Weathering the storm

Fletcher Steele is adamant about one thing – Pine Hall Brick is not closing.

“We’ve had reports of rumors from a lot of different sources that we’re shutting down the plant, and that’s just not true,” said Steele, president of the company. “We’re not going anywhere.”

The only thing shut down right now is one of the Madison plant’s two kilns devoted to firing face brick, and that’s just for normal maintenance. While that older kiln is being repaired and upgraded with new ductwork for delivery of sawdust to the firing chamber, the plant’s newer kiln is still in steady production mode.

Steele admits he would like to see the company’s stockpile of available brick lower than present levels, but he understands the current economic climate has taken a toll on the building industry. Pine Hall Brick’s shipments are down more than 50 percent from peak levels.

“Our business peaked around October of 2006,” he said. “Housing starts are down almost 75 percent since then, and our own business is down about 60 percent.”

Even with those reductions in manufacturing and distribution, Steele said the company has managed to retain more than 60 percent of its workforce.

“You never want to lay off employees, but I think we’ve done well to keep layoffs to only about one-third from our peak back in 2006,” he said. “We like to think we’re preparing for the upturn as construction begins to start back up, rather than crashing and burning when things were tough.”

The company employed 442 people in 2006. That number is down to 297 now, with 204 of those in Madison.

Pine Hall Brick has weathered economic downturns and building slumps many times during its 87-year history. The company began in 1922, when Flake Steele of Statesville bought a bankrupt company in Pine Hall and started a brick manufacturing business.

“People from all over the country ask where in the world the name Pine Hall came from,” Steele said. “Of course, people around here know it’s from the name of the town where the company started.”

Perk Steele, 85, one of Flake’s two sons, ran the company for half a century. He remembers the time the country was mostly recovered from the Great Depression and the start of World War II brought a drastic downturn in housing construction.

“At the same time, there was an increasing need for clay sewer pipe to build new military infrastructure within the United States,” Perk said. “So another part of Pine Hall Brick’s business was doing well.”

Once the war ended, new housing starts soared again and the face brick end of the business returned to normal.

Fletcher Steele said he sees much the same trend today. The company built a dedicated, automated clay brick paver plant in Madison in 1996. Since that time, the company has become the largest clay brick paver manufacturer in the nation.

“Going into the paver business fueled a decade-long period of growth for the company,” said Steele, who has been with the business since 1976. “That growth allowed us to build another manufacturing facility in Georgia and has helped us weather the recent economic downturn.”

While he acknowledges the difficulty of keeping any manufacturing business thriving through the ups and downs of nearly a century of economic moves, Steele believes the loyalty of both management and employees at Pine Hall Brick have made it possible.

“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to stay much as we are now through the years,” he said. “When things get tight, we might have to shut down kilns and lay off employees. But as things turn around, we increase the number of employees to keep up with demands.”

Steele said the construction market has leveled off and even shown slight increases in recent months. The number of new construction starts climbed nearly 9 percent from October to November, although the figure is still about 12 percent below 2008’s totals.

“We’re looking at things really making a comeback by the end of 2010,” Steele said. “If the trend holds, we should be able to start bringing some of our people back.”

Pine Hall Brick operates three plants in Madison. Plants 3 and 4 manufacture face brick designed for outside walls of houses, schools, hospitals or other facilities. These are older plants, built and repeatedly remodeled from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Plant 3, which makes tumbled face brick for a more antique look, is the one that is currently shut down for maintenance. Plant 4 makes smooth face brick.

Plant 5, located two miles from the Lindsey Bridge Road location of the face brick facilities, is an automated plant utilizing robots to make clay brick pavers used for sidewalks, patios, driveways and streets.

The majority of locally made face brick is distributed within a 100-mile radius of Madison. The pavers are shipped to distributors throughout the United States.

Although all clay bricks are considered “green” – as in embracing the idea of sustainable design – Pine Hall Brick has entered into a new dimension with the creation of new pavers. RainPave and StormPave permeable clay brick pavers enable storm water to seep into groundwater, where it is naturally filtered, rather than washing across hard concrete or asphalt surfaces and carrying pollutants to the nearest storm drains.

“Innovations like this help us stay proactive by taking steps to keep Pine Hall Brick healthy and able to survive the tough times, now and in the future,” Steele said. “Like I said, we’re here to stay.”