Page 1
Soule steel News Volume 9 No. 2 Summer July 1971
Temp-Con® Replaces Out-Moded Cold Storage Units
"The demand for atmospherically controlled buildings is growing faster than for any other type of structure in the construction industry today," says Howard Rumrey, sales manager for the Soulé Buildings Division. "And we have a tremendous product – unique in the cold storage business."
He is referring to Soulé's patented Temp-Con panels, a sandwich of polyurethane insulation between two slices of steel. The panels were developed for the U.S. government, which used them for Gen. William C. Westmoreland's air-conditioned headquarters offices in Saigon.
At home, the panels have been used principally in the construction of facilities for frozen food companies and other cold storage handlers. Temp-Con panel refrigerated buildings are gradually being recognized as superior to the old, hulking structures made of brick, mortar, concrete and insulation.
"The market is there, but we have to acquaint the builders with our lightweight panels that completely eliminate the need for the thick masonry walls of old-style refrigerated buildings," says George Ferreboeuf, manager of Temperature Controlled Buildings Department.
Soulé has under construction three Temp-Con buildings at the present time. And Ferreboeuf is telling customers about those already successfully in operation.
For instance, in 1969, Santa Clara Cold Storage and Freezer Company (see main photo) needed more storage space, quickly, to handle an unusually large fruit harvest. Santa Clara's management estimates Soulé's Temp-Con refrigerated building was completed in half the time that would have been needed for a conventional, monolithic structure. It took just 49 days to build.
In another testimonial from C&W Frozen Foods, their management re- (Continued on page 4)
*Photo: Sculptured Temp-Con panels were used to construct this 374,000 cu. ft. freezer unit for Santa Clara Cold Storage & Freezer Co. The building is 100x170x22 ft., which means the 4 in. thick Temp-Con panels reach from floor to ceiling without any joints. This forms a vapor barrier far superior to masonry construction and when necessary, Temp-Con buildings are far easier to repair.*
Ford Moves Division into New Home
It was Friday, December 18, 1970, that George Ford, vice president and general manager of the Soulé Buildings Division, officially cut the ribbon on the division's new headquarters facility. That was also the day that the gang from Office No. 2, leased office space about a mile from Soulé's 1750 Army St. head offices, moved into the new accommodations.
Almost immediately the pre-engineered steel building, adjacent to the Soulé Steel headquarters building, became known as the "Ford Building," in honor of George Ford. Sometime later, management officially dubbed it the Ford Building and an orange and black sign was placed on the outside.
Appropriately, it is a Soulé steel building.
Originally built in the 1950's for a research facility, it was, bit by bit, converted to much needed office space. Finally, under the watchful eye of John Kaskavalciyan, San Francisco district engineer, the building was completely remodeled and renovated.
The south end of the building was extended 20 feet to house the division's engineering drafting department. The new portion was constructed with Soulé Temp-Con panels and erected by Soulé field crews. The panels were 2-inch, No. 200 on the exterior and 4-inch, No. 400 on the interior.
The north end of the building was completely resheeted in adobe tan and the roof was painted silver.
All of the division's home office personnel, except the sales and estimating section, are now located in the Ford Building. The sales and estimating people are in the main office section. And Ford seemed pleased.
"It's good to be back with the home office folks," he said. "Also, it shows what can be done with a Soulé prefab building. We now have plenty of elbow room. It has been good for the morale of the whole division."
*Photo: Completing the new addition to the research building with Temp-Con panels.*
*Photo: Housing the Soulé Buildings Division, the offices were quickly dubbed the Ford Building.*
Erratum
In the Winter issue of *Soulé News*, we mistakenly referred to Western Carloading as a subsidiary of Santa Fe Railroad. Western Carloading is not a subsidiary but a good customer of Santa Fe's and a tenant in the new Santa Fe building in India Basin. Our apologies to Santa Fe and Western Carloading for this error.
Page 2
Names in the News
Edward L. Soule, Jr., president, announced following the company's recent annual meeting of the Board of Directors that George S. Ford has been elected a new director.
Ford, who graduated from Harvard in 1937, has been with Soule Steel 26 years. He currently serves in various capacities, including Manager of the Soule Buildings Division, which fabricates and erects pre-engineered metal buildings; Manager of the Steel Mill Products Division, which fabricates fence posts and steel mill products; and Vice President of Purchasing.
Ford and his family live in Menlo Park, where he is currently active in civic affairs and a former mayor of the city.
* * *
Craig Carpenter, general manager of the Reinforcing Steel Division with over 20 years' experience, has decided to retire July 1, 1972. In preparation for the changes, Warren Grundfor, who is L.A. district sales manager, will become assistant general manager of the Reinforcing Division Sept. 1, 1971. He will become general manager, Jan. 1, 1972, when Mr. Carpenter will be on special assignment reporting to Edward Lee Soule, Jr., president. Arnold Dunyon, now assistant sales manager in L.A., will be promoted to L.A. sales manager Sept. 1.
