Allied Steel Buildings leads as the partner of choice for the world’s toughest structural steel projects
Specializing in the pre-fabrication of structural steel buildings, Allied Steel Buildings (Allied) is the definition of manufacturing excellence. Allied has established itself as a world-leading solutions provider in its field for over two decades, boasting an illustrious international network and an impressive project portfolio spanning all corners of the globe. Providing “more than just steel”, the company is truly one of a kind. Its comprehensive range of capabilities offers everything from a full scope of BIM tools for its design and engineering services, manufacturing both pre-engineered steel structures and structural steel, to procuring components and insulated panels, delivering high-quality systems in mission-critical timelines.
With production facilities in Spain and Texas and over 6,000 projects successfully delivered across 72 countries, Allied is well-positioned to redefine the possibilities of structural steel for many more decades to come. Manufacturing Today sits down with Michael Lassner, Chief Executive Officer at Allied, to learn more about how the company is evolving for the future as it continues its growth trajectory, pushing the boundaries of innovation and keeping its clients at its core. Michael starts 
by offering some insight into Allied’s mission.
“Allied is a global company, designing, engineering, manufacturing, and delivering pre-engineered metal buildings, structural buildings and those that we refer to as ‘hybrid structures’. We typically work on projects that have critical timelines and design needs in sectors that require high-speed development, such as aerospace, high-tech manufacturing, data centers and energy, but broadly speaking, we can do everything from typical industrial buildings to logistics parks, commercial centers and hotels,” Michael begins. “We’ve invested significantly in our manufacturing facilities and the benefit of that is that we’re able to accommodate a lot of different categories of construction. We’re able to provide not just the main structure of the building, but also any of the interior and support steel, so a client can come to us to find one solution and provider for the entire project. We consider ourselves to be a design collaboration partner that has all the added benefits of project management and manufacturing in one place.”
In 2024, Allied was proud to launch its first US location – a monumental move that signified a major shift in its growth trajectory. Situated in McGregor, Texas, the new site is a stunning state-of-the-art production facility: bespoke, purpose-built and fully-automated, marking the company’s first permanent imprint on US soil. The Texas location was initially constructed to address the increase in demand from Allied’s existing clients, but 120,000 square feet later, the site has transformed into a production powerhouse that perfectly complements the company’s Spanish facility and significantly augments its scale of operations.
“We started out as a sales, engineering and project management company; we didn’t start manufacturing until 2021. We still took care of all the design engineering, but manufacturing was outsourced. We had great partners in the US who were manufacturing for us, and we still do today, but our client demand was growing regarding the buildings and timelines that were needed from our clients, so in 2019, we eventually invested in our first manufacturing facility in Spain. We built the Spain facility with capacity to grow, and over the following two years, we tripled in tonnage produced.
“It became clear that, to meet the continued demand and growth, we needed a facility in the US, and we chose Texas because it’s our biggest market; it’s central, it’s near a port and it accommodates the domestic and international demand. It’s been a great location for us,” Michael explains.
“Our investment philosophy was focused on the long term, building a more advanced facility that incorporates the latest technology, automation and robotics, because that’s where the industry is headed. When it comes to making commitments to clients, you need to understand how you’re going to be able to accommodate their project requirements such as quality control. By investing in automation and robotics, you can measure and monitor everything to not only measure quality, but cadence as well – to ensure you’re able to meet a client’s deadline.” 
The implementation of these cutting-edge technologies and automation has revolutionized Allied’s production processes, boosting its operational efficiency and laying the foundations for further growth in both its capabilities and capacity. Amongst the company’s most exciting technological investments is its custom robotic assembly line, specially designed and supplied to Allied by industrial innovator, Zeman.
“The robotics that we’ve implemented are really neat. We added a robotic line from Zeman, which all started with plate sorting and processing to boost quality control and safety,” Michael elaborates. “Zeman is a wonderful company; originally, they were a structural steel manufacturer, and they still very much are today, but they built the robotic system for themselves and soon realized that the rest of the world needs it too.
“The line starts by organizing parts on pallets using a robotic arm system that scans and organizes the parts per project. It then connects to the assembly and welding process; it’s an automated process, from the sorting through to the welding, where the assembly isn’t touched until the shotblasting and painting line. By connecting to the system’s software, we can be certain of how long the parts will take to manufacture and that the designs are going to be accurate without any conflicts in quality. That’s the critical piece in ours and Zeman’s partnership; with their system, we’ve been able to grow. We’ve already expanded our Texas facility by 40 percent; we now have 50 acres there in total and we’ll be adding a second Zeman line to the facility this fall. In addition, we just completed an expansion to add component manufacturing to our operations.”
Such partnerships have been crucial to Allied’s longevity and continued success, particularly amidst its expansion. As the demand for these high-speed structural systems increases, the company holds its relationships with its vendors dear, such as that with its trusted rooftop equipment supplier, Roof Curb. Per Michael Lassner, this is a collaboration: “While we have a robust design and engineering team, the collaboration with partners such as Roof Curb, allows us to specifically engineer solutions to meet our clients structure and process needs, which allows us to provide client solutions beyond the building envelope.” Indeed, Allied Steel Buildings is set to remain at the forefront of innovation. Optimistic for the future, the company is committed to further investing in its clients in the pursuit to be that one-stop solution provider of choice for the world’s most important structural steel projects. Where others may fail, Allied is prepared for any challenge, armed with the experience and expertise to continue impressing its clients with innovative engineering solutions, fast lead times, exceptional quality and reputable customer service.
“It’s a very exciting time for us. The global economy is advancing in many different ways, so we’re going to continue investing in engineering, manufacturing and our people as we grow. We’ll probe deeper into the category of needs for our client, not only providing ancillary steel but really understanding what our clients are doing inside these structures and what other pain points we might be able to support them with, such as custom paint solutions. We really want to be that one-stop solution within our category of expertise, providing manufacturing excellence and high levels of quality control across all our environments,” Michael reveals.
“A lot of the industry is now focused on pre-engineered, pre-manufactured systems because they offer greater speed, quality and integrity. It’s really important to have a great partner who understands that from an initial design standpoint right through to final erection, and who has the speed to meet the demands of the deadline,” Michael concludes. “There are lots of great companies out there working within these different categories, but we bring all of those together to ensure that we can execute the right solution for our customers upfront. That’s what being a design partner for our clients means to us.”