Branch Spotlight: Kloeckner Pompano

With 28 employees, the Kloeckner Metals Pompano branch is a smaller heavy carbon metal service center. Don’t let the size fool you, however, because Kloeckner Pompano ships an average of 160 tons a day. They work with all the structural heavy carbon materials, including tubing, pipe, beams, channels, angles, flat bar, grating, and even some galvanized products. They have many in-house processing capabilities, including punching, saw cutting, and burning. Kloeckner Pompano has one ironworker, two saws, and two burn tables, and on the burn-tables, they burn plasma and oxy.

Having a smaller team means that everyone needs to work hard to get things done. This has created great comradery among employees. Many of them have been together for 15 to 20 years. They celebrate birthdays together and do fun activities together outside of work. The branch operates like a big family.

“I feel like makes us stand out,” said Account Manager Kathryn Huber. “One example, in particular, I can think of is I got into a car accident on my way to the gym one morning before work. My first phone call was to my coworker Frances at 5:00 am, who I knew was also up and at the gym at the time, and she came to meet me right away and took me home. My boss Joe helped me when I had to purchase a new car, as I have never done anything like by myself before. With my family being back in Atlanta, it meant more to me than anything that I could rely on them at a time like that.”

Kathryn is one of the newer employees at the Kloeckner Pompano branch, having worked there for three years. Before that, she worked at the corporate office in Roswell for four years in the purchasing department. When she got the opportunity to branch out at a new branch, she took it. She believes that Kloeckner is a great company to work for, and the variety of different opportunities for employees to grow and learn is a part of that. You can start in one department and if you think you want to try something else then Kloeckner gives you an opportunity to be versatile.

“My first day at Kloeckner Metals someone told me, ‘Once you get into the steel business you never get back out,’” Kathryn said. “When I think about how long I have been here, I always think back to that memory and think, ‘they were right.’”