Business View - November 2015 117
facility, so the company moved to Lithonia, Georgia, the
current locations of its headquarters. In 1989 the tran-
sition from the first generation to the second occurred
when Brad Bourne became President and Bill Noethling
became Executive Vice-President. Brad and Bill continued
to provide excellent service to their customers. Universal
Steel provided a quality product in a timely manner and its
customer’s grew to count on the superior performance.
Under their leadership Universal Steel’s growth contin-
ued and by 1999, the company was ready to hire new
employees. That same year the third generation arrived
when Brad and Bill asked Bray to come back from Virginia
and join the company. Bray had been working as an As-
sistant Dean of Admissions for Hampden-Sydney College.
The third generation continued to grow when Will Noeth-
ling, Bill’s son, joined the company in 2004 and Russell
Blocker, Bill’s son-in-law, joined the Universal Steel team
in 2005.
Clearly, keeping the business in family hands has been a
successful model for Universal Steel, which has continued
to grow and expand its services over the years. In many
cases, the company increased production and added ad-
ditional product lines by taking advantage of the oppor-
tunities that came its way. “As we supplied builders, they
experienced the value of our company and the contractors
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Universal Steel of NC, LLC
WHAT:
A family-owned steel fabrication company
WHERE:
Headquarters in Lithonia, Georgia
WEBSITE
:
MANUFACTURING
