Steel Craft limited on Constant Spring Road. - ricardo makyn

Francine Black, Staff Reporter

Steel Craft Limited is definitely a company with high standards that has blazed a trail for the other manufacturing companies to follow.

The 37-year-old company which is on Constant Spring Road, was founded by Adolph Brown in a small shop along Waltham Park Road in 1970. The shop was so tiny that some of the basic furniture and grilles that he used to make had to be done outside.

In 1972, the business relocated to an old house along Constant Spring Road and this was the start of a brighter future. In 1978 he started to manufacture wheel burrows and later material handling equipment such as hand trucks.

However three years later, a disaster would change the company's focus. "The fire in 1981 destroyed office and equipment at the time. So from there we had to start a slow rebuilding process," Kirk Brown, joint owner and son of the founder said.

Rebuilding

The company has managed to rebuild the business which now specialises in material handling equipment and fabrication of stainless steel and aluminium products.

In 2002, the company also started a Industrial Supplies Division which sells industrial equipment and supplies for wielding and metal woodwork.

These include power tools, grinders and hammers. "We are certified dealers for some of the products that we sell and all the equipment that we sell we also use," Brown said.

He noted that the company is still operating today because it has constantly diversified its offerings and continued to provide products of a high standard. "We look at the market, look at what is to be needed and what is lack in the island," Brown said.

The company is now the only company in Jamaica with the widest range of material handling equipment and has prided itself on being a one stop shop for welders seeking equipment, tools needed for their jobs.

Challenges faced by every company forced the business to drop some of its products it used to manufacture.

The company no longer sells wheel barrows on a retail basis and it stopped manufacturing the steel furniture when the same things started to be made in plastic and were being imported into the island.

They are obviously good at their job as the company products can be seen almost everywhere one looks. "We have done stainless steel finishes counter tops, cabinets, security rails, at hostels, hospitals," he said.

Some of the more known customers have been Red Stripe Jamaica which uses their hand trucks to move their wares and Restaurants of Jamaica who have installed their stainless steel security rails in the KFC outlets.

Brown who is obviously proud of their products said his company has defied the odds and produced high quality products locally. "People believe that to get these products they have to go overseas, but we are saying if it is made there show us a picture we can make it here too," he said.