Maysteel backs the communities that support our team members and our facilities. Over the years, this has included our Dedication to Manufacturing Excellence scholarships, volunteering with local tech programs, and engineering and manufacturing internships. Our most recent opportunity came from local Wisconsin high school students near our Allenton, Wisconsin headquarters.

The Village of Slinger, near Allenton, contacted Slinger High School to contribute to the Ice Age Trail. The Ice Age Trail expands over 1,000 miles from the Minnesota border to Lake Michigan and connects dozens of communities. Slinger High School students took on the task and created benches, trashcans and bike racks. The students created the designs and specified the dimensions in 2019, and by the spring of 2021, they finished cutting the metal and forming the pieces using a hydraulic press brake Maysteel donated to their tech program in 2011.

The unpainted metal benches, trashcans and bike racks

Maysteel team members attended an Advisory Board where they learned about the Slinger High School students’ efforts, and they wanted to see how Maysteel could get involved. The students' only challenge was how to paint the furniture. Raw metal furniture couldn’t be placed on the Ice Age Trail without a finish because it would rust due to Wisconsin weather. That’s when Bob Kuenzi, a Maysteel Engineering Alumni, had an idea of how Maysteel could partner with the students with our in-house powder coat paint capabilities. Our team facilitated the painting process and delivered paint samples, so the Slinger High School board could choose the best color to fit the project. The teachers and students partnered to get the pieces for the benches, trashcans and bike racks ready for our paint processes, and our team brought them to our Allenton, WI facility to go through our powder coat paint booth.

Bench parts going through our powder coat painting booth

The furniture was painted, picked up from our Allenton facility, assembled by the students and teachers and placed on the Ice Age Trail where all visitors could enjoy the students’ creations.

Finished benches, trashcans and bike racks ready for transport to Slinger High School

The Slinger High School students should be proud of their work, giving back to their community and taking the project from design to finished product using manufacturing processes. Thank you to the students for involving us in the process and to our team members for helping us give back.

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