2
Business View Magazine
Universal Steel of NC, LLC
Bourne into steel
The first thing that William B. “Bray” Bourne IV, Vice Presi-
dent of Universal Steel Inc, mentions is that his company
is a family business. It is clear that he is very proud of
what his family has accomplished after almost fifty years
of fabricating steel. “My grandfather purchased State Or-
namental Iron in 1966,” says Bourne, “and then in 1970
he merged State Ornamental together with Universal
Steel, Inc. My grandfather decided to move the company
forward using the Universal Steel name.” The company
started in Tucker, Georgia but after the merger, the com-
pany moved to Decatur, Georgia.
In 1972, after graduating fromGeorgia Tech, Bray’s father,
WilliamB. “Brad” Bourne III startedwork at Universal Steel.
A year later, Bill Noethling, Brad’s brother-in-law, joined the
company. “Together, the three men grew their business,”
says Bourne. “As business expanded so did the scope of
their work. Their projects grew froma truly ornamental iron
handrail business into one of the preferred structural and
miscellaneous fabricators in the southeast.”
The growth of the company continued through the 1970’s
and by 1980 Universal Steel had outgrown its current
