Hemet plant converting Verizon vans
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| KARI HELTON / The Valley Chronicle PROJECT: Elaine Hunter, owner of Steelweld, stands with a fleet of Verizon vans that her company will convert to run on compressed natural gas rather than gasoline. |
LOCAL BUSINESS: Company wants its vehicles to run on compressed natural gas.
By CHARLES HAND/The Valley Chronicle
When Verizon decided to order 500 vans that run on compressed natural gas instead of gasoline, the company turned to the same Hemet manufacturer that has been supplying their customized utility vans for years.
Though Steelweld’s work for Verizon to that point had involved installation of cabinets, shelves, GPS systems, and other custom additions to stock vans.
In addition to Verizon, Steelweld builds custom vans for AT&T and other utility companies, primarily in the telecommunications business.
When the opportunity to expand its sales arose, however, she took it, said Steelweld owner Elaine Hunter.
Hunter was in Hemet on Tuesday from her St. Clair, Mo., headquarters to join Verizon officials in the announcement of the 500-van deal.
The six-acre Hemet plant is one of four Steelweld factories around the country.
Hunter said installation of the CNG fuel systems is not unlike the work Steelweld does already for Verizon in the sense that it is a bolt-on installation, but the Steelweld crews took two weeks of training from the equipment manufacturer before starting to turn out vans on the factory floor.
She estimated that the company could install 700 CNG conversions a year.
“This is our largest CNG project,” she said of the 500 Verizon vehicles, but, in time, the conversions could go on half the vehicles Steelweld produces, she said.
“Fleets are just starting to get into it,” she said. “It’s a pretty new technology.”
The company that manufactures the conversion kits for the fleet trucks may soon also offer not only passenger vehicle conversions, but a kit that can be attached to a home natural gas system to fill up the family vehicle as it sits at home.
She declined to reveal how many vehicles Steelweld converts in a year, saying it is competitive information.
The CNG conversions could be in greater demand, but not all regions have the infrastructure to support them.
Southern California is an exception, she said, with enough CNG filling stations to meet the needs of the growing fleet, she said.
Hunter said her company has felt the effects of the economic slowdown, but still has 26 employees and a bright future.
Beyond Hemet and Missouri, Steelweld has plants in Temple, Texas and Shreveport, La.
Hunter went to work for Steelweld right out of high school as a billing clerk.
After she had been with the company about 10 years, the boss called her into the office and asked whether she intended to move on eventually or make the company a career.
By then she had taken some college courses to qualify as a teacher of the deaf.
She came from a big family and the thought of working with youngsters appealed to her.
But she recognized the opportunity she was being offered and decided to commit to the company.
“That set me on a new path,” she said.
For another 20 years, she worked at increasingly responsible jobs and stocked away shares.
It was just before her 30th year that the former owner died.
His wife and heir did not want to keep the company and offered it to Hunter.
Combining her stock, cash, and loans, she managed to make a deal.
“We were pretty heavily leveraged at first,” she recalled, but finances have improved and a lot of debt has been paid off.
Steelweld originally located in San Jacinto, but did not have enough space for expansion and ended up moving across Esplanade Avenue to Hemet.
Its six-acre site at 447 W. Esplanade Ave. includes a 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and a large parking lot to receive the vehicles shipped out on car transporters from the Missouri plant.
When the conversions are finished, they are loaded on a car carrier for shipment to the buyer, sometimes back to Missouri.
The Shreveport plant is the biggest with 60,000 square feet under roof, the St. Clair plant the second largest at 44,000 square feet, the Hemet plant third largest at 15,000 square feet, and the Temple plant fourth largest at 13,000 square feet.
Though Steelweld’s work for Verizon to that point had involved installation of cabinets, shelves, GPS systems, and other custom additions to stock vans.
In addition to Verizon, Steelweld builds custom vans for AT&T and other utility companies, primarily in the telecommunications business.
When the opportunity to expand its sales arose, however, she took it, said Steelweld owner Elaine Hunter.
Hunter was in Hemet on Tuesday from her St. Clair, Mo., headquarters to join Verizon officials in the announcement of the 500-van deal.
The six-acre Hemet plant is one of four Steelweld factories around the country.
Hunter said installation of the CNG fuel systems is not unlike the work Steelweld does already for Verizon in the sense that it is a bolt-on installation, but the Steelweld crews took two weeks of training from the equipment manufacturer before starting to turn out vans on the factory floor.
She estimated that the company could install 700 CNG conversions a year.
“This is our largest CNG project,” she said of the 500 Verizon vehicles, but, in time, the conversions could go on half the vehicles Steelweld produces, she said.
“Fleets are just starting to get into it,” she said. “It’s a pretty new technology.”
The company that manufactures the conversion kits for the fleet trucks may soon also offer not only passenger vehicle conversions, but a kit that can be attached to a home natural gas system to fill up the family vehicle as it sits at home.
She declined to reveal how many vehicles Steelweld converts in a year, saying it is competitive information.
The CNG conversions could be in greater demand, but not all regions have the infrastructure to support them.
Southern California is an exception, she said, with enough CNG filling stations to meet the needs of the growing fleet, she said.
Hunter said her company has felt the effects of the economic slowdown, but still has 26 employees and a bright future.
Beyond Hemet and Missouri, Steelweld has plants in Temple, Texas and Shreveport, La.
Hunter went to work for Steelweld right out of high school as a billing clerk.
After she had been with the company about 10 years, the boss called her into the office and asked whether she intended to move on eventually or make the company a career.
By then she had taken some college courses to qualify as a teacher of the deaf.
She came from a big family and the thought of working with youngsters appealed to her.
But she recognized the opportunity she was being offered and decided to commit to the company.
“That set me on a new path,” she said.
For another 20 years, she worked at increasingly responsible jobs and stocked away shares.
It was just before her 30th year that the former owner died.
His wife and heir did not want to keep the company and offered it to Hunter.
Combining her stock, cash, and loans, she managed to make a deal.
“We were pretty heavily leveraged at first,” she recalled, but finances have improved and a lot of debt has been paid off.
Steelweld originally located in San Jacinto, but did not have enough space for expansion and ended up moving across Esplanade Avenue to Hemet.
Its six-acre site at 447 W. Esplanade Ave. includes a 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and a large parking lot to receive the vehicles shipped out on car transporters from the Missouri plant.
When the conversions are finished, they are loaded on a car carrier for shipment to the buyer, sometimes back to Missouri.
The Shreveport plant is the biggest with 60,000 square feet under roof, the St. Clair plant the second largest at 44,000 square feet, the Hemet plant third largest at 15,000 square feet, and the Temple plant fourth largest at 13,000 square feet.
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