(L-R) are Dave Sunde, vice president; Mike Johnston (MJ), general manager/CFO; and Mike Frabotta, president, all of Steel Unlimited.
“Quality Is Our Only Product.” That was the founding motto for Steel Unlimited in 1996 and it remains the overarching principle today. This approach has been so successful that the company continues to be on a winning streak that has led to repeated growth and expansion.
Since Mike Frabotta, president, and Dave Sunde, vice president, founded Steel Unlimited Inc. on Feb. 14, 1996, with a modest facility in Riverside, Calif., customer satisfaction has been their driving force and it has fueled astounding growth.
Significant Expansion, Growth
Within two years from the company's founding, that force led Frabotta and Sunde to develop and purchase their first location at 452 W. Valley Blvd., Rialto, Calif. — a 54,000-sq ft. facility focused on steel processing and attachments.
Around the same time in 1998, the next expansion involved the company's World's Best Wear Parts division, which provides replacement wear parts — essential for professional grinding operations. This division today constantly evolves to meet various industry needs for the recycling, wood-waste, biomass, landscaping, landfill, land clearing, composting, asphalt shingle recycling and waste processing systems.
Within eight years of opening, Steel Unlimited created its SUI Water Well division, which produces quality fabricated-steel pump housings, as well as surface plates, steel pipes, columns and barrels needed for municipalities, agricultural and construction industries
Steel Unlimited's mining division opened in 2011. This division welds and repairs heavy equipment, rebuilds large attachments, in addition to supplying steel plate products and ground engaging tools.
With a staff at 120 and a growing customer base, Steel Unlimited was quickly outgrowing its Rialto location. To shorten lead time for its customers, Steel Unlimited expanded again in 2014 and opened a new corporate headquarters at 3200 Myers St., Riverside, Calif.
Millions of dollars were spent renovating and redesigning this facility outfitted with new machinery, new equipment, a quality control division, production division, increased engineering capabilities and a rapidly growing sales department.
Further expansion continued in 2015 with the company's hydraulic hammers parts & service division.
Steel Unlimited Today
While still maintaining and growing its primary business of steel processing and attachments, Steel Unlimited has expanded to six divisions today.
The company's capabilities as a one-stop supplier for material and processing needs include, in part:
• flame, plasma, laser, water jet and saw cutting;
• shearing;
• assembly and welding;
• machining;
• Blanchard grinding;
• forming and bending; and
• heat treating and more.
A full range of inventory is maintained to respond quickly to customer needs; as-rolled carbon, high-strength-low-alloy, alloy grades and heat-treated carbon.
Steel Unlimited specializes in custom fabrications of attachments to meet customer exact specifications and manufactures, designs and fabricates a wide selection of attachments, including:
• excavator buckets;
• skeleton buckets;
• V-buckets;
• Slab Crab Dragon buckets;
• ripper buckets;
• round bottom buckets;
• loader buckets and more.
Steel Unlimited manufactures, designs and fabricates compaction wheels, rippers, rakes, thumbs, pulverizers, Grizzley screens, ground engaging tools, grapplers, rumble mates and custom attachments.
Pride in Manufacturing
Frabotta, Sunde and Michael Johnston, general manager/CFO, have more than 75 years of combined excellence, experience and passion in this industry and strive to maintain a customer centric focus.
The company remains proud to say, “Made in America.” Also, because the company is a steel distributor (with all of its steel arriving directly from mills), Steel Unlimited can pass its savings directly to its customers.
Adding Expertise
To expand and develop the sales department, Steel Unlimited hired Kevin Homuth as sales manager in May 2017. With more than 25 years of sales, developmental and operational expertise with Utility One Source, Buyers Products and McNeilus Trucks and Manufacturing, Homuth was tasked with bringing the sales department to next level. With the formulation of new strategies, a new organization, expansion and hiring of key personnel, Homuth is on target to reach record yearly growth.
The future for Steel Unlimited appears just as bright and potentially successful as its first 21 years in business.
“We will continue to improve company processes and efficiencies,” said Johnston. “We'll also exceed customer expectations, increase sales, while still maintaining attainable lead times, and most of all, we'll continue to always put our customers and employees first.”
For more information, call 909/873-1222 or connect with Steel Unlimited via Facebook.
CEG
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