80 American Metal Market August | September 2013 www.amm.com

Independence Tube Corp.’s resurrection from a devastating tornado that struck the Chicago company’s Decatur, Ala., mill in April 2011 has earned it AMM’s Tube and Pipe Producer

of the Year award.The tornado destroyed nearly 90 percent of the company’s

435,000-square-foot building on the Tennessee River in Decatur. Fortunately, none of the 26 people inside at the time was injured. Over the following year, the company underwent a recovery that was nothing short of remarkable.

Just one day after the tornado, Inde-pendence Tube identified all of the Deca-tur orders and moved the vast majority of them to its Chicago and Marseilles, Ill., di-visions. Since only two sizes of tube were produced exclusively at Decatur, the com-pany purchased tooling for those sizes for the Marseilles mill and was making both by July 2011. The com-pany paid all additional shipping costs associated with the switch, rather than passing them along to customers, and only a handful of orders were lost due to delivery issues.

Independence Tube also took care of its workers. No Decatur employee was laid off, and the company shuttled Decatur employ-ees to and from Chicago and Marseilles to help with the increased business at those two locations. The company was able to demolish and rebuild the Decatur facility so quickly—thanks to the support it received from local contrac-tors, employees and custom-ers—that it was able to re-open the Decatur mill just one year after the disaster. What’s more, cross-training Alabama employees who worked differ-ent jobs in the northern facili-ties improved the flexibility of the Decatur work force once the company’s southern divi-sion reopened.

Independence Tube presi-dent Rick Werner was on a trip to Orlando, Fla., when the tornado—one of 55 that swept through northern Alabama on April 27, 2011—struck the company’s Decatur mill. He said the first thought that ran through his head when he heard the news was “Thank God nobody was hurt.”

Werner called together a team from the company’s Chicago office and Marseilles operation and told them he would meet them in Decatur the next morning. Then he got in a car and drove through the

night. When he first saw the rubble of the mill, “there was just shock and awe” at the destruction.

“Ninety percent of our facility was destroyed,” Werner said. “First and foremost we were happy to report that, miraculously, no one was injured. Steel buildings and equipment can all be re-placed. What you really don’t know is how will your disaster plan

work? How fast and efficient will your management team perform? How will your employees cope? How will your cus-tomers react?”

Independence Tube marketing manager John Tassone said that on the first day af-ter the tornado the company team on-site “identified all of the Decatur orders and moved 98 percent of them to the com-pany’s Chicago and Marseilles divisions,” and by June had purchased tooling for

Marseilles to produce the two sizes previously made exclusively at Decatur. “There really wasn’t much of a hiccup in customer ser-vice,” he said. The company was “back in business” on the two sizes by July 2011, and Independence Tube was able to fulfill 99 percent of its orders while the Decatur plant was being rebuilt.

Making pipe in Illinois for customers in Alabama and the mid-South did pose one problem—one that Independence Tube quickly solved in favor of customers. “If there were any additional ship-ping costs associated with customer orders coming out of the

North, Independence Tube paid the additional costs so our customers did not have to,” Tassone said.

The tornado idled all of the Decatur mill’s 70 employ-ees, but Independence Tube vowed not to lay off anybody during the year it took to re-build the facility. About 40 of the employees worked closely with Fite Building Co., the Decatur contractor hired to rebuild the mill. warehouse. Another 28 were sent to Chi-cago and Marseilles to help Illinois employees handle the orderly flow of production. .”

“You always hear about how others turn a negative situation into a positive one,” Werner said. “We were able to experience all of those emo-tions firsthand. I am extreme-ly proud of all of our employ-ees and it is important to us that AMM has recognized all of their hard work and dedi-cation with this award.” Bill Beck

The tornado destroyed nearly 90 percent of the company’s 435,000-square-foot building.

... Over the following year, the company underwent

a recovery that was nothing short of remarkable.

Independence Tube rises whole from the ashes

Independence TubeTube & Pipe Producer of the Year

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