As Steen Engineering prepares to celebrate 30 years in business, the mechanical and electrical engineering firm in Crystal is aggressively pursuing market expansion.
Over the last year-plus, Steen’s push has resulted in growing business with industrial clients as well as those in the education and institutional markets, according to President
Mark Brengman .
Steen , meanwhile, has maintained its stronghold in senior living and assisted living projects.
It’s the latest example of Steen Engineering’s ability to be nimble and pivot through challenges, from the Great Recession to the pandemic, said Brengman, who has been with Steen for 28 of its 30 years. It also helps explain why the firm is still around to plan a party this September to mark its launch three decades ago.
“We’ve survived multiple economic downturns,” Brengman said. “It’s been a rollercoaster. That’s one of the reasons why with this market expansion, we’re hoping to even out the highs and lows with some of those other areas of expertise that we can add to our lineup.”
Industrial focus
One goal, particularly in eyeing industrial clients, is to create market segments that are more insulated from the ups and downs of construction.
“In the industrial sector, we’ve had success with companies that have capital budget expenditures or might have cash on hand and they’re looking for budgeted improvements, deferred maintenance projects, etc., that aren’t necessarily aligned directly with the construction market and influenced by interest rates or the cost of construction as tightly as new construction and remodeling might be,” Brengman said.
Industrial ventilation is one focus of Steen’s market expansion. It works with industrial hygienists to design solutions to address safety-related emission issues.
Clients include
Smith Foundry , long the subject of complaints about odors and pollution from residents of the East Phillips neighborhood in south Minneapolis. In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced that the 101-year-old foundry next year would shut down its furnace and casting operations and pay an $80,000 penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. Zynik Capital, a Canadian firm, bought the foundry in 2022.
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“Steen helped us design ventilation systems to improve our facility operations,” Adolfo Quiroga, president of Smith Foundry, said via email. “The existing conditions presented numerous challenges, from improving foundry fugitive emissions, mitigating fume exposure to employees and capturing airborne contaminants.Steen’s engagement and creative approach was appreciated and (we) felt like they were acting in our best interest throughout the process.”
Steen also has designed dust-control systems for a multinational food processing company’s grain transport operations and a hydrogen-detection system from a transit vehicle manufacturer.
Brengman describes Steen’s approach to industrial projects as “process-driven engineering.” That means supporting assembly or manufacturing processes rather than just designing heating and cooling systems for facilities. “We’re looking at more of a holistic and all-encompassing design,” he said.
Such projects also are more interesting than what he termed commodity-driven work.
“Certainly, housing can become rote, where you’re applying kind of a cookie-cutter design as opposed to tailoring a design for many, many more special circumstances in the industrial/manufacturing sector,” Brengman said. “So that makes it more exciting. These are tailored solutions specific to a client.”
Steen’s market expansion also involves educating clients on its expertise in sustainable design of solar and geothermal projects, with greater interest in the latter in recent years, according to Brengman.
Examples of Steen’s work include
Bloom Lake Flats and the
Hillock in Minneapolis and
Taco Bell Defy in Brooklyn Park where proprietary vertical lift technology delivers orders from the second-floor kitchen to one of four drive-through lanes.
Basement beginnings
Steen founders Steve Youngs and Gene Striefel combining their first names to create the name of their new venture launched the firm in Striefel’s basement, where a pool table served as their drafting table. Striefel, Youngs and other early Steen employees had worked at Michaud Cooley Erickson, now MCE, before getting caught up in staff reductions resulting from a downturn in the early 1990s.
Brengman also was at Michaud Cooley but left there to work at HGA for a year before buying in as a third equal partner at Steen Engineering. He now has a majority share in the firm. Youngs has retired and Striefel has passed away.
The pandemic and Great Recession both saw staff reductions and temporary across-the-board pay cuts, Brengman said. Steen today has about 20 employees, some of whom are fully remote, and offers a hybrid work schedule.
Brengman attributes Steen’s success in adjusting to remote and hybrid work to relying even more so on the “Ideal Team Player” concept of business author Patrick Lencioni. That model emphasizes the importance of having team members who are “humble, hungry and smart.”
“And smart has nothing to do with book smarts or your engineering smarts,” Brengman said. “It has everything to do with emotional intelligence. Knowing what to say, what not to say. Having the ability to perceive what motivates and ultimately what the client’s expectations and needs are.”
Accountability measures
Also contributing to the firm’s success is its long-term use of its Tracking Action tool, which Brengman described as an “appraisal mechanism to hold ourselves accountable.” The online tool enables Steen to set goals and track progress across the company and by department.
Accountability also comes from Steen’s advisory board, which Brengman said has been in place for the last 15 years. It consists of internal leadership and external members who assess performance and identify areas for improvement and pitfalls to avoid.
Brengman is projecting a “modest” 10% to 15% increase in revenue this year over 2023. Revenue was down last year from 2022, which he attributed to the construction market.
Looking back and ahead
Steen’s celebration of 30 years in business will “thank all the supporters and clients that we've interacted with, collaborated with, done business with and learned from,” Brengman said.
Looking ahead as well, Steen has added four additional equity partners. Two vice presidents and principals senior mechanical designer Kurt Smith and mechanical engineer Richard Becker, “hopefully will continue to lead Steen in years to come,” Brengman said.
Brengman said he would have asked himself “what if?” had he not taken the chance to join Steen in its early days.
“It’s worked out and we’ve continued to be proud of the fact that we’ve kept people employed and helped create a compelling environment for people to learn and be challenged,” Brengman said.
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Steen Engineering Business: Independent mechanical and electrical engineering firm
Headquarters: Crystal
President: Mark Brengman Employees: 20
Founded: 1993
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