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M a i n e — A P h oto P o rt r A i t o f t h e P i n e t r ee S tAt e P r o f i l e s i n e x c e l l e n c e 146 C asco Bay Steel Structures is a prime exam- ple of a how hard work and an unwaver- ing commitment to producing an excellent product makes for a winning combination. After years of experience in the industry, Bryon Tait, and his wife Wendy, who handles the financial side of the business, founded Casco Bay Steel Structures in 1997. The company fabricates structural steel for bridge construction and transports the bridge girders to bridge-building sites throughout New England and New York. In its first year of business, the South Portland- based company had three employees, and has since then grown exponentially over the past 15 years. The company now employs 75 people and has a 55,000 square foot steel processing plant in Saco and a new- ly-opened, state-of-the-art assembly plant of 100,000 square feet in South Portland, resulting in facility space totaling approximately 155,000 square feet, with 100 tons of lifting capacity over 30 acres of property. The South Portland plant hosted an official ribbon- cutting ceremony last summer when the new facility opened. With the additional space now available to ac- commodate the massive steel girders, the company is now able to handle multiple jobs and go after bigger projects. The company competes with a handful of large, na- tional steel companies on bids for public bridge proj- ects. It is the company's specialization that enables it to consistently produce high-quality products, which draws customers back for repeat business. "We are the only producer in Maine that strictly builds bridges. We don't dabble in anything else," says Bryon Tait. The company starts with raw, American-made steel transported to Maine from North Carolina and trans- forms it into all the steel components needed to con- struct a bridge, from the plate girders and cross frames to expansion joints and steel bridge rail. Casco Bay Steel builds the steel parts in-house and transports them to bridge-building sites across the Northeast. Many of the bridges that connect small towns and rural parts of New England are built using steel com- ponents fabricated by Casco Bay Steel Structures. With clients ranging from contractors to state departments of transportation, the company plays an integral part in the region's bridges — from new construction proj- ects to bridge upgrades or repair. The company also is involved in repairing and up- grading urban bridges. Casco Bay Steel most recently completed its first drawbridge in Boston on Route 99 over the Mystic River. "These are very complicated bridges to build, and there are thousands of pieces involved. It took over 20,000 work hours over four months to build the drawbridge," says Bryon Tait. An Fabrication bay, Saco facility. Casco Bay Steel Structures, Inc. P h o t o s c o u r t e s y o f c a s c o B ay s t e e l s t r u c t u r e s , i n c . "Our primary goal is 100% customer satisfaction," says Bryon Tait.