O'Neal Industries
O'Neal Industries, commonly known by the name of its O'Neal Steel division, is an industrial and high-performance metals distributor, fabricator and service center headquartered at 744 41st Street North in North Avondale.
The company was founded in 1921 when Kirkman O'Neal left Ingalls Iron Works and invested $2,000 in Southern Steel Works, a small steel fabricator in West End. The first service-center was established in 1935 supplying consumers for smaller steel orders than could be taken directly by producers. The company moved from West End to its present site in Avondale in 1942. During World War II O'Neal produced general purpose bombs, gun platforms and deck houses for the military.
Kirkman's son, Emmet O'Neal II joined the firm in 1946 and later, as president, spent most of the 1990s and early 2000s diversifying its product and customer bases by acquiring service centers around the country. In 1997 O'Neal diversified into sheet metal by acquiring Denver, Colorado's Metalwest.
Craft O'Neal, Emmet's son, joined the firm in 1984 and later took over as chairman. Holman Head is president. The current organization, with O'Neal Steel acting as a division of O'Neal Industries, was completed in 2009. The company employs around 3,000 workers at 90 facilities in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia.
References
- O'Neal, Kirkman (1974) O'Neal Steel: Memoirs of Kirkman O'Neal. Birmingham: private printing
- Nicholson, Gilbert (October 3, 2004) "O'Neal Steel rides out the industry roller coaster." Birmingham Business Journal
- Weiner, Steven B. (March 2009) "Well Below the Radar" Forward
- Williams, Roy L. (October 4, 2009) "On the Record-Craft O'Neal, chairman and CEO of O'Neal Industries." The Birmingham News
- Azok, Dawn Kent (March 5, 2014) "O'Neal Industries' Jones to retire; Birmingham-based metals company announces other executive changes." The Birmingham News
External links
- O'Neal Steel website