Above: The Alliance family of companies now includes a mill that makes square and rectangular ERW and HSS tubing, and a fabrication operation.
January, 2025- The Alliance family of companies launched a new division last year: Alliance Tubular Products. It is located in Gary, Indiana, in a former mill facility. Together with its existing service center operation and a fabrication division, the company footprint now encompasses over 500,000 square feet, says President and COO Drew Gross. The tubing operation has brought in enough business that it expanded to two shifts in January.
Asked what compelled Gross and his team to enter a new product category, he explains, “the at-rolled service center industry dovetails nicely into the steel tubing business. We are always evaluating what’s next for Alliance. We continue to push further downstream and we felt like there was room for another player in structural tubing.”
Gross notes that Alliance had the real estate and facility to support it “and we have the slitting capacity covered. We had the good fortune of bringing some real tubing expertise to come in and help guide us through the process. We have found some gaps and will continue search for more opportunities that could support growth.”
The potential end markets for these products is deep and wide. “We have a sprawling customer base on the at-rolled side so we approached our existing customers and found a nice amount of crossover there,” Gross says, adding that the company has experienced success finding and onboarding new customers and even new industries that Alliance had not actively sold into before installing the tube mill.
The company has reached out to all the traditional structural tubing and ERW markets. “Some new areas are shining stars: energy, power creation, power distribution, grid buildout and infrastructure. These have been strong. We are also selling into agricultural equipment, construction and other sectors.”
Through this expansion process, Alliance has added at least 40 new employees. “We try to hire good talent for our companies. We have a unique employment opportunity because we touch upstream and downstream: service centers, tube production, fabrication. Depending on your skill set, we can find a place for you, from entry level to higher levels of experience,“ Gross says.
DIRECT FORMING
To create the tubing division, Alliance installed direct forming equipment, which allows steel to go from a mill master coil through a slitter at the service center, then move the strips into the tube mill.
“We don’t roll the strip into rounds and then form it into a square or rectangle; instead, we go from strip directly into a shape. The result is tighter tolerances, which really serves the tube laser industry very well. It’s also a universal tooling mill with size changeovers driven by CNC programming,” says Gross. “This allows us to reduce tool changeover times.”
Press brakes (top), large-format folders and robotic welding stations (bottom) are among the equipment that’s attracting new business at Alliance’s fabrication & manufacturing division and its tubing company.
Gross says the mill is highly automated. “We like this technology as a new entrant into the tubular space.”
Alliance stocks a full inventory of tubing on the floor. “We also publish rolling schedules and accept customer orders to t into our schedules,” according to Gross.
The tubing operation started with one shift in April 2024, after Alliance performed a complete renovation of the neighboring building, installing new floors, electrical, cranes and lighting. It took some time to start up and commission the line. “We tinkered with it to make sure we hit our productivity goals. The quality of the product is very well received,” Gross says.
Alliance appointed Carl Johnson to head up the tubing division. According to Gross, “Carl and I have known each other for about a decade. He was in the tubular space for some time. We developed a friendship. Around the time we were looking to invest, Carl became a free agent. We decided work together to roll out this new entity.”
FABRICATION
Alliance’s fabrication and manufacturing division has entered its second full year of operation. “We expanded our capabilities and capacities. We are ISO certified so we can sell to anyone that requires certification,” Gross says.
“Our parts go into many applications in many sectors. We can do large part forming with large-format folders and press brakes. We build weldments that range from small and simple to very large and highly complex,” using robotic welding stations. “There is a lot of welding capacity.” Alliance can handle jobs ranging from subassemblies to small piecework, using laser cutting, press brake forming and other processes, he says.
CAPABILITIES
TUBE MILL SIZES
Alliance Tubular Products (ATP) is able to produce specialty sections and metric shapes without the expense and leadtimes associated with new tooling. This allows for a wide range of sizes and lengths to be produced efficiently, meeting the diverse needs of customers across various industries.
ATP produces virtually any square and rectangle sizes between 1.5 through 5 inches square and 1.5 by 2 inches through 4 by 6 inches. It manufactures electric resistance welded (ERW) products and hollow structural sections. The mill can also produce up to 50-foot lengths. The fabrication division has a full staff of engineers and a quality department. “We offer a pretty high level of quality here.”
As a whole, the company leverages its steel purchasing and processing capabilities the service center has a multitude of coil processing lines from slitters to cut-to-length capabilities. As a result, says Gross, “we have had success partnering with large OEMs who were already steel customers. We hope to find new customers that want highly engineered fabrications.
“We are not a service center that fabricates but a fabricator,” he emphasizes. “I think there is safety and beauty in diversication. We like the value-added business and making margins in service centers is difficult.
“We stick close to our customers. If they are looking for one thing, and we can send them more, or even build a part, that’s perfect. It’s all about what the customers need and being a good steward.”
Alliance Tubular, 219/427-5400, http://alliancetubularproducts.com/
Alliance Fabrication & Manufacturing, 219/427-5400, http://alliancefabmfg.com/