Looking Forward to 60 Years at the Cutting Edge of Metal

By Cass Jacoby. 

MetalCoffeeShop™ interviews icons of the metal industry Jim and Dick Bus LIVE! at METALCON! 

Heidi J. Ellsworth welcomes Executive Vice President Jim Bus and President Dick Bus with ATAS International to the MetalCoffeeShop soundstage at METALCON! 

ATAS is a family company that has grown from being a basement operation to having five locations all in about 60 years. Their secret? Listening to contractor's needs and developing products designed to make their lives easier.  

“We're constantly coming up with new products,” says Jim. “Dad started out as a siding contractor initially, so we always have, when we're developing new products, what makes it easier for the contractor. Products, services, little tweaks to the product. And we're always listening to the customer.” 

Dick adds that their success is also, in part, attributed to their opportunistic philosophy. “If something presents itself tomorrow, we'll jump on it,” says Dick. “And that's how we've operated and grown the business and with new products, new locations.”  

The company is now in its third generation of family ownership “They've been actively working in the business for over 10 years. Some of them have been actually working more like 15, 18 years in the business,” says Dick. “They've been in the business. My parents had 27 grandchildren, so there's now four of those 27 active in running the business.” 

ATAS is well known for their beautiful architectural projects, which have garnered the company plenty of awards, including most recently Omawall PL with EVO™ earning first prize in METALCON’s  Top Product of the Year award in the walls category. This  architectural plate panel is an excellent choice for high-end applications. The panels are prefabricated and field-cut, saving installation time and costs by avoiding field-fabrication.   

With metal booming in industry, their focus on building aesthetics puts them at the cutting edge of metal design trends. “We're seeing demand for plate increasing dramatically or heavier gauge siding panels for the commercial market. And some of that bleeds over into the residential market,” says Dick. “And we're seeing an increased demand in prints, meaning wood grains and other things other than just monochromatic colors.” 

As architects become more comfortable using metal in their designs, ATAS continues to innovate and push the envelope with their metal designs. As they approach 60 years in the industry, we wish them another 60 plus at the cutting edge of metal. 

Learn more about ATAS International in their directory or visit www.ATAS.com. 

About Cass  

Cass works as a reporter/writer for RoofersCoffeeShop, AskARoofer and MetalCoffeeShop. When she isn’t writing about roofs, she is putting her Master degree to work writing about movies and dancing with her plants.