Striving for Excellence | Angela Phillips

Within one year, he secured significant contracts working with local businesses.  The business expanded into steel tube as part of Phillips acquisition of a TV antenna company.  The firm then became Phillips Mfg & Tower Co.  The company continued to expand in the Automotive components market.

In 1993, Middletown Tube Works, Inc., was purchased from Armco Steel (now Cleveland Cliffs) by Ralph Phillips, who, along with his daughter and their Middletown team, immediately streamlined the company to provide highly formable coated and non-coated welded steel tube for industries including HVAC, appliance, and others In 1997, Middletown Tube-Works made a significant stride by entering the Automotive market, with both divisions offering tubing for the fuel filler application to several Tier 1 and 2 suppliers. This marked the beginning of the company’s expansion into new territories, including Mexico, Europe, Australia, and China.

In 2006, the Phillips companies further solidified their positions in the automotive industry by upgrading its quality system. The company also diversified its automotive lineup, adding seating components, exhaust components, and fluid systems, while adding stainless tube to its capabilities.

In 2009, following the passing of owner and founder Ralph Phillips, Angela became the President and CEO of Phillips Tube Group, Inc. Angela grew up in the business and kept a firm hand on the company, leading the employees towards enhanced productivity and success. Angela has been hailed as a kind, generous, and community-minded leader within the company and in the cities where her plants are located. She has carried on her father’s Legacy and has expanded it greatly to include more organizations focused on women and children.

Becoming A Great Leader

Angela has been tenacious in her pursuit of company success and goes to great lengths to ensure the company continues to grow and succeed in the ever-changing world of steel components. She leads with empowerment, allowing her team to fulfill their roles with autonomy and without micromanagement. She continues to pursue world-class status for Phillips Tube Group, Inc.  Angela is relentless in finding the solutions and ideas that move the organization forward and sees a more significant role for herself at the community, state, and national level as she advocates for manufacturing in the United States as both an economic necessity and a national security issue.

According to Angela, the company is only as good as its leadership team. Here, she proudly states that she looks for the best and brightest to help her move the organization forward despite the maturity of the industry and the significant challenges of imports. “My team is the reason I can look beyond our organization to assist in the community and to represent manufacturing at our local, state, and federal levels as well as taking part in leadership for statewide organizations that support manufacturing,” adds Angela. “I think a lot of it is the resilience of getting through the challenges that have happened. There have been drastic changes that had to be made, as the challenges we faced have formed us, forged us, and caused us to redefine who we are as a company.”

Pursuit of Greatness

Phillips Tube Group is the quality leader in the steel tube industry, meeting the requirements of the most demanding OEMs and their suppliers. Phillips Tube Group is recognized as a reliable partner for steel tubes in several sectors, including automotive, HVAC, appliance, RV, and construction. Regarding reliability, Phillips Tube Group goes above and beyond to meet customers’ needs. Family-owned and operated since 1967, they are proud of their long-term partnerships with OEMs. “Our customers struggle to find high-quality tubes with high-caliber service, which we provide better than anyone in our industry. When our competitors fail – we get the call,” explains Angela. “We are among the top welded steel tube manufacturers in North America and we have expanded capabilities in finishing and fabrication, R&D, prototyping, exporting and consignment warehousing.” In 2020, Phillips Tube Group’s Advanced Technology Center was started to help clients explore alternative materials and testing methods to ensure they could meet their customers’ ever-changing steel demands.

One of Angela’s most significant achievements has been surviving the Great Recession of 2009, which was also the year her father passed away unexpectedly in a motorcycle accident. “My team and I soldiered through the downturn and the grief of losing him, which motivated us to come out even stronger,” she reflects. “Amidst the bankruptcies of customers and challenging market dips, we found a way to come out on top. We finished 2010 with a strong year back to the 2008 level and continued growth from that point onward.”

The future looks bright, as Angela leads Phillips Tube Group to be “best in class” in new industry sectors they had not participated in, focusing on growth industries less dependent on consumer goods like their traditional automotive, HVAC, and appliance industries.

The company’s four divisions are simply known as Phillips Tube Group- Shelby, Middletown, Richmond (Ind.), and Fabrication (Middletown). With consolidation continuing across the market, the company is always looking for opportunities to expand beyond what it currently offers so that it can either bring something new to its current customers or reach brand-new ones.

“Continued consolidation of our industry is top of mind for me,” says Angela. “We’re on the lookout right now for additional mergers and acquisitions. That’s a quick way for us to grow and expand our footprint in areas and markets we don’t currently participate in. We see a lot of consolidation happening.”

As the company has grown, so have the challenges of pricing, labor, raw material, and transportation faced by every tube and pipe business. Staying ahead of those problems, while keeping the common touch modeled by her father, pushes Angela to keep innovating.

“The thing that drives me is, the challenge is always there,” she adds. “The challenges are limitless. There’s always another problem to solve. There’s always something else going on. Sometimes I sit back and say, ‘Wow, I think after thirty years, we’ve seen it all. We’ve been there and done it.’ And then something like COVID happens—things that you don’t see coming at all. It’s just [getting] the right brains at the table to be able to say, ‘OK, here’s what’s happening. Here are all of our options. Let’s figure this out.’ and being able to do it in a very real-time way so we’re not hesitating. We’re not waiting for somebody else to do something. We’re trying to lead in a way that we think we can be successful.”

For Angela, that means doing what she can to ensure the company has the trained, skilled workers it needs to remain competitive. While some companies are looking to incentives, flexible schedules, wages, and improving company culture to achieve that, Phillips Tube Group has zeroed in on education—specifically, what it calls PTG Academy with a launch planned for 2025. The future looks bright for Angela and her company; they are significant market contributors, growing and on the move.