2025 HSS SUMMIT
Session
HSS Manufacturing Process and Availability
Description:
This session will serve as an introduction to Hollow Structural Sessions (HSS) and help set the tone of the Summit. It will start with an overview of HSS and what advantages they bring. It then will explore the manufacturing processes used to produce the common sizes of HSS and how these processes impact the availability of these sizes in the marketplace. There will be an interactive section where attendees can offer their views of what “availability” means to them. It will conclude with responses to the audience feedback and highlight some of the current resources that are available.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the advantages of HSS and why they are used.
- Explain the common manufacturing methods and identify the common manufacturing specifications.
- Explain the different perspectives on availability and the reasons behind these perspectives.
- Identify the resources to assist in determining the availability of common HSS sizes.
PDH credits: 1.0
Speaker:
Brad Fletcher, S.E., Senior Structural Engineer, Atlas Tube, a Zekelman Company
About Brad:
Brad Fletcher, S.E., is the senior sales engineer at Atlas Tube. In this role, Brad leverages his over 34 years of experience in engineering design and the steel industry to provide technical expertise on the use of steel hollow structural sections (HSS) and pipe piling products to design engineers, detailers, fabricators and architects.
A registered structural engineer in the state of Illinois, Brad has held senior positions at leading architecture and engineering firms, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Sargent & Lundy; and Halvorson and Partners. For the past 19 years, while working at Tata Steel (formerly known as Corus) and now with Atlas Tube, Brad has focused his efforts on serving as a liaison between structural designers and the steel industry.
Brad holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE, MSCE) from Purdue University. He is active in many industry groups, including the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI) and ASTM International. Brad participates in several industry committees such as the Technical Committees responsible for the AISC Specification, the HSS Committee of the Steel Tube Institute, the CISC Education and Research Committee, the CSA S16 Technical Committee, the AISC Committee on Research, the AISC Sustainability Committee and the NCSEA Sustainability Committee.