Feature

May/June 2009

Making It Happen

Schuff Steel extends its national growth using innovative in-house technologies

By Tom Nicholson

Phoenix-based schuff steel has risen to the top since it started as a small father-and-son steel-erection company in 1976.

In just three decades, the firm—a member of multiple AGC chapters—has grown to be a leader in the steel fabrication and erection industry with about 1,500 employees, an expanding stable of subsidiaries and projects totaling more than $700 million annually. Managers say the rapid ascent was born of a visionary strategy summed up in the firm’s credo: We Make It Happen.

And it would appear that they do.

Constructing the Palazzo resort in Las Vegas required complex steel fabrication and erection that made Schuff the firm for the job. (Photo courtesy of Papagalos Strategic Communications)

Schuff stands out by offering both steel- fabrication and erection services. Multifaceted in its capabilities and holding sway over a broad range of construction demand in diverse markets, the engineering and fabrication giant defines for the industry what is possible in terms of complexity and technology in steel fabrication.

“The more complex and difficult a job is, the more it is a Schuff job,” says Robb Waldrep, vice president of Schuff International, one of the firm’s several divisions. “We specialize in taking projects that may be no more than a napkin sketch and designing the most cost-effective solution.”

At the high level of fabrication for which Schuff is known, such as the retractable-roofed University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006 or the 52-story Las Vegas Palazzo Resort in 2008, “we really don’t have any competitors,” Waldrep claims.

Technology Driven

Key to the expanded capabilities of the firm is the eight-person design and engineering group, which president and CEO Scott A. Schuff, son of former president and current chairman Dave Schuff, created in 1991 after taking the helm.

The design element allows the firm to offer owners the benefits of building information modeling, design-build and design-assist. About 60% of Schuff’s projects are design-build, Waldrep says.

The design group also assists project teams in design-assist delivery formats, in which Schuff engineers lend expertise to the engineer-of-record.

Schuff has been a main player in Las Vegas’ new generation of full-service, ultra-compact resorts, such as the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino. (Photo courtesy of Papagalos Strategic Communications)

The firm has always been an early adopter and experimenter with burgeoning construction technology. “We’ve embraced BIM 100% since it existed,” Waldrep says. “We’re a firm that has from the beginning thought about what technology can do.”

Looking to the horizon of construction technology and software, a seven-person development staff was created recently to develop in-house construction software such as newly implemented programs for scheduling and automated estimating.

“Complexity is not only about construction but also about scheduling,” says Jay Allen, who leads Schuff’s design group. “We have our own sophisticated proprietary management and tracking tool.”

Called Schuff Steel Integrated Management Systems, the system gives Schuff the ability to track in real time every piece of steel on a project.

Also in the technology arsenal is a data warehouse system developed at Schuff that seamlessly integrates a host of design and construction software such as Primavera, Construction Manager, Fabtrol and Tekla.

Since Schuff is “both a steel erector and a steel fabricator, there isn’t a software product on the market that can efficiently deal with our business model or our growth,” Scott Schuff says.

He says technology allows the company to construct technically challenging projects that would have been too cost- and time-prohibitive to build even five years ago; it also allows the firm to expand more rapidly and increase its operating margin.

“In addition, we can electronically interface with our construction and design partners through BIM—a tremendous asset for our company,” Schuff says.

The investment in technology has allowed the firm to grow revenue by 40% without adding staff, says Rob Vanderhei, vice president of sales for Arizona Schuff Steel Southwest. Schuff managers say the firm’s diverse design, engineering, fabrication and delivery capabilities, along with its diverse geographic and market reach, are keys to its growth. “If you aren’t changing, you’re dying,” Waldrep says.

At Schuff, change typically comes in the form of innovation, Allen says. “The company from the top down is all about innovative thinking—open to looking for new systems, new ideas. Dave Schuff is one of the great innovators in the industry.”

Aiming to diversify has also meant expansion for Schuff. At the root of the firm’s explosive growth has been a series of strategically executed acquisitions of competitors and peripheral operations, all calculated to make the firm more indispensable to owners with major projects.

“Schuff has been able to expand because of strategic geographical and market diversification, with the most recent location opening in Chicago,” Vanderhei says.

University of Phoenix Stadium is a signature Schuff project, with a retractable roof.

The first acquisition was of the Marathon Steel plant near downtown Phoenix in 1985. With the added capacity of the plant, Schuff then ventured into territories beyond Arizona.

The company went public in 1998, paving the way for more acquisitions and the ability to work throughout the Sunbelt from Florida to California.

Another landmark acquisition was Quincy Joist Co., Quincy, Fla., in 1998, which has expanded to include joist plants in California and Arizona.

Schuff also has nine fabrication facilities throughout the South. In making acquisitions, “We started looking at the end markets, and that meant looking to new markets such as petrochemical and energy,” Waldrep says.

Company officials say the firm is attracting the most qualified engineers and managers in the industry. “I look for the best engineers, and we hang onto them,” Allen says.