Family-Owned Atlas Iron Works Celebrates 100th Anniversary

 

Stephanie N. Green 

St. Louis, MO -- St. Louis-based structural steel fabricator Atlas Iron Works has seen its share of challenges over the course of its 100-year-history, but with the fourth generation at its helm, the future looks bright for the family-owned steel fabricator as it embarks on a major push towards the future.

 

 Under new ownership and leadership, Atlas is focused on streamlining processes, introducing new technology, expanding its product and service offerings nationwide and building partnerships with other fabricators in the area while continuing to shape surrounding communities.

 

In February 2022, St. Louisans Kenton Klein and Randy Green purchased Atlas Iron Works from Klein’s father, making Atlas Iron Works a fourth-generation company.

 Kenton Klein

Longtime entrepreneurs, the new owners have over 40 years of construction and technology industry experience between them.

“We shadowed employees and figured out there were some improvements to be made," said  Klein.  "We asked Randy’s daughter Stephanie to help us figure out the finances and streamline the operations.

"She saw the company’s potential, and with the involvement of Atlas employees’ we have been able to revamp incredibly stronger to continue Atlas’ legacy.”

Green said he knew from the moment he walked on the shop floor for the first time that he wanted to purchase Atlas Iron Works.

“The amount of history that has been created inside our shop by the hands of our employees is incredible; I wanted to be a part of it. Seeing the quality, skill and dedication of Atlas’ employees was all it took for me,” said Green.

Stephanie Green and two Atlas staffers

The first decision made by Klein and Green was hiring new management. “We understood that it wasn’t going to take just anyone to get the company into the 21^st century. Atlas was going to need the right people in place, and the entire organization had to pull together to achieve this company-wide goal,” said Green.

Klein and Green appointed Stephanie Green as Vice President/CFO to manage the company’s day-to-day operations, with Klein as president and Green as CEO.

 Stephanie’s management experience started at age 18 when she began helping her father manage the family’s construction, electrical, HVAC and plumbing businesses.

 

She attended night classes to achieve MBA/Supply Chain Management degrees while running the family businesses during the day. The decision to step away from running the family businesses for 12 years to manage Atlas Iron Works wasn’t an easy one for her.

“With my father expanding into other industries and acquiring five other businesses since then, I decided it was time to leave and begin building Atlas Iron Works,” said Stephanie.

 

“As I accepted this new position, I vowed to myself in this role that I’d never change the foundation of how Atlas got started, but we were going to implement the changes necessary to grow and expand.

 

"I can’t believe in a short amount of time what our team has been able to accomplish from where we started. Our vision is clear - to never stop improving our product, company culture, employees, and commitment to our customers.”

 

Atlas Iron Works is embracing new ways of manufacturing with technology by working to incorporate interactive labor data into its estimating software to produce more accurate bids, production timelines and machine programming straight from provided engineered files. 

 

“The technology we have chosen to implement will predict and track each order down to the individual piece, with daily alerts when an expected deadline is ahead of schedule, or behind schedule," said Klein.

 

"Coupled with old school knowledge, feedback from the entire company, and prayers, Atlas will grow stronger into the future while continuing to produce a superior steel product like it has for the past 100 years.” 

 

Atlas specializes in structural steel fabrication (beams, columns, posts, girders, anchor bolts, steel decking, joists and so much more), detailing/engineering, miscellaneous fabrication, custom design builds, mezzanines/industrial platforms, and erector services.

 

Atlas Iron Works is recognized in the construction industry for its product durability and ease of installation and its customer service.

 

The company has produced and shipped steel for use in over 20,000 structures across the country for a variety of industries, using only the finest quality U.S. steel products. 

 

Backed by a AISC BU certification, Atlas currently employs 18 skilled men and women and is currently expanding its workforce. 

 

Since taking over the company, the new leadership has worked to cut over $800,000 in overhead, hire new office staff and shop workers, and develop plans to modernize the shop and expand its product offering with the purchase of custom-built beam line, plate burner and handrail machines scheduled for delivery in early 2023.

The History of Atlas Iron Works

Otto Klein

Klein’s great-grandfather Otto Klein founded Atlas Iron Works in 1922, along with associates Bill Smith, Charles Galt and Arthur Koppen – four friends who shared a vision to produce the finest quality fabricated steel products in the country.

 Combining their years of experience in the steel industry, their personal integrity and their commitment to quality, the visionaries opened Atlas Iron Works at 4020 Geraldine Ave. in North St. Louis, Missouri.

Charles Galt

When the Great Depression hit in 1929 and many companies failed, Otto bought out Koppen and Smith’s shares in the company and managed to persevere despite multiple years with sales of $1,000 or less.

 

 At the start of World War II in 1939, Atlas combined its facilities, workers, and equipment with 11 other steel fabricators in the St. Louis area at the time to provide mass fabrication of structural steel and miscellaneous iron work for the nation’s rapidly expanding war program.

 

 Atlas would continue to support the troops throughout WWII by fabricating bulkheads for amphibious landing craft and building the steel hull for the battleship USS Missouri.

Terry Zwick 

During the late 1970s, William’s son, Richard, started working for Atlas and the company ventured into the design and manufacture of custom, structural steel mezzanines.

Atlas was able to triple its business volume in the 1980s and 1990s as it updated its fabricating equipment to include state-of-the-art Computer Numerical Control (CNC) programming.

Atlas ran two shifts until 1998 when it experienced a downturn in production and reduced its staff. Richard was able to keep the shop open, often foregoing his own paycheck, even after his Sales Manager/Vice President Terry Zwick retired in 2016.

 

Contact:      

   

Jennifer Beidle 314-607-9459 jennifer@jbeidlepr.com

 

 

www.facebook.com/AtlasIronWorksEst1922.

314-383-7200 or

 bid@atlasironworks.com.