Southern Heat Exchanger

Profile

Southern Heat Exchanger had its humble beginning in 1961. It started production in the back part of Dixie Steel’s facility, near the bridge in Alberta City, which is on Tuscaloosa’s east side. A handful of heat exchangers were manufactured, and thus began the business that we now call SHECO (Southern Heat Exchanger Corporation). With the growing demand for high quality heat exchangers and our ability to make them, the company built its own facility where Plant One is currently located. It all started with the Quonset hut and the West Bay.  Both of which are still in use today. Due to our continued record of extremely high levels of quality, service, and safety, it became necessary to grow our work space and add on to the existing facility. Our first major expansion took place in 1990, with the addition of the East Bay to handle the heaviest and largest heat exchangers. Plant 2 was acquired from Diamond Steel to further grow capacity. At the time, Diamond’s facility was about a mile down the road from Plant One. The business was purchased and, within 18 months, it was transformed into a world class SHECO facility that was capable of rolling shells, burning parts, and manufacturing air cooling exchangers.