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An unconventional steel hybrid: the leader of this Southern California distributor and fabricator doesn't just think outside the box, he thinks outside the country.

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TURNAROUND SPECIALISTS typically fix a troubled business and then move on. Faruk Zia put his mark on Angeles Steel Services and made the family-owned company his home.

The Santa Fe Springs, Calif., carbon steel fabricator and distributor has deep roots going back to its 1935 founding as a small welding shop. After more than six decades of growth and success, however, the company was nearly compromised by family squabbles following the death of matriarch Helen A. Hansen in 2000.

With majority ownership passing to her daughter, current chairwoman Gail Allen, some family members and friends involved in senior and middle management found themselves at odds. Without going into detail, Zia recalls: "The company faced certain family disputes.

That's why I was hired in 2001 to run Angeles Steel. When I came in, it was very unclear what the future would be."

Upon her mother's passing, Allen wisely turned to Zia, an outsider, to keep the organization moving forward. "It took several years to rebuild the management team and create a new culture here. It may have been formed in 1935, but this company was basically reborn in 2001," says Zia, now the company's president and chief executive officer.

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This unfortunate situation offers a lesson for other family-owned businesses, he notes. "It's very important to address succession planning when there are competing siblings involved. It's very difficult to talk about these things--it's often easier not to deal with it and just carry on--but you need a clear understanding of what will happen when a major event occurs."

It's all about adding value Angeles Steel Services is a hybrid operation--part fabricator, part job shop, part service center--with a single, 220,000-square-foot location on a 12-acre site in the Los Angeles suburbs. Its 120 employees are skilled in a variety of steel processing disciplines.

Like the services it offers, Angeles Steel's equipment is wide and varied. It includes cut-to-length lines, shears, press brakes, cutting tables with flame, plasma and laser capabilities, plus a variety of rolling, bending and welding equipment.

Angeles Steel's market...