First Posted: 1/6/2015
OTTAWA — Ottawa company Steel Technologies is on track for 2015, starting the new year off at a “record pace.”
“The business levels and forecast for 2015 continue to grow,” said Rob Vucco, plant manager at the company’s Ottawa location.
Vucco presented on the company, what it does and how it does it at the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on Tuesday.
Steel Technologies has 24 locations across the country, with the one in Ottawa located at 740 E. Williamstown Road and bought by the company in 2003.
Vucco said the company’s good start to 2015 is due to some new customers and some increases in demand for the products the manufacturer makes, which include items for the automotive and construction industries.
The company is mostly equipment-based, Vucco said during the presentation, going on to detail what equipment the company uses to make its products.
One piece of equipment, called a reversing mill, is what Vucco labels as the “heart and soul” of the plant.
“It’s typically our first process, our most important process,” he said.
Vucco also emphasized the approximately 100 people who work for Steel Technologies, saying the company has a strong local workforce.
Employees can come in with just a high school diploma and “grow up through the plant,” said Vucco, who grew through the plant himself.
“We’ve hired people with skills and we’ve hired people literally with no skill,” he said. “Some jobs we can teach people and they can grow.”
Vucco himself went from the floor to management, as did 70 percent of the current management team, he said.
The turnover is also low, Vucco said, as most employees have been there eight to 10 years.
Most employees are machine operators, though some do set up for the machines, he said.
The company is now hiring maintenance workers and operators. The salary is about $12 to $17 an hour starting, but Vucco said a lot of factors go into the wage.
The employees and the community are important to the company.
“Ultimately you have to take care of your people,” he said. “No matter how big the company is, it’s the people that matter. … People make any facility or any plant what it is.”