* * *
John Crowhurst (see photo at right), Dealer Manager of Soule Buildings' Southwest region was presented a special award at the annual dealer meeting in San Mateo, Calif. The award recognized Crowhurst's achievement of $1 million in dealer sales in 1970.
An engraved plaque was presented by Bob Weyand, Southwest Sales Manager. Weyand, Howard Rumrey, Central Sales Manager, and Roger Benton, Commercial Industries, Inc., are the only other men to have earned the award.
Bill Bristol, Soule Steel's safety engineer, has been working hard recently to be recognized by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. On March 1, he received an official looking certificate, which read: "William R. Bristol, having given satisfactory evidence of qualifications, is hereby authorized to use the designation Certified Safety Professional." Congratulations.
* * *
Sam Stewart is the new Soule Buildings Division's southwest region dealer representative. He joined Soule in February, 1970, as a sales clerk and estimating trainee. He quickly became an estimator in May. He started his new job March 1, working with John Crowhurst, Southwest Dealer Manager.
* * *
Harold Durnil is the new traffic manager in the Long Beach fab shop in the Reinforcing Steel Division.
* * *
Edward L. Soule, Jr., president, put his arm around Germano Perini and personally presented the 26-year employee in the San Francisco Die Shop his retirement certificate. Next to Perini is fellow worker Charles Reyna. Carl Hansen, who had worked in the S.F. plant for 45 years, also received his retirement certificate and service pin at the same time.
* * *
Fred Webster, formerly detailer and estimating supervisor in Portland, will become the detailing supervisor in Los Angeles. Keith Gates will replace Webster in Portland.
Gene Fuller (seated left with notebook) is Central District dealer sales manager for Soule Buildings Division. Occasionally, he gets a few dealers and their employees together for training meetings. In February, he was visited by Bob Runyan (standing right) and Bill Reinitz (seated center) both of Bob Runyan, Inc., in Denair, Calif., and Lloyd McKean (seated far right) of L.R. McKean, Santa Maria, Calif. Also, Will Johnson of Soule (standing left) was in on the meeting. Fuller said it was a very good and constructive session.
* * *
The Reinforcing Steel Division has transferred Dick Lewis from District Manager of the Portland District to District Manager in Ventura. Solon B. Clark has assumed the duties of Acting District Manager in Portland.
* * *
Alumni Editor Niles O. Millar extends a hello and get well greeting to two retired Soule employees, Art Driver and E.B. "Mac" McClure.
* * *
These are the four members of Soule's Million Dollar Club, salesmen who have accomplished $1 million in sales in a year period. They are (l. to r.) Howard Rumrey, Central Sales Manager; Robert Weyand, Southwest Sales Manager; John Crowhurst, Southwest Dealer Manager, who received his plaque at the 1971 dealer meeting; and Roger Benton, formerly with Soule, now a Soule dealer in Bellevue, Wash.
Page 3
Jim Casteleyn has been promoted from assistant manager to manager of International Sales in the Soulé Buildings Division.
* * *
All of the detailers in the Santa Ana office competed in a ping pong tournament back in January. Our entrants at the South Bay Club in Anaheim were Thom Carter, Steve McDaniel, Bill Schneider, and their boss, Roger Malloy. Reports associate editor Hazel Gallois, "Our boys weren't on the winners' list, but they played like troupers." Below are portrayed some Santa Ana personnel and ping pong players.
*Photo: L to R: Steve McDaniel, detailer; Hazel Gallois, secretary; Thom Carter, detailer (seated); Mel Durham, shop foreman; and Jack Simonson, manager.*
* * *
Jim Bedford, vice president of Architectural Products, has named John Balston to a newly created position of Finishes Manager. This was because of Balston's extensive knowledge of anodizing technology and of his depth of experience in the finishing field overall.
Also promoted in the AP division is John Walker, who is now a Project Manager. Walker has been in the division since 1966 as a Production Planner, Production Planning Supervisor and most recently as a Project Engineer.
* * *
There are some new faces around the company and we'd like to mention a few of them: Monir Salama, who has a Master's degree in accounting from USC, is the new mill accountant; Bruce Miller is the new material controller and Len Jonsson is the new assistant plant engineer in the Architectural Products Division at San Francisco; Dave Lorz is the new estimator in Los Angeles for the Soulé Buildings Division. Also, Soulé News has two new associate editors, Nancy Eddington in Newark and Judy Cleveland in Ventura.
* * *
**IN MEMORIAM** Jack Aaland, a retiree who for many years was Los Angeles plant manager, passed away recently at his home in Downey, Calif.
