Business View - November 2015 105
large service centers, such as Infra-Metals and Allied
Crawford, which can be passed onto customers.
Investment in equipment and technology are crucial for
future growth. Suggs notes, “The machinery we have is old
but very good. The kind you don’t replace over and over,
but do upgrade. We’ve done all the technology upgrades,
and just purchased a new piece of equipment that will
speed up production and increase efficiency. We hope to
have it fully operational by January 2016.”
The steel industry runs on high risk and low profit margins.
Any error in a project and the profit can disappear. Suggs
suggests a backup of cash is the saving grace. “Over time,
it’s important that a company doesn’t spend every dime
they make. When the economy went down in 2008/2009,
we were selling work under cost and losing money to keep
projects going. What saved us was my husband and fa-
ther-in-law being smart enough to save beforehand, so the
company had a decent cash flow. Yes, you have to rein-
vest, but only when the time is right. Now that the econo-
my has turned, construction is up and hopefully that will
continue.”
Looking ahead, the plan is to expand into different indus-
try sectors by opening a second location near the current
facility for a miscellaneous shop that would help Allstate,
MANUFACTURING
