security of steady employment in the midst of today’s turbulent economy. Having developed a reputation for on-time delivery of quality prison equipment, American Steel is poised to consistently secure a sizeable share of the federal, state, and local detention and prison equipment market. Given national security concerns ranging from domestic crime, to illegal immigration, to international terrorism threats; the company’s potential for long-term growth and sustained success are bright.
According to ASP President /CEO Ken Feldman, “The company’s greatest asset is its employees. Their hard work, commitment, and unwavering loyalty fuels and sustains the company’s growth and success. I am very proud of these people and admire their dedication and sense of purpose, and the respect with which they treat one another. They unselfishly put the needs of the company ahead of their own. This, I feel, is our most rewarding accomplishment. Working with them is a true privilege.”
ASP’s continuing challenge and mission is to build the premier detention equipment manufacturing company in the nation; while creating a model company that honors commitments to customers, employees, community, and suppliers.
American Steel Products is a true success story: a well-established, locally-owned business, brought back from the brink of disaster to become a highly competitive, nationally recognized company poised to meet the challenges of the future.
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