March, 2026- Q: Describe industry demand— where are you seeing opportunities and challenges?
A: Everyone is pretty busy, and demand is strong. It’s being driven by data centers, in particular, but very large construction projects also are driving overall steel consumption — stadiums, education, medical, chip manufacturing, and battery and EV plants. Really, the only weakness we see is in the agricultural business, which is still soft. At this point, we’re not seeing a lot of challenges, although if agriculture and automotive pick up, it will add to the overall strong picture. Government spending is good. We’re very confident that 2026 is going to be an outstanding year.
Q: How is Atlas Tube’s Shuriken product line growing and contributing to construction projects?
A: I’ve been in steel for 30-plus years and Zekelman is more passionate and focused about finding solutions and advancing the use of HSS in the market than any company I have witnessed. One of our growing products is Shuriken, a system that eliminates the need to use complicated connections and field welds on HSS and instead use field bolting columns, trusses and beams. Once people use it, they love it, and we’ve seen growth every year since it was introduced. This year, we’re introducing two new sizes to the Shuriken line—one smaller and one bigger—5/8 inch and 1 1/8 inch.
If someone has a question about the use of tube, or of Shuriken, we also have expanded our engineering staff. We have five dedicated staff that focus on education—technical marketing, problem-solving, advice and recommendations. Sometimes, it’s the little things that add value, as well. One example is Shuriken’s red cap, which is on the inside of the fixture. A customer informed us about a situation where the cap fell off, they found it in the yard and could replace it before the HSS got to the job site. Providing customers with solutions is our main goal.
We try to offer as many tools to the market as we can. Our jumbo mill in Arkansas can produce sizes that nobody makes in North America and are a good substitute for beams. We also have the Connections Hub, a free tool on our website that helps with connection design—not only for tube to tube but also beam to tube. It helps fabricators to have other options because if everyone’s better, we’re better.
Q: Can you give an example of Shuriken in action?
A: Pedestrian bridges are heavy tube users. Houston’s North Post Oak Pedestrian Bridge used thick-wall jumbo HSS to give it a slim, sleek look. The bridge is a 600-foot-long structure that allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross over 17 lanes of Katy Freeway traffic and link residential neighborhoods to the Metro Northwest Transit Center. Shuriken helped the project meet requirements, reduce costs and time, and create a tidier profile. There’s no welding or unsightly visuals. Bolt it up and it’s ready to go. The key is to get as much fabrication done in the shop versus on-site assembly. You don’t have to have a certified welder on site.
Q: With demand expected to be good, are you able to find the employees you need? Are you doing any training in house?
A: The market is much better for hiring than it was two to three years ago. We do have some challenges in certain markets; they are not inhibiting our growth but are driving us to improve our training and process mapping so we get consistent onboarding and consistent education for all our employees. We have so many people with so much knowledge in their heads that we have to translate to documents. So we’re going to continue that and expand our training efforts this year and going forward.
CHRIS HOYT joined Atlas Tube as vice president of sales in 2022 and now, is president. Prior to joining Atlas Tube, Hoyt spent nearly three decades in the steel industry with Gerdau and Republic Steel.