*Photo: The Architectural Products Division gets together annually to plan the year's sales approach. This January they met at the Miyako Hotel in San Francisco's new Japan Town. Shown at a banquet in the hotel are, l to r, Stan Soulé, Bob Ford, Pete Molinari, Al Rangel, Bill Taylor, Ian Miller, AP Vice President Jim Bedford, Gary Assmussen, Jack Pickner, Bruce Tuck, Lee Soulé, Bob Rankin and Henry Moe.*
*Photo: These three ironworkers have been completing Reinforcing Division's job no. 1071, the United Airlines Maintenance Hangar at San Francisco International Airport. They are, l to r, Paul Pape, Frank LaFerrera, foreman, and Andy Rasmussen.*
* * *
*Photo: These are the men who are working on the Architectural Product Division's curtainwall job at Richfield twin towers in Los Angeles. Bottom row, l to r, L. Holloway, J. Bartok, H. Moe Jr., P. Ziegler, R. Schwatka, Jack Shanholtzer (foreman), W. Phillip, M. Lacey, R. Mubi and P. Conduracki. Back row, l to r, J. Saunders, T. Berryman, L. Coulter, Jim Shanholtzer, E. Coulter, J. Duke, J. Haskell, E. Poepping, B. Johnson, E. Peterson, J. Barnes, F. Bayless, G. Orrell, F. Enriguez, B. Shanholtzer.*
Page 4
Los Angeles Employees Given AID Award
**Break in case of emergency.** Now 5 1/2% when held until Maturity. Take stock in America Buy U.S. Savings Bonds
The Los Angeles office has been a continual and generous contributor to the A.I.D. United Givers Fund Drive. This year the A.I.D. representative, Jay Vizcarondo, recognized the Soulé employees' generosity by awarding Soulé three plaques. Accepting the awards on behalf of their coworkers are Mrs. Ann Gillanders, Melinda Roney and Maria Blume. Maria, who works in the L.A. Plant Manager's office, was given another award recently - a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State College, Los Angeles. Her major was English.
Temp-Con Competes for Freezer Market *(Continued from page 1)*
ported that during a 3-day power failure, their Temp-Con Freezer lost only one degree of coldness a day.
Ferreboeuf boasts of Temp-Con's vapor-tight wall and roof system that forms the insulating envelope over typical Soulé freespan, rigid frame structural system.
"If the vapor barrier should leak at some point and permit moisture into the refrigeration unit," says Ferreboeuf, "it would form a visible frost. Unlike the traditional refrigeration unit, which might even have to be shut down to be repaired, Soulé Temp-Con paneling can be repaired - and if it were ever necessary, even completely replaced - from the outside of the building without disturbing the cooling system."
Back in 1966, Rumrey and the engineering department devised the method of producing the steel panel sandwich filled with polyurethane foam. That method, for the most part, is still a patented Soulé process.
"The important thing," says Rumrey, "is that the Temp-Con panel is almost a perfect insulating barrier. Steel has a perm value of absolute zero," adds Rumrey, which means nothing penetrates it. The polyurethane forms a honeycomb plastic, which clings with an unbreakable grip to the steel sheets. The plastic, too, is impervious to moisture.
When the panel was satisfactorily developed, the problem then was to design a joint, for connecting one panel to the next, that was just as foolproof and impenetrable as the panel. Soulé designed and patented an interlocking panel edge, which has special cavities that are filled at the building site with a vapor-tight sealant. The joint is then protected with a steel flashing that runs the length of the joint.
Rumrey, Ferreboeuf and Soulé customers are praising Soulé's Temp-Con refrigerated buildings and their advantages over older structures. * The entire system, from floor to ceiling, is built as a compatible unit by Soulé Steel. * In most cases, freespan structurals completely eliminate cluttering pillar supports. * Soulé's vapor barrier system is less likely to fail, but if it should it is far easier to repair. Simply reseal a joint or replace a panel. * Soulé's Temp-Con buildings can be quickly constructed and easily expanded.
Although most Temp-Con structures are built in the Western U.S., Rumrey and Ferreboeuf recall that in 1967, Soulé designed a Temp-Con fish processing plant for Somalia, East Africa. The components of the building were prefabricated in the U.S. and shipped to Africa. In Somalia, untrained local workers and one trained supervisor erected the building with no complications.
"That couldn't have been done with a masonry building," says Rumrey. "We know these Temp-Con buildings are competitive and superior to older refrigerated units. And look at the advantages - prices comparable to concrete and lumber for basic materials; a tremendous reduction in on-site labor costs during construction; an integrated, factory-built product with built-in quality controls; and so on and so on. Yes, there's a market for Temp-Con and we're meeting it."
Crew Ends Utah Job
*Photo: The Soulé Buildings Division is just completing a big job in Rawley, Utah, for National Lead Co. The field crew has built six Soulé Steel buildings there in the past few months. At the jobsite are, 1 to r, Mike Flaherty, Raymond Burch, Barry Stowers, Don Radonich, all San Francisco personnel, and George Woods, the job superintendent.*
Summer 1971 Issue SOULÉ NEWS Published Quarterly by the Soulé Steel Company, 1750 Army Street San Francisco, California Howard S. Soulé, Editor
Associate Editors Niles O. Millar, Alumni Los Angeles Jerry Unrein Fresno Dolores Bedgood Portland Lucile Van Dusen Salt Lake Judy Cleveland Ventura Hazel Gallois Santa Ana
Bill Bristol San Francisco Jo Davis Fresno John Rogachenko Dominguez Grace Johnson San Diego Nancy Eddington Newark Ferman Davis Phoenix