PACO Steel and Engineering

What PACO Steel and Engineering does

PACO Steel & Engineering Corp. is a privately held U.S. specialty steel manufacturer founded in 1974 by Young J. Paik and headquartered in Rancho Dominguez, California, with an additional ERW beam mill in Arkansas. The company designs, manufactures, and supplies custom lightweight steel structural products, including I and T-shaped beams, columns, moment frames, braced frames, shear panels, solar piles, and shear wall boundary posts. Its core technology is a High Frequency Electric Resistance Forging (ERW) beam line — the only one of its kind in North America — supplemented by the patented Corrugated Beam design invented in 1979 and a portfolio of pre-engineered, bolt-together lateral force resisting systems (Smart Moment Frame, Smart Braced Frame, Smart Shear Panel) validated through physical testing at VirginiaTech against AISC seismic provisions.

The company serves five primary vertical segments: manufactured housing, recreational vehicles (RV), solar energy (ground-mount posts), light commercial construction (seismic and multi-story projects), and light-gauge steel construction. Revenue is generated through project-based, quote-driven sales of custom-manufactured steel products delivered directly to job sites, with customers submitting design criteria worksheets that PACO engineers convert into calculation packages, submittal documents, and detail drawings. Pricing is non-public and negotiated per project, with the company citing typical cost advantages of 30%+ versus conventional welded moment frames and material weight reductions of 30-38% on documented projects. The business operates through four internal divisions — Engineering, Steel Distribution, Fabrication, and Manufacturing — and remains under founder ownership with no disclosed outside investors or parent company.

Name

PACO Steel and Engineering

Legal name

PACO Steel & Engineering Corp.

Website

https://pacosteel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

PACO Steel & Engineering Corp. is a privately held U.S. specialty steel manufacturer founded in 1974, operating the only High Frequency Electric Resistance Forging beam line in North America to design, manufacture, and supply custom lightweight structural steel beams, moment frames, solar piles, and related products to the construction, solar, manufactured housing, RV, and military housing industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Rancho Dominguez

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Custom Steel Products: PACO generates revenue through design, manufacturing, and sale of custom structural steel products including beams, columns, moment frames, braced frames, shear panels, and solar piles. Products are custom-manufactured to customer specifications and sold on a project basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

PACO Steel and Engineering designs, manufactures, and supplies custom lightweight structural steel products including Smart Moment Frames, Smart Braced Frames, Smart Shear Panels, custom I- and T-shaped beams and columns, Shear Wall Boundary Posts, RV & MH Beams, and Solar Piles. The company operates the only High Frequency Electric Resistance Forging (ERW) beam line in North America, enabling it to produce small-quantity, application-optimized structural members for construction, solar, manufactured housing, and RV industries.

Product overview

PACO Steel and Engineering Corp. offers a portfolio of smart steel solutions under its PACO brand, consisting of four main product lines: (1) Pre-Engineered Frame Systems including Smart Moment Frame (SMF), Smart Braced Frame, and Smart Shear Panel for structural applications; (2) Custom Manufacturing including Custom Beams & Columns produced via the company's unique High Frequency Electric Resistance Forging process, the only such facility in North America; (3) Specialized Products including Shear Wall Boundary Posts for load-bearing LGS projects, RV & MH Beams for recreational vehicles and manufactured housing, and Solar Piles for ground mount solar applications; and (4) Green Solutions focusing on sustainable manufacturing using recycled steel content. The company operates four divisions—Engineering, Steel Distribution, Fabrication, and Manufacturing—to deliver integrated smart steel solutions for complex structural needs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Smart Moment Frame (SMF): Pre-engineered, pre-fabricated, and cost-effective Special Moment Frame for lateral and gravity loads with bolted end plate connections
• Smart Braced Frame
• Smart Shear Panel
• Custom Beams & Columns
• Shear Wall Boundary Post
• RV & MH Beams
• Solar Pile

