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Ulbrich Marks a Milestone
Family steel mill celebrates 75 years and three generations
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Business New Haven
6/14/99
By: BNH
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For 75 years, Ulbrich Stainless Steels of North Haven has been doing business at the same location under the same family name. A specialty reroll mill and international service center organization, Ulbrich was born in the back yard of a private home in Wallingford in 1924, producing stainless steel strip.
Founder Fred Ulbrich worked in the cutlery industry that was thriving in Connecticut at the time. He struck out on his own by starting a scrap yard at his home, now the site of Ulbrich's reroll mill.
During World War II the company won a contract to produce stainless steel utensils for Army mess kits, but sold the utensils business at the end of the war. The future of the business lay in supplying New England manufacturers with precision-gauge stainless steel in quantities that were usually too small or too specialized for larger mills.
Expanding its product line over the years to include specialty and super-alloy grades as well as other merchant shapes, today Ulbrich has 15 plants located in five states as well as Canada, Mexico and the UK. Distributors and agents are located in markets around the world. Although Fred Ulbrich Jr. and brother Richard remain active in the company, the title of president has been passed to the third generation, Chris Ulbrich.
With regard to the future, Fred Ulbrich Jr. maintains a positive attitude. “Our philosophy in the early years was the same as it is now: Give customers what they need, when they need it, and exceed their expectations if you can,” he says.
“Our challenge now is to keep reinforcing that idea in the minds of 500 or so employees, and into the next generation of management.”
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