History

 

Atlas traces its history back to Atlas Steels Canada who began the manufacturing of tool steels at the Atlas Steels, Welland plant, in Ontario in 1918 with a workforce of 30 employees.

In 1932 Atlas Canada purchased its first electric melting furnace and by 1938 it served most of Canada with tool and specialty steels.

During WWII the Atlas Steels production facilities in Canada were heavily relied on for the production of tool steels, aircraft steels, gun barrel and armour piercing steels for the war effort in Canada and it was this expertise that was the introduction of Atlas to the Australian steel industry in 1939 when it also became a major supplier of specialty steels for the Australian war effort. In 1942 there were 3000 employees at the Atlas Welland plant in Canada.

 

Following WWII Atlas Steels concentrated on exports to grow the company and in Australia and New Zealand a network of agents and steel distributors was established to sell specialty steel product manufactured by Atlas Canadian mills.  By 1947 Atlas was conducting business in fifty three countries and was the largest manufacturer of stainless and specialty steels bar product in what was then the “British Commonwealth”.

By 1949 Atlas Steels Canada had established the Tracy flat products mill in Quebec producing stainless steel hot roll product and in 1952 a cold roll mill was added and a year later a strip and tube mill. 

In Australia, Atlas owned distribution warehouses and sales force replaced the steel agent marketing route with locations being established in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane in 1962 a cold drawing wire mill and expanded distribution warehouse at Altona North, Melbourne were built. Initially the wire mill manufactured a limited range of high-speed steel and stainless steel but later this expanded into a full range of stainless steel and high speed steel wire and bar to 16mm diameter.

In 1963 Atlas Steel Limited (Canada), including the Australian operations, was acquired by the Canadian mining company, Rio Algom Ltd who fully owned Atlas Steels (Aust) Pty Ltd until 1987.

 

Atlas Steels Limited was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1987. This Company was formed from the merger of the steel manufacturing and distribution activities of Atlas Steels (Australia) Pty Limited and the Martin Bright Steels Group, and Rio Algom retained major shareholder status of the public company.

This merger consolidated the steel distribution operations of Atlas Steels and Gilbert Lodge (a part of the Martin Bright Steels Group) and established a distribution network across Australia and New Zealand. It also brought together the cold drawing wire and bar facilities of Atlas Wire and Martin Bright Steels.

In 1991, Atlas Steels Limited acquired TPS Holdings Ltd which included the operating subsidiaries Tube & Pipe Pty Ltd and Stainless Bar Company Limited, both companies supplying a range of stainless steel products but particularly tubular and bar, and in the same year Atlas Steels Limited was restructured to form a metals distribution division and a manufacturing division.

Atlas Distribution consolidated the metals distribution companies of Atlas Steels (Australia) Pty Limited, Tube & Pipe Pty Ltd, Stainless Bar Company and Gilbert Lodge & Co Ltd New Zealand.

Atlas Manufacturing consolidated the primary metals processing operations of Martin Bright Steels and Atlas Wire Mill.

In 1993 Atlas acquired Queensland Tube Mills in Brisbane and Atlas Tube Mills in Auckland, New Zealand and 1994, PWB Anchor a chain manufacturer in Victoria. These companies were added to the Atlas Manufacturing Division.

In 1995, Atlas acquired Alucor Australia Pty Ltd and Coil Cut Australia Pty Ltd which provided entry for the company into the aluminium flat products distribution market as well as cut to length and slitting facilities for the processing of stainless steel and aluminium.

In the same year, Atlas Steels Limited was acquired by Email Limited and subsequently Atlas Distribution became a division of Email Metals Distribution and Atlas Manufacturing became a division of Email Metals Manufacturing both within the Email Metals Group.

In 1997, following the closure of the BHP cold rolled stainless steel flat products mill, Email Metals, through the entity of Atlas Distribution, formed a 50/50 Joint Venture with Ugine (now Arcelor Stainless International) to build and operate a flat products processing service centre in Australia. Pacific Stainless Processors (PSP), was established at the Coil Processors site at Warragamba in New South Wales.

In 1998, the stainless steel tube manufacturing operations of Queensland Tube Mills and Atlas Tube Mills in New Zealand were divested.

In 2001 Smorgon Distribution Limited with OneSteel Limited acquired Email Limited and its Metals Group. As a result the “old” Atlas businesses in Australia and New Zealand was reformed out of the Email Metals structure as a stand alone specialty metals distribution and processing company and it along with the Email business of Bisalloy Steels, the Australian manufacturer of quenched and tempered plate, were sold to a private consortium of investors. The Bisalloy business also brought with it metals distribution businesses in Indonesia and Thailand which had been established some years earlier to support the export activities of Bisalloy in the region.

New warehouse locations for the Atlas distribution business were opened in Townsville, Gladstone, Mackay, Nowra, Wodonga, and Darwin and in June 2003 the metals distribution and processing companies of Atlas and Bisalloy were floated on the Australian Stock Exchange as Atlas Group Holdings Limited.

In 2004 the tube manufacturing and specialty metals distribution businesses of Southward Engineering in New Zealand were acquired by Atlas and distribution warehouses were established in Shepparton, Kalgoorlie and Hamilton (NZ). In the same year Atlas acquired the Arcelor Stainless International 50 per cent share of the coil and polishing processing centre of Pacific Stainless Processors and renamed it Atlas Metals Processors.