Industry: Ulbrich of Illinois

In this post I’ll take you inside my place of work at the stainless steel service center Ulbrich of Illinois. We’re one of 11 locations in five countries across North America, Asia, and Europe that was created to service markets in the midwest of the United States. For 55 years, Ulbrich of Illinois has delivered high quality stainless steel strip to customers involved in high end manufacturing. I started with the company in 2004 and have been supervising production on second shift for the last 7 years.

Forklift removes 13,000# coils from a flatbed

Coils stored in our warehouse wait to be processed

Ryan Dennis prepares a coil to be processed

Our process is simple: Trucks deliver coiled steel. Once received, we locate them in our warehouse. Orders are entered by the sales team, laid out into cut patterns by the layout department, and put onto machines called slitters that are setup to cut material to the customer’s ordered width.

Slitter 'Head' setup according to the customers ordered width

Operator side of payoff arbor during a run

After the steel is cut, it eventually moves into the packaging department to be stacked on wooden pallets in preparation for shipment.

Autumn light touches coils waiting to be packaged

A coil rack moves product to the next operation

Our customers create thousands of different parts with the steel strip we provide. Stainless is found in many different markets such as architecture, chemical engineering, food and beverage manufacturing, vehicles, medicine, energy and aerospace, all vital to the functioning of a modern economy.

Clockwise from upper left: Wiper blade, shower drain, window spring, computer component, automotive gasket, snaps for clothing