Concrete, in most people's minds, is a utilitarian material — the gray, mundane stuff of driveways, sidewalks and drainage pipes.

But one local business is using concrete to make something more artistic.

Shaffner Heaney Associates, a South Bend company that distributes and installs architectural products that adorn buildings, also manufactures some of those items through its SHApe Architectural division.

The company has been making metal panels for decades for hospitals, office towers, schools, car dealerships and other buildings across the nation. Data Realty's sleek building at Ignition Park, the technology park south of downtown South Bend, is a local example where SHApe Architectural's metal panels are in use.

Shaffner Heaney also is diversifying with a $2.2 million project to make a new line of concrete panels that will lend different colors, textures and patterns to building exteriors. The company bought the former Curtis Products complex in September and began manufacturing there in October. The price tag for the project includes the purchase of those buildings and specialized equipment to make the concrete products.

The company has partnered with Lafarge, a French concrete firm, to use a particular type of material called ultra-high performance concrete.

"It's about five to 10 times stronger than regular concrete, and the cost is much higher than regular concrete," said Craig Heaney, vice president of operations at Shaffner Heaney. "It's a more expensive option for a facade, but it's a very long-lasting option."

While a metal panel might last 30 years on a building's exterior, he said, a concrete panel can last twice as long. Lafarge has used ultra-high performance concrete for structural purposes — in bridges, for example — but SHApe Architectural will be the first to clad buildings with it.

Buying the former Curtis Products property has made Shaffner Heaney's manufacturing operations more efficient, too.

In addition to starting the concrete line, the company moved its metal fabricating to the complex at Bronson and Fellows streets, southeast of downtown South Bend. Before the move, the company was leasing a building on Ireland Road and using some warehouse space in a former Studebaker assembly plant on South Lafayette Boulevard. Some manufacturing was based in the headquarters building on South Main Street as well.

"Now it's all under one roof," Heaney said. "We have a lot less local trucking that has to take place."

It's also a good situation for Curtis Products, which left its Bronson Street complex last summer and moved into the former Robert Bosch Corp. complex on South Bend's west side.

And, finally, Shaffner Heaney's move is another good sign for South Bend's manufacturing economy. Several large industrial properties in the city have been filled in the past year.

"I think it truly shows the momentum we have in South Bend," said Chris Fielding, assistant executive director of the city's Department of Community Investment. "The majority of jobs created in any community are created by small businesses that already exist. Locally bred businesses like Shaffner Heaney and Curtis Products are willing to invest in the community."

Fred Heaney, the company's president, founded Shaffner Heaney with his stepfather, Bob Shaffner, in 1971.

The headquarters are at 2508 S. Main St. in South Bend, and most of the firm's 70 employees are based in South Bend, but the company has branch offices with sales and support staff in Indianapolis, Livonia, Mich., and Louisville, Ky., as well.

It's still a family business, too. Craig Heaney is Fred's son, and another son, Todd Heaney, works in the Livonia office.

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Source: South Bend Tribune