Canada’s Samuel Forms Alliance
with Mexico’s Grupo Villacero
Samuel, Son & Co. Inc., Mississauga, Ont., has signed a comprehensive strategic alliance agreement with Mexico’s Grupo Villacero.
Villacero will provide Samuel with processing, storage and logistics services from its offices, distribution and service center locations in Mexico, while Samuel will provide the same services to Villacero from its offices, distribution and service center locations in Canada and the United States.
“We are very excited and pleased to begin working with Grupo Villacero,” says Wayne Bassett, president and CEO of Samuel, Son & Co., Ltd. “This alliance will allow us to provide the full range of services to the Mexican facilities of our Canadian and U.S. customers in all major manufacturing regions throughout Mexico. We expect this to be a growing relationship, and we have already identified and are investigating a number of additional opportunities where we can work together.”
“The Samuel organization is very pleased to be increasing our involvement in Mexico. The alliance between our two established, successful, family-owned businesses offers great opportunity for both companies and for our respective customers,” adds Mark Samuel, chairman of the Canadian company.
“This strategic alliance will provide both companies with new and important strengths and synergies to face the consolidation and globalization of the steel market in a highly competitive manner,” agrees Julio C. Villarreal G., chairman and CEO of Grupo Villacero. “With this alliance, we all will be better prepared to attend the growth in Mexico, such as in the automotive and appliance sectors.”
Grupo Villacero includes a group of companies focused mainly on the manufacturing, processing, servicing, trading and distribution of high-quality steel products in Mexico, the NAFTA region and the rest of the world. The 53-year-old company claims to be the leading distributor of steel products in Mexico.
Samuel, Son & Co., a 153-year-old family-owned business, is one of North America’s leading processors, distributors and manufacturers of metals. The company operates with over 5,000 employees in 110 facilities strategically located throughout North America, as well as locations in Australia, the United Kingdom and China.
Namasco deal final
In other action, Samuel, Son & Co. has completed the acquisition of Namasco Ltd. of Canada from Klockner & Co. AG of Duisberg, Germany. The acquisition will expand Samuel’s position as the leading supplier of carbon and specialty flat-rolled products in Ontario and Quebec, company officials say.
Additionally, Namasco’s Brantford blanking facility will expand Samuel’s value-added blanking services, including exposed automotive blanks. It also strengthens Samuel’s presence in Western Canada, with the Namasco Winnipeg facility providing the ability to process carbon flat-rolled and specialty products in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Samuel officials say.
“We will have a network of service centers in Canada that offers the greatest geographic coverage, as well as the most cost-efficient plants in the industry,” says Samuel. “Most importantly, this allows us to work with our customers to make them as competitive as possible.”
Additionally, sister company Samuel Manu-Tech Inc., Toronto, will sell all of its Nanticoke, Ont., steel pickling operations to its major customer, U.S. Steel Canada.
“The company remains committed to servicing the southern Ontario marketplace through our steel pickling and slitting operations in Stoney Creek, Ont.,” says Samuel. The decision to sell the Nanticoke pickling lines reflects the company’s expectations for reduced steel pickling demand in the Ontario marketplace and the desire to reallocate capital into higher growth areas. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
Olympic to Purchase Ohio Warehouse
Olympic Steel Inc., Cleveland, plans to purchase a 62,000-square-foot processing facility in Dover, Ohio. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter and be operational in the fourth quarter. The company will invest $5 million in the project.
“We are pleased to announce the addition of a new satellite facility,” says Michael D. Siegal, chairman and CEO. “A key component of our strategy is to be closer to our customer base. This new facility will allow us to better serve original equipment manufacturers in Central Ohio and the adjoining states.”
Industrial Metal Supply Creates Laser Unit
Metals distributor Industrial Metal Supply Co. has created a new business unit that will provide six-axis, 3D laser cutting and fabrication services to the company’s large customer base of design and manufacturing firms, metal fabricators, welders, machine shops and other businesses throughout Southern California and Arizona.
“We’re investing roughly $2 million dollars in equipment, facilities and people to create a new business unit that will deliver innovative new services that have not been available to our customers before now,” says Eric Steinhauer, president of IMS. “Our laser services group will focus on providing fabrication and production services enabled by a sophisticated new device from Mazak Optonics Corp. called the FabriGear 300.”
FabriGear employs a six-axis laser that cuts large sizes of tubes and pipes—round, square, rectangular or triangular—up to 26 feet long. It also processes I-beams, H-beams, C-channel, angle iron and other shapes as defined by the operator. Cuts can be made at any desired angle with the highest accuracy and quality for easy fitting of assemblies, the company claims.
Martin J. Mechsner, president and CEO of the Small Manufacturers’ Institute, has been appointed general manager and chief engineer of the new Laser Services Group at IMS.
“Laser cutting has been around for 20 years or more, but this kind of 3D laser cutting is new,” Mechsner says. “The most common laser cutters on the market today are flatbed laser cutters. With FabriGear, Mazak has taken laser cutting to a higher level to produce greater precision and make it possible to create a wider variety of components and assemblies.”
Industrial Metal Supply Co. operates five locations in California and Arizona. Each location offers a variety of services such as precision plate sawing, cutting, band sawing and shearing.
“We have thousands of customers producing everything