Business View Magazine | April 2019

34 DRAKE-WILLIAMS STEEL INC. “Our main customers are contractors,” says Fit- ton. “A contractor will bring us onboard, we’ll look at the structural engineering and archi- tectural design drawings, and we’ll detail out all the steel products for the scope of work that we’re providing. Once we receive the raw material, we’ll cut it to length, add any neces- sary holes, perform any necessary welding, paint it when required, and then ship it out to the site to be erected. Our main footprint is the Midwest from Des Moines, Iowa to Denver; up into South Dakota and down into Kansas. More recently, we’ve done work in Atlanta; and we’re doing a lot of work in Utah and Oregon.” Fitton believes that the company’s competitive advantage lies in offering the highest quality product backed by industry leading customer service. “We really go above and beyond when it comes to customer service,” he states. “We push for early involvement in projects.” Fitton reports that the company already has enough capacity in its existing facilities, so rather than adding any more, its current agen- da includes fine-tuning its operations, growing its manpower count, and continuing to look at the latest technology, such as robotic welding and robotic processing equipment, as it makes