Steel City … here we come

Scott Box wouldn’t mind if Murfreesboro acquired the nickname Steel City.

That would mean the power tool and machinery manufacturing company he helped form and headquartered in Murfreesboro less than two years ago had made its mark in the competitive tool market.

Steel City Tool Works, founded in 2005, is a privately held company with an investment group led by Box and Mark Strahler, both long-time executives in the machinery industry, who grew tired of the corporate world that seemed to be focused on having meetings and cutting costs.

The company’s slogan is “By Tool Guys. For Tool Guys.” Steel City’s target market is serious amateur woodworkers and professionals.

And it is evident by walking around the Murfreesboro facility that the employees have fun and enjoy what they do.

Box is the fourth generation of his family to be in the tool business. His son, Mike, and his brother, Jim, also work in the Murfreesboro office. Scott Box said he didn’t launch Steel City to get rich. A woodworker himself, Box seems to have a passion for what he does and doesn’t mind the long hours and hard work it takes to get a new business off the ground.

But Steel City wasn’t without its critics who thought Box and other investors were crazy for trying to enter the machinery market already dominated by such manufacturers as Delta, Powermatic, Jet and Grizzly. Box, however, said the stars must have aligned and Steel City found its niche in the market. He said Steel City’s high-quality products sold at a good value are catching the attention of baby boomers with disposable income who want a step up from the products they have been using for years.

Steel City has introduced 35 products since its official launch last year. Products are only sold through the company’s line of distributors, currently 55 in the United States and 30 in Canada.

One of Steel City’s strategies to carving out its place in the market is to look at what its competitors are doing and do it better.

Holly Stevenson, customer care/international specialist at Steel City, said Steel City staff listens to customers and adds features that will make the machines easier to use and gets rid of what isn’t needed.

Steel City has added such unique touches as a titanium coating on the tabletop of its industrial shaper and deluxe table saw that has received awards from woodworking publications. The titanium coating provides “unsurpassed wear resistance” and will save time and money on maintenance, according to product specifications.

Box said the goal is to introduce eight to 10 new products each year for the conceivable future.
And he expects only bigger and better things for Steel City.

“I expect within five years that we will be one of the top two machinery manufacturers in this class,” Box said.

Popular Woodworking magazine said in an article printed August 2006 that what Steel City Tool Works did — launch a complete line of high-quality woodworking machines from scratch— in only a year doesn’t happen very often.

The magazine named Steel City’s entire line of products as one of the “Best New Tools” in 2006.
Steel City introduced more than 30 pieces of heavy-duty machinery at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta in late August 2006. This year at the International Woodworking Fair held in Las Vegas, 10 new products will be introduced.

And Steel City staff are taking the line of products to woodworking fairs across the country almost every weekend through the first quarter of this year so serious woodworkers and distributors can see the products for themselves.

Farrer Brothers Hardware on Northwest Broad Street is the only distributor of Steel City Tool Works products in Tennessee.

Arnold Edgell, hardware manager and buyer of the local hardware store, said Steel City power tools have been selling well with serious woodworkers and small industry in the few months the store has carried them.

The quality of the products, rebates and publicity in popular woodworking magazines has helped sales, he said. The price of the machinery seems to be somewhere in the middle when compared to similar products by other companies.

“I am fairly impressed with the way they are built,” Edgell said. “They are well built. They have a five-year warranty which is unheard of.”

Before carrying Steel City products, he said he never had much luck selling these types of heavy power tools.

Steel City keeps a close watch on the quality of its products. Staff visits the manufacturing operations in Taiwan and China monthly.

Products are developed and tested in the Murfreesboro office located at 901 Dashiel St., just off Medical Center Parkway. Technical support, service parts and some customer service operations also are located in the Murfreesboro location. Steel City has a warehouse located in La Vergne and satellite offices in Pittsburgh; Vancouver, British Columbia; Mississaugua, Ontario and Taichung, China.

Box said Murfreesboro’s central location, low freight rates and available workforce made it an ideal place to headquarter Steel City.

“We can get to 80 percent of customers in two days,” he said.

And besides, Box was looking for a place to finally put some roots down. Before working for three years at Powermatic in McMinnville and then La Vergne, he moved 16 times around the country over the last 25 years. He served as director of product development for Delta before leaving to head Powermatic.
Strahler previously served as vice president of sales and marketing for Delta before leaving to found a private label company, Orion, which manufacturers machinery for such companies as Sears Craftsman and Woodcraft. Orion is now a division of Steel City.

“This is one of the nicest towns,” Box said of why he decided to settle his family and business in Murfreesboro. “People here are fantastic. The university (MTSU) is a big draw.

“It is an attractive place to do business with an attractive workforce,” he said.

Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.

On the Web:www.steelcitytoolworks.com