🔒United Steel expands into new challenges

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The story of United Steel — formerly East Hartford Welding — began with Ken Corneau's leap of faith back in 1974.

“I sold my car and motorcycle to purchase a truck and welding machine and began traveling from Vernon to East Hartford repairing dumpsters,” said Corneau, now United Steel's president. “Starting a business is like having a baby and watching it grow. Each phase has incredible joys, along with challenges, but you love it each day.”

Inside of a year, Corneau was renting an 800-square-foot space on Main Street in East Hartford, where he began fabricating dumpsters, rails, stairs and other metals. Not long after, and with the business growing, Corneau added another 800 square feet of space and hired his first employees.

The company continued to expand, and by 1979 Corneau had brought his brother, Glen Corneau, into the business to work in the field. Today, Glen serves as vice president of field construction.

Looking to expand upon his company's offerings, Ken Corneau decided to build a new facility in Manchester, which started fabricating light structural steel while also increasing its miscellaneous metals operation. By 1987, another move in response to tremendous growth saw the company move to a 30,000-square-foot facility in South Windsor.

“I felt confident that the facility would be sufficient to house the growing business,” said Corneau, “and it was, but not for long.”

By the early 1990s, in addition to again needing a larger facility, Corneau said it was time to change the company's name to reflect what it had become. Thus, East Hartford Welding became United Steel.

In 1996, the company moved into the long abandoned 125,000-square-foot former Republic Steel facility in East Hartford. Corneau's son, Keith, who began working for the company at that time during his senior year in high school, now serves as an executive vice president.

Over the past 15 years, along with adding another 40,000 square feet to the facility to enhance its shipping and manufacturing operations, United Steel has made several plant improvements, Ken Corneau said, including equipment and systems upgrades and process assessments.

The company unveiled its new United Metals Division in 2013 and just last year, in partnership with Memphis steel provider Varco Pruden, created United Building Solution to offer general contracting services and pre-engineered buildings. Ken Corneau's son, Kyle, is involved with both divisions.

Today, United Steel's customer base includes architects, general contractors, design-build firms and construction managers, and its nearly 200 employees work on both public and private commercial construction projects throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

Last fall, the company completed a 20,000-square-foot addition to streamline its manufacturing process, improve customer service and keep business practices modernized.

“United Steel was able to increase its employee base by 15 percent to maximize this new space and was able to increase production efficiencies to maintain a competitive edge,” Ken Corneau said.

This year, the company has continued its nearly 700-day field safety record. With high safety risks involved in steel construction work, Corneau said the company conducts regular training, inspection and oversight to ensure the safety of its workers.

In addition, United Steel has completed several projects this year, including work at Lego's headquarters in Enfield, student housing at the University of New Haven, Firehouse 12 in Hartford, the Alstom Power Plant in Bloomfield, the Bakery on Main in East Hartford, the new Bass Pro Shops in Bridgeport, the VA Medical Center in West Haven and the Air National Guard in East Granby.

Chief Financial Officer Lynn Caouette, who started working for United Steel 19 years ago as an entry-level accountant, said the company and its family tradition make a difference in people's lives.

“We're building schools to foster education; we're building hospitals to improve health; we're building facilities that will bring jobs to communities,” Caouette said. “Everyone here takes a real sense of pride in what they do. As I often hear our shop foreman say, 'We're building America.' ”

Corneau acknowledges United Steel's strong family pedigree but is quick to add that the family extends well beyond the Corneau name alone.

“United Steel is considered a family business because I started the business and employ members of my family,” Corneau said. “However, we have a large number of employees who are related to one another — even though they are not related to me. The fact that our employees recommend United Steel to members of their families is a testament to the success and atmosphere that surrounds our company.”

Q&A

What is the biggest challenge to your business in the coming year?

Foreign competition and the competitive concerns as it relates to the advantages they have with their dollar being so much weaker than that of the U.S. This is not only driving work out of the U.S., but it’s driving companies out of the U.S. as a result. This is a serious concern in our industry and well beyond.

What would you say to your founder about how you run the company today?

He’s my father, and he is still in our office, so we are able to exchange “healthy feedback” on a daily basis.

What are the top two goals for your company over the next 50 years?

Become a profitable $1 billion company by 2034 and to be the largest structural steel and miscellaneous metals fabricator and erector on the East Coast.