Glassey Steel Works - Growing With Torchmate - From a Torchmate 3, to a Torchmate X, to a Torchmate 5100!

Glassey Steelworks Expands With Automation

Glassey SteelWorks was founded in 1997 by John Glassey and his son Brett. The main office and shop are located in West Jordan, Utah. Formed on solid principles of integrity and hard work, the company has consistently grown through the satisfactory completion of a variety of projects. In 2000, Brett Glassey’s brother, Matt, joined the company.

Glassey SteelWorks specializes in commercial structural and miscellaneous steel projects. They work alongside many reputable companies in the commercial, government, resort, religious, education and healthcare fields. “We only wanted to be an erector at first, we didn’t want to do fabrication. After erecting for about 10 years, we found we loved fabrication. We started getting complete projections, but had to subcontract the fabrication work. Matt and I wanted to take the business to the next level so in 2014 we purchased a shop and began doing everything in-house,” said Brett.

Glassey SteelWorks still needed to fill their new building with fabrication and automation equipment. In 2015, they purchased a Torchmate® X table. The Torchmate table allowed the business to continue expansion and purchase more Lincoln Electric® equipment. In 2018, they purchased a PythonX® Structrual machine. Most recently, in 2023, Glassey SteelWorks upgraded their Torchmate X to a Torchmate 5100 equipped with a FineLine® high definition plasma cutter.

PythonX Increased Throughput By Up To 600%

All of the equipment Glassey SteelWorks has purchased, allowed them to break into new markets and reach new clients. “Before purchasing the Torchmate Table, we were forced to rely on a large plate processing company to cut plate. It used to take a minimum of five days to contract out work, now we are able to cut on our Torchmate the same day for a much smaller cost. Before the PythonX, we had to cut material on a saw and manually drill all holes. It would take two guys about two hours to finish a beam. The PythonX takes one worker ten to twenty minutes to complete the same beam. At times, the PythonX increases throughput by 600%,” Brett said.

Glassey SteelWorks can now complete various small and large projects for all types of customers. They have landed contracts erecting and fabricating buildings for churches, universities, health centers and more. They have even completed projects from the ground up in Wyoming and Montana.

“We knew it would be an adjustment transitioning from more manual work to automation. Our guys were not used to technology, but the resources Lincoln Electric provide made it easy to learn all of the machines. We used Torchmate University and whenever we have a question, both the Torchmate and PythonX support teams have been helpful. Most of the time, they are able to quickly help our operators the same day. People were coming to us saying they loved our work and want more. That is when we realized the only path forward was to continue investing in technology and automation equipment. Our growth has been possible because of technology and automation. The expansion has been so rapid we are already thinking about purchasing a second shop and another PythonX,” Matt said.

Torchmate & FineLine Are Critical For A Multi-Million Dollar Business

Glassey SteelWorks now runs their Torchmate 5100 three to four days per week and the PythonX Structural has beams running through it 3 days per week on average. The demand for the company’s work has increased exponentially. When Matt and Brett first opened shop, they owned a Torchmate Series 3. They upgraded to a Torchmate X and then a Torchmate 5100 with FineLine to keep up with demand.

“The FineLine makes people in the shop want to learn how to use it. Employees are loving the machine. We are cutting five to six plates before we go through a consumable. We used to burn through four to five consumables per plate with a Hypertherm. The Fineline cut quality doesn’t degrade through the life of the consumable until the very end when the consumable is dead. The FineLine cut quality itself is amazing. Cut holes look like they were made with a drill and we can cut them at 80 inches per minute. Also, there is basically no dross on cut parts,” said Matt.

“We have been able to hire so many people and change so many lives because of technology. We started as a father son business and now we have about fifty employees. Our revenue has grown over 60 percent since purchasing our Lincoln Electric Equipment and our costs and lead times are significantly lower,” said Brett. The business is operating at maximum capacity and has projects booked into 2025. Glassey SteelWorks does nearly 15 million each year and they plan to increase that by adding more equipment. “A game changer would be an understatement,” Brett said when talking about the PythonX, Torchmate 5100 and FineLine.

Thank you to Glassey SteelWorks, Brett and Matt Glassey for telling their story. On behalf of everyone at Lincoln Electric, we are thankful for each of our customers’ businesses and are happy to be contributing to your successes.

Check out Glassey SteelWork’s website and social channels. On their website, they display a wide variety of fabrication and erection projects. Additionally, Glassey SteelWorks recently created Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram pages. To view their website, social media content, or for more information about the business, please visit their Website, Linkedin, Instagram & Facebook pages.

Check out Torchmate CNC Plasma Tables here and see how you can start growing your business!

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