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Company Overview
Our Commitment to Constant Improvement
MISSION:
- Add value to customers
- Contribute to the economic growth of our community
- Contribute to the stability and well-being of team members
- Contribute to the overall profitable growth of Dennen Steel Corp.
Since our founding in 1948, Dennen Steel continues to evolve in our quest to be an integral part of our customer’s value chain. Every month, our business mix changes as we capture new opportunities through innovation and investment. Today, we are proud to say that we offer an exciting array of Quality, Cost Effective solutions to our Partners.
Dennen Steel Corp. is much more than a West Michigan based steel service center. Eighteen years ago we broke the traditional “steel service center” model and expanded our business by adding four, high volume stamping lines. This forward-thinking investment gives us a powerful portfolio of manufacturing services that consistently reduce overall product costs for our customers.
In 2004 we opened our Burns Harbor, Indiana plant. The capabilities of this 30,000 square foot facility and our 600 Ton Press with in-line leveling, supports our Chicago-area customers.
In 2005, we began our Lean Journey with several successful events in our Grand Rapids and Burns Harbor facilities.
In 2006 we established two operating divisions. The Press Division and the Coil Division are supported by Dennen’s Corporate Services. The corporate structure allows each division to focus on its own customers and core businesses, while enjoying the cost savings of shared resources like Purchasing, Finance, Human Resources and IT.
In 2007, we are launching two new programs for furniture-industry customers. Additional partnerships with paint and metal-forming firms will further enhance our portfolio of value-added services.
PARTNERING & VALUE
Dennen Steel’s extensive parts stamping facility, first class coil processing capabilities, and worldwide mill relationships provide our partners with a very competitive cost model on new and takeover business. As an integrated supplier, we share the risk of a fluctuating steel market for the long-term good of our many partners whose trust keep us in business.
We can help with the following:
• Stable pricing via Long Term Agreements.
• Reduced inventory investment through quality part delivery.
• Improved forecasting and production effectiveness
• Shortened lead-time and reduced production cycle times
• Improved factory utilization and re-allocated factory and shipping floor space
"Dennen Steel’s value proposition reduces supply and production uncertainties thereby allowing manufacturers to focus on their core business. Our 100% satisfaction guarantee is backed by Dennen Steel’s long-standing reputation of integrity."
Andrew Dennen, CEO
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KEY STAFF
Andrew Dennen, Chief Executive Officer
Peter Dennen, Senior Vice President
Lawrence Murray, President, Press Division
Trent Bremer, Vice President of Finance
Michel Fortin, General Manager, Coil Division
Rafael Ocampo, Director of Operations
Chris Molnar, Burns Harbor Plant Manager
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CONTACTS
West Michigan - Grand Rapids Headquarters
Dennen Steel Corp.
Post Office Box 3200
Grand Rapids, MI 49501-3200
T 616 784-2000
F 616 784-0070
Greater Chicago Area - Burns Harbor Facility
Dennen Steel Corp.
325 Tech Drive
Burns Harbor, IN 46304-8843
General Sales Contact
Debra Smale
Director of Strategic Business Development
616 785-8350
dsmale@dennensteel.com
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DENNEN STEEL CORP’S 60 YEAR HISTORY
 Armed with $3,500 he saved during his U.S. Army service in World War II, plus a borrowed $1,500, Cyron Dennen founded Dennen Steel Supply Company in 1947.
Originally a steel brokerage and trading company, it specialized in buying and reselling rail carloads of government war surplus steel and aluminum.
Three years later, when younger brother Philmore Dennen completed his college studies, he joined the firm, which then operated from a Quonset hut on Third Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The family business began to focus on galvanized sheets, selling mainly to local sheet metal fabricators.
The business grew steadily.
In 1952, the company built its first warehouse, a 25,000 square foot facility on Grand Rapids’ Turner Avenue. Starting with three shears, customer demand soon led to company expansion. In only three years, the company nearly doubled in size. The facility was enlarged to 40,000 square feet to accommodate the additional shears needed to handle the growing business. Running three shifts, the number on employees skyrocketed from the original two, to 80.
 Staying on top of the changing steel industry, Cyron and Philmore saw in the 1960’s that the shear business was giving way to slit coil-fed stamping. Knowing their current facility was not suited for this process, they built a progressive, 57,000 square foot facility in 1968.
Designed to meet the present and future needs of the steel-consuming industry, this new facility, located at 3033 Fruit Ridge Avenue, Grand Rapids, (site of the present Dennen Steel) housed state-of-the-art machinery including slitting, leveling lines, and one of the first X-ray gauge measuring systems for slitting quality control installed in any steel warehouse.
Over the next eight years, Dennen Steel Supply continued to build its reputation in the steel industry. As its customers’ grew, Dennen Steel Supply invested in that growth.
The building was again enlarged to house the most modern machinery, and technology upgrades were frequently added. The business now employed nine sales people, a full-time metallurgist, and carried an inventory of 25,000 tons of steel. Dennen Steel Supply Company had evolved into Dennen Steel Corp.
 In 1976, after nearly 30 years in business, Cyron Dennen sold the company to Azcon Corporation, a division of British Consolidated Gold Fields, and soon retired. Philmore became President and the Chairman of the Board.
In 1980 Philmore left Azcon to begin his own steel brokerage firm, Philmore Steel, Ltd. Shortly thereafter, Cyron’s son, (Philmore’s nephew) Andrew Dennen, joined his Uncle at the new business.
Azcon liquidated Dennen Steel in 1982, leaving a void in the West Michigan steel industry and opening the door for Philmore Steel to expand into steel distribution. Philmore and Andrew decided the time was right for Dennen Steel to return.
After reclaiming the Dennen Steel name in 1984, Philmore and Andrew were committed to build a state-of-the-art steel service center. All former equipment had been sold in the liquidation, so the company bought new, coiled steel slitting equipment. In an innovative move, based on trends in the U.S. manufacturing industry, Dennen Steel expanded into first operation blanking with the acquisition of its first press line in 1990.
Since then, Dennen Steel has added an additional four presses, tool design and maintenance capabilities, an on-site metallurgical lab, and developed a quality system that was ISO/TS 16949 registered in 2005.
Dennen Steel remains a family company and is presided over by Andrew Dennen, who became President in 1988. Andrew is responsible for the company’s executive tasks. Peter Dennen joined the company in 1997 as Senior Vice-President and handles all corporate purchasing. Together the brothers share the responsibility of the firm’s operations. Until his death in 2003, Philmore Dennen served as Chairman Emeritus, lending his 50+ years of hands-on experience in the steel industry to help his two nephews in their new ventures.
Today, with a solid track record and profitable history, Dennen Steel continues to evolve as they capture new business opportunities through innovation and investment.
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