Two Additional Companies Achieve HSS Certified Producer Status
Chicago, IL – The Steel Tube Institute of North America (STINA) announced that Maruichi American Corporation’s Santa Fe Springs, CA facility and Leavitt Tube’s Chicago, IL plant have achieved HSS Certified Producer status by successfully passing the program’s audits and product testing procedures.
Each company completed a series of internal audits and product testing designed to assure their processes, manufacturing procedures and products adhere to ASTM and other nationally recognized manufacturing standards.
Companies who pass the initial assessment are still subjected to up to two visits a years by Intertek, who conducts the program’s audits and testing. The follow-up visits include: auditing, testing the company’s raw materials, production processes and post production test reports, and obtaining samples of manufactured tubes for testing at Intertek’s Verification Center.
Maruichi American and Leavitt Tube join six other HSS producers who recently earned Certified Producer status.
Bill Wolfe, STINA’s Executive Director, said that interest in the Steel Tube Institute’s Producer Certification Program has grown rapidly among producers since the program’s Procedural Guide was introduced. “These are the seventh and eighth companies, and the tenth and eleventh facilities, to be certified,” Wolfe reported. “We have had inquiries about the program from virtually every major HSS producer in North America.”
There has also been strong interest in the program from end-use markets. Mark Bula, STINA’s HSS Director, said, “There have been a lot of requests for information about the certification program from engineers and fabricators who serve the commercial, industrial, institutional and residential building markets. Most of the interest has been about the use of HSS in support columns and trusses.”
About the Steel Tube Institute of North America
The Steel Tube Institute of North America was formed in 1930 when a group of manufacturers joined forces to promote and market steel tubing. Their goal was to mount a cooperative effort that would improve manufacturing techniques and inform customers about their products’ utility, versatility and competitive advantages. This, along with providing a forum for the discussion of issues impacting the industry, remains the basic motivation for the Institute’s efforts. To learn more, visit www.steeltubeinstitute.org.
STINA’s HSS Committee includes the majority of the leading producers of HSS in the U.S. and Canada. The group has been active as a STINA committee for more than 20 years, providing technical and design help for the industry, and promoting the features, benefits and uses of steel hollow structural sections (HSS) to specifiers, users and others in a wide variety of end markets, including: the construction, highway, bridge, equipment and transportation markets.