Business Spotlight: Acme Structural Inc.

From roller coasters to unique steel structures, the products of Springfield-based Acme Structural Inc. show up in some diverse locations.

Chicago

Audiences for the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicagos Grant Park can soon enjoy concerts beneath a recently erected, first-of-its-kind structure built with specialty steel fabricated by Acme.

The Springfield company, located at 2101 N. Packer Road, was awarded the bid on the trellis project that covers the seating area for the new Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Designed by acclaimed architect Frank O. Gehry, the Outdoor Music Pavilion has fixed seating for 4,000 as well as a 95,000-square-foot lawn that serves a combined audience of 11,000, according to the Public Building Commission of Chicago.

The audience will enjoy excellent sound quality provided through a state of the art trellis network of speakers. According to the PBC, the band shell itself is about 60 feet high but is decorated with unique steel ribbons that burst outward another 35 to 40 feet high like the petals of a flower, part of Gehrys design. The steel trellis spans an area of 300 feet by 600 feet large enough to contain four football fields, said Matt Vienhage, PE, vice president of sales and engineering for Acme Structural Inc.

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill served as engineer for the project, but Acme Structural was the fabricator chosen to provide the steel. Vienhage said Gehry and SOM went to the American Institute of Steel Construction and asked for the names of three companies that did the kind of steel work that was needed. Acme Structural was one of the names, and we were extremely recommended ... and we ended up with the project, Matt Vienhage said.

Reputation

As for why the company was chosen for the Chicago project when the AISC has thousands of members, Vienhage believes its because the Acme Structural name is known for very complicated structures and our quality. Weve got extremely talented people that have worked here for years, and they can build almost anything. According to Vienhage, Acme Structural is well-known in the industry for very complicated pipe structures.

Acme Structural Inc. provides steel fabrications for most industrial and commercial marketplaces worldwide in carbon steel, stainless steel and alloys.

Three brothers - Robert, Sam and Charlie Vienhage - founded Acme Structural in 1958. The brothers are actually the second generation of the family in the steel business. Their father, Samuel Henry Vienhage, started Acme Foundry and Machine in Springfield in 1909.

When their father retired, the younger Vienhages closed Acme Foundry and Machine and started Acme Structural Inc. While Acme Structural has always been located on 17 acres, the actual building on Packer Road has expanded from about 21,000 square feet in the beginning to 160,000 square feet today, Matt Vienhage said.

In addition to the manufacturing facility in Springfield, which includes a 30,000-square-foot sandblasting facility, a prep and paint facility and state-of-the-art computer-aided equipment, Acme Structural has a fully operational sales office in Winonia, Miss.

The companys experience includes plate work, structural and access steel, multiple hearth furnaces, vessels and fabrication in industries that include power, bridges, coal mining, steel and metals processing, air pollution and environmental to name a few.

The biggest year in revenues for the company was in the early l980s, when the firm hit the $14 million mark. The company now averages between $8 million and $10 million annually. Individual projects range from several thousand dollars to well into the millions. And projects are diverse.

Vienhage said Acme Structural has done 30 or 40 water rides across the country as well as 10 or 11 roller coasters. The company provided the steel columns and connecting pieces for such well-known coasters as Millennium Force at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, Mr. Freeze at Six Flags in St. Louis and The Titan at Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, Calif. Acme Structural also was the fabricator chosen to provide steel for the ET (Extra Terrestial) Adventure ride at Californias Universal Studios.

Locally, the companys projects include Hammons Tower, Corporate Center, pedestrian bridges over Campbell Avenue near Kickapoo High School and over Kansas Expressway at Sunset, and the stainless steel globe at Baptist Bible College on Kearney.

If you can think it in carbon steel, we can build it for you, Vienhage said.

While Vienhage said Acme Structural is more expensive than many other fabricators, Vienhage said the quality of the product is worth the extra cost. I dont think you could find a better shop anywhere, he said.