Steele Solutions boosted by rise of e-commerce

Steele Solutions Inc.
9909 S. 57th St., Franklin
Industry: Steel manufacturing
Employees: 153
www.steelesolutions.com

Franklin-based Steele Solutions Inc. has been having a record year, according to chief executive officer Mike Thelen.
The designer, engineer and manufacturer of industrial mezzanines, equipment platforms and other steel structures has been growing “dramatically” since 2009, particularly in the past few years.
Thelen declined to disclose the company’s annual revenue, but he said it has been growing, on average, 15 to 20 percent per year for the past five years.
“We expect the growth will continue in the foreseeable future,” he said.
According to Thelen, Steele Solutions’ success can be attributed to a recent surge in e-commerce and parcel delivery expansions.
Online retailers need distribution centers, which in turn require the kind of infrastructure Steele Solutions makes.
The other factor fueling the company’s growth is the shift from horizontal manufacturing to vertical manufacturing. With more manufacturers performing their work entirely in-house, that also creates a demand for Steele Solutions’ products.
In addition to the mezzanines and equipment platforms, Steele Solutions also makes towers, catwalks and crossovers for material handling and storage, and support for conveyors, equipment and machinery.

None of its products are the same, however.
“No two jobs are ever alike,” Thelen said. “We never build the same system twice.”
Serving the material handling and packaging industries, Steele Solutions’ structures are used by companies of all sizes, including nearly every major national retailer, as well as government and military entities.
Furthermore, its steel structures have been installed throughout the U.S. and in approximately 12 other countries. Primarily, the structures are made through the process of cutting, welding, drilling, forming and painting.
Formed in 1996, Steele Solutions is co-owned by Thelen, Kevin O’Neill, who serves as president, and Terry Young, who is vice president of engineering.  
Throughout the past nearly two decades, Thelen said he has seen the industry change in a few ways.
First is the pressure to deliver faster. An improved efficiency in the design phase; the implementation of robots, AutoCAD and 3D modeling; and forecasting future needs of key customers are methods the company uses to improve delivery times.
It currently takes about eight weeks from the time of the purchase order to the structures’ arrival on-site.
Over the years, Thelen has also seen building codes become more stringent, which can slow down projects.
Lastly, he said it has become more difficult to find qualified employees, especially engineers and technical workers, whom he asserts have been drawn to the computer industry rather than the manufacturing industry.
To find good employees, the company trains homegrown talent, runs an internship program, and plans to participate in an apprenticeship program affiliated with Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Steele Solutions presently has 153 employees, 127 of whom work in its 79,000-square-foot Franklin facility. The remainder work in the company’s other two Milwaukee-area locations and its sales offices in Philadelphia and Cleveland.
Steele Solutions is seeking 15 employees to work in engineering and technical services, and Thelen said the company is always hiring.
A move to a new facility could also be in the future in order to accommodate growth, according to Thelen.
Steele Solutions expanded three times in its first location in Waukesha, and another three times in the current facility, most recently in 2012.
Thelen said the facility is now landlocked, and the company plans to make a decision about a move within the year. While he has looked at some sites in southeastern Wisconsin, he said out of state is also a possibility.