Alaska Steel Co. Thrives in Unglamorous industry.

• Author: SMITH, DAWNELL

Dan Nelson doesn't expect to see Alaska Steel Co. on the cover of Vanity Fair, but he thrives in the dull drudgery of the steel business.

"Our business is very mundane ... but I sure love it," said Nelson, owner of Alaska Steel, the 40th company on Alaska Business Monthly's 1999 Top 49er list, which featured the top Alaskan-owned and -operated businesses, based on 1998 gross revenues. "We work hard to eliminate excitement because excitement is usually brought about by crises."

And a crisis is the last thing someone wants when moving steel beams and plates that test the capacity of 10-ton cranes and weigh as much as Maggie the elephant poised on a Ford Expedition. When dealing with loads that big, it pays to stick to predictable work patterns, not thrills or frills.

"It's a lot of routine," said Nelson. "A piece of steel is a piece of steel. There's very little differentiation, so having it there, having the right one and providing the other elements of customer service is how we differentiate ourselves from the competition."

Unlike other Alaska companies that deal in metal, Alaska Steel avoids fabrication. Aside from reinforcing steel, they leave the manufacturing to the buyer.

Otherwise, "we would be competing with our customers," explained Nelson.

Instead, they focus on stocking and supplying metals of all types, sizes and grades. On a facility with about an acre of indoor space on Dowling Road, the company stocks close to 13 million pounds of metal.

Inventory ranges from steel beams almost two bus-lengths long to trailer components and 20-foot by 8-foot steel plates as thick as a child's thigh. About 80 percent of the company's business comes from major projects like the Alyeska Prince Hotel and the Northstar and Alpine oil developments, but they also sell odds and ends for grills, truck beds, snow machine trailers and other smaller projects.

"You'll see guys walking out with pieces of angle and throwing it in their trunks," said Nelson.

When a customer needs it, they even find exotic metals with exacting specifications, said Carl Grotts, vice president and head of purchasing. Though not a major component of the business, the company gets stuff like titanium for military aircraft applications and high-grade steel for ulu makers. More common, they supply aluminum to boat builders and others in the fishing and marine industry.

Still, the company's biggest claim to fame comes from its inventory of low temperature grades of steel. These...