Products and services

• Smart Moment Frame (SMF) Pre-engineered, pre-fabricated Special Moment Frame designed to resist lateral and gravity loads for commercial and multi-story construction. Features lightweight sections and bolt-together end plate connections that install without field welding, compatible with wood, LGS, or heavy structural framing systems. Validated at VirginiaTech to sustain interstory drift angles exceeding 0.04 radians.
• Smart Braced Frame Pre-engineered, pre-fabricated Special Concentric Braced Frame (SCBF) designed to resist high magnitude lateral loads per AISC 341-10 seismic provisions. All connections are bolted for fast installation with no field welding required, providing a cost-effective lateral system for high-load applications.
• Smart Shear Panel Pre-engineered shear panel system providing fast installation and high-capacity strength for shear wall applications in structural steel buildings.
• Custom Beam & Column Custom manufactured I- and T-shaped structural members produced via High Frequency Electric Resistance Forging (ERW), the only such beam line in North America. Enables high-strength, lightweight, economical beams optimized for specific applications in various gauges, widths, and depths, in small quantities.
• Shear Wall Boundary Post Load-bearing light gauge steel post designed as a replacement for inefficient and labor-intensive stud packs. Provides significantly higher load capacity than conventional back-to-back or toe-to-toe built-up LGS sections, allowing larger spacing and reducing overall wall weight.
• RV & MH Beam Lightweight structural beams designed for Recreational Vehicle (RV) and Manufactured Housing (MH) applications, including patented corrugated web technology that adds strength while reducing weight. Produced using the electrical resistance welding (ERW) method to deliver lighter chassis and structural components.
• Solar Pile Custom manufactured steel posts for ground-mount solar applications. Custom shapes are designed to match job-site specific loading conditions using soil geotechnical reports and regional seismic/wind demands, producing the most efficient site-specific steel post with no material waste and reduced transportation and galvanization costs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Buckthorn solar project saved more than $300,000 through custom 6x10.48 steel post (1.52 lb weight reduction)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• VirginiaTechcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVirginiaTech conducted numerous tests on PACO SMF beam-column connections using testing protocol per Appendix S of 2005 AISC Seismic Provision. Test results validated the excellent inelastic response capacities of PACO Special Moment Frame connections.
• HDRcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHDR was the Engineer of Record for Buckthorn solar project. Provided PACO with loading and project parameters; specified custom PACO 6x10.48 as approved alternate to standard W6x12, saving over $300,000.
• Ankrom MoisanminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArchitect for Sky3 Place project in Portland, OR. Worked with PACO to develop custom asymmetrical beam solution for 15-story apartment.
• Steinberg ArchitectsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArchitect for El Camino Real project. Initial design called for field welded moment frames; value engineered to PACO bolted frames reducing weight by 30%.
• Hunt Hale Jones ArchitectsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArchitect for Amorosa Village 150-unit Senior Housing project. PACO provided design assistance for bolted-unstiffened end plate moment frame.
• Grimm & ParkerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArchitect for University Place mixed-use project at University of West Virginia.
• Lend LeaseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerContractor for Buckthorn solar project. Used custom PACO solar posts to meet wind, seismic, uplift and axial loading requirements.
• AllianceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPresident Tom Thompson of Alliance approved custom PACO section for Sky3 Place project, noting 'Less weight, no fabrication and less expensive made going with a custom PACO section an easy decision'.
• Premium Steel Building Systems, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesigned and provided custom PACO I-beam units for Johnson Controls MEES 800 Relocatable military housing. PACO beams selected over light gauge steel and wide flange alternates.
• Johnson ControlsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMEES 800 Relocatable military housing project using custom PACO beams for Premium Steel Building Systems.
• Master Engineers and DesignersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEOR (Engineer of Record) for Military Housing project requiring rapid erection with custom beam application.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Nucor Corporation: Largest U.S. steel producer and a dominant supplier of structural steel beams, columns, and joists. Nucor competes with PACO in custom structural shapes, light-gauge steel, and downstream fabricated products, but at vastly greater scale and with broader product breadth.
• Gerdau Ameristeel: Major North American producer of structural steel beams, channels, and rebar with significant fabrication operations. Gerdau competes with PACO in custom structural sections and downstream steel products but with a much broader mill-level footprint.
• Commercial Metals Company (CMC): Vertically integrated steel manufacturer producing structural beams, rebar, and fabricated steel products. CMC's structural mill competes directly with PACO's custom beam offering, particularly in commercial and infrastructure applications.
• Steel Dynamics, Inc. U.S. flat-rolled and structural steel producer with structural and rail products. Steel Dynamics competes with PACO in custom structural beams and fabricated steel, though at higher volume and broader scale.

Direct peers

• ConXtech: Provider of prefabricated, bolt-together structural steel framing systems for commercial and multi-story construction. ConXtech competes head-to-head with PACO's Smart Moment Frame and Smart Braced Frame products in the modular steel-frame category.
• Star Seismic: Manufacturer of pre-engineered buckling-restrained braced frames and special moment frames for seismic applications. Star Seismic overlaps directly with PACO's Smart Moment Frame and Smart Braced Frame product lines in seismic retrofit and new construction.

Emerging players

• ClarkDietrich: Largest North American manufacturer of cold-formed steel framing products including studs, joists, and clips. ClarkDietrich competes with PACO's shear wall boundary posts and LGS framing components in the load-bearing light-gauge steel segment.
• MarinoWARE: Manufacturer of light-gauge steel framing products including studs, track, and specialty components for commercial construction. MarinoWARE overlaps with PACO in LGS framing and serves the same contractor and EOR customer base.
• Novak S.p.A. Italian producer of corrugated-web steel beams using a similar patented process to PACO's. Novak is one of the closest technological analogs globally and would be a direct competitor in any cross-border expansion of PACO's corrugated beam IP.
• LiteSteel Technologies: Australian manufacturer of cold-formed light-gauge steel structural sections using a proprietary forming process. LiteSteel is an emerging global analog in the lightweight custom structural section category, with comparable product positioning to PACO's RV/MH and custom beams.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PACO Steel and Engineering