Prefab Sprout Spurs SteelCell Expansion
Name: SteelCell North America
Location: Baldwin, Ga.
Phone: (706) 778-9615
Specialty: Prefabricated modular steel cells
SIC Code: 3448
Incorporated: 2001
Employees: 65
Annual Revenue: $26 million (2008)
Revenue Growth 2004-08: 550 percent
Project Portfolio:
• 1,024-bed medium-security state prison in Independence, Va.
• 424-bed county jail in Jefferson, Ga.
• 1,000-bed ICE processing/detention facility in Aurora, Colo.
Highlights:
• Steel cells are manufactured using almost 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials.
• Cell insulation incorporates steel slag aggregates, a byproduct of steel manufacturing.
• Cells feature low-VOC finishes.
• Units are delivered to site with zero-landfill packaging materials.
• Company is 90 percent employee owned.
In June, SteelCell of North America, a manufacturer of modular housing units, moved to a new 115,000-square-foot facility that combines manufacturing, administration and support and warehouse space in a single center.
The move is designed to streamline operations, enhance efficiency and expand manufacturing capacity with a facility that is four times larger than the multiple leased spaces that the company previously used.
“We hope to gain dramatic efficiencies by having everything in the proper layout under one roof,” says Mike Smith, president and CEO.
Smith says the efficiencies could have a direct impact on its customers by expediting the construction process.
“If we can reduce the construction time by just three months, that’s three months the state or county isn’t leasing beds, three months less the construction site costs are going up,” he says.
The modular systems the company provides can accommodate multiple building types and facility applications and specifications.
“Whether you’re talking about prefabricated steel or precast concrete, modular has got to be the most economical,” Smith says. “There are several ways to deliver facilities economically, but speed and quality have got to be top of the list.”
Prefabricated modular steel systems also offer flexibility and a wide range of options that can accommodate an array of housing unit configurations and building envelope materials for renovation and new construction projects.
“As an owner, you’re not limited to one or two designs; your design criteria is your only limitation,” Smith says. “It doesn’t affect the effectiveness of our system.”
The SteelCell system, which is engineered to prolong the life of the facility, also provides a housing environment of non-porous surfaces with properties that prevent or limit the absorption of moisture and fluid/airborne bacteria, fungi and pathogens.
“In developing our system, we’re confident we have eliminated as many joints as possible and limited the use of dissimilar materials, which reduces surface-cracking failures,” says Ray Handte, vice president and COO.