STI Member Profile: Behind Atlas Tube: Strategies, Innovations, and Sustainable Practices

Jeff Cole, president of Atlas Tube, spoke to us about how the operating philosophy of Atlas Tube drives its innovative offerings, from jumbo HSS to its proprietary Automated Inventory Management (AIM) system.

Atlas Tube was founded in 1984 and has thrived and grown thanks to its focus on customer service, lean manufacturing, employee empowerment and technological innovation. There’s also a strong focus on the long term, says Atlas Tube President Jeff Cole. “We operate the business with the mindset that this is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re very focused on making decisions for the best long-term outcome.” Cole continues, “We encourage our teammates to make decisions at the lowest level possible. During the past five years, we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars of capital back into our facilities to ensure we’re keeping our teammates safe and that we can produce the highest-quality products.” The company’s North American distribution range is wide. “I love seeing where our tubing products go, whether it’s into buildings, stadiums, bridges, agricultural equipment, automotive or solar applications,” says Cole.

The company offers the broadest size range of steel HSS in North America, from 1/2″ by 1/2″ square up to 22″ by 22″ square, plus the equivalent rectangles for all sizes. Their rounds range from 0.84″ OD up to 28″ OD, and all shapes are available with industry-leading wall thickness up through 1″. It supplies HSS, mechanical tubing and pipe piling, and cosmetic tubing through its KC Specialty Tube division. Available grades are ASTM, A513, A500, A252, A1085 and CSA G40.21, as well as Class H, a Canadian heat treat specification.

Atlas Tube’s unique offerings include the largest range of standard and jumbo HSS in the industry along with a patented bolted-connection solution called Shuriken^TM. Cole says, “We invented the quick-change production process, which allows us to have faster rolling cycles, reduces our minimum order quantities, and provides exceptional on-time service to our customer base.”

Its Automated Inventory Management (AIM) system allows vendors to identify and  select A and B priority offerings and have them auto-replenished through real-time integrated supply-and-demand forecasting. Leveraging Atlas Tube’s rolling frequency and cycle times in this way allows customers to free up cash flow, warehouse space and time. Cole says, “We have several customers who operate in our AIM program, and they love it. It makes their world very simple, and they describe it to us as hitting the ‘easy’ button to increase cash flow and optimize inventory levels.”

Like most advanced manufacturers, Atlas Tube is focused on sustainability beyond the innate recyclability of steel and looks for ways to operate production facilities in the most environmentally responsible way possible. Cole says, “We’re also always mindful of how we source our steel coil and manage energy and water consumption, and we consistently look to improve the data that supports our Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) so that we have the most accurate EPDs in the industry.”

The company has been a member of Steel Tube Institute (STI) for many years and sees the main benefits as visibility for the industry and state-of-the-art education and design resources. Cole feels the webinars and HSS Design Manuals are extremely valuable for engineers, whereas fabricators can get the most benefit from the HSS Capability Tool.

As for the company’s driving philosophy, Cole says, “We strive every day to deliver the highest-quality products to our customers in the HSS market, and we want to always do the right thing regardless of whether it’s the easiest or not.”