Seguin welcomes Aceroteca to its manufacturing community

(Seguin) — Seguin is officially introducing its newest manufacturing partner. The city of Seguin Tuesday morning celebrated as Aceroteca Metals, LLC broke ground on a new 60,000 square foot metal service center. The manufacturing plant is being built on a 23-acre site at the corner of Heideke and Seidemann Streets.

A leader in the steel industry, the company's operation works to commercialize flat steel and metal goods into a wide range of shapes and sizes.

M.C. Rogers, the chief operating officer for Aceroteca, says the company is excited about bringing the company to the United States. He says not only do they operate two plants in Monterrey, Mexico but they are also building a third location similar to the one that they are building here in Seguin.

Rogers says the Seguin area is prime for manufacturing growth. He says it's no surprise that three out of the five largest employers in Seguin are manufacturers.

"First of all, we looked at South San Antonio and Seguin and there are some pretty important factors — what I mentioned earlier, the fact that we think this is fertile ground for growth of manufacturing and typically in our type of business, the sales territory is probably within a 150-to-200-mile radius, so we just think this is the right area. Also, I did not mention there is a brand-new steel mill that opened up in Sinton which is just outside of Corpus just shy of 4 million tons. (We) have a relationship with the company and we are counting that they are going to be one of our good suppliers and that's only a two-hour truck ride away to get steel from the mill to our facility," said Rogers.

Josh Schneuker, the executive director of Seguin's Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), says the company is a perfect fit for Seguin.

"Their business in being a metal service center really fits in well with our existing industries that we have here in Seguin so there's not only just a lot of manufacturing but when you dive into the types of manufacturers that we have here, there's are a lot of manufacturers involved in the steel and the metal fabrication space so this company is going to be able to help a lot of our existing companies in that sector source their raw materials a little bit closer to their facility. So, they are already in conversations to add some new customers that are Seguin based manufacturers, to add some customers that are based in the San Antonio region and I think that's really going to help this company grow and flourish and it's going to help our companies remain successful — having their supply chain that much closer ensures that reliability and ensures long term success for their business," said Schneuker.

Schneuker says the metal service center is unique to Seguin's manufacturing industry as a specialized technical support for the steel industry.

"We have a lot again companies involved in metal fabrication in the metal and steel space but nothing like this where this is a company really dedicated on bringing those coils of steel. They will be cutting them into pieces that meet the specs of the customer and then be able to source it to that business directly. So, there are similar companies throughout the region, but you primarily find them more in San Antonio, Austin some of the larger cities. I think it's really going to help grow and expand our economic base here," said Schneuker.

The SEDC worked with greater:SATX, our regional economic development organization, to help locate Aceroteca to Seguin. greater:SATX first started working with Aceroteca through the International Business Development Center (IBDC). The IBDC functions as a soft landing for foreign businesses looking to expand into the U.S. market in the San Antonio area.

Schneuker says like other companies in Seguin, Aceroteca will be yet another competitive company looking to enhance the quality of life for those in this community.

"Salary will be competitive. The average salary is over $50,000. They will be offering health care benefits and things like that and so I think this is going to add to the competitive landscape in the community. We’ve been seeing more jobs coming here but higher paying jobs that offer more benefits and that's really what we want in this community. We want to provide quality jobs and that in turn leads to quality of life in Seguin," said Scheunker.

The future facility will sit directly across the front entrance from Minigrip, a global manufacturer of high-quality plastic reclosable bags for food and home storage. Schneuker says the development and overall investment in that location, alone, are added bonuses for the city.

"We are going to have at least 20 jobs with this company coming here and looking at least $10 million in investment and we are also seeing a site that has really sat vacant for quite a long time — more of an infield development but it's good to see that we are able to activate a new property, get some new money on the tax rolls and it's really a win-win for everybody," said Schneuker.

Not only is Aceroteca looking forward to doing business in Seguin but it's also looking forward to becoming a part of the community.

"It's just been my understanding since working on this project, I get the feeling that this community is very business friendly if you will and I mean that sincerely. Long story short, I’ve spent most of my steel career in the Houston area and when we started to get serious about Seguin, I had a colleague in the business who has some operations here and I called him up and said, ‘what do you think Bobby?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you will like it here,’" said Rogers.

Aceroteca is known for utilizing its knowledge as a service center and as a trader to provide clients with steel of origin that is more competitive by exploiting the capacity set up in Mexico. Aceroteca's primary area of focus is on flat steel products for the automotive, heavy industry, commercial, HVAC, white line, metal and mechanical, and construction applications.

Construction of the manufacturing plant is slated to be completed in December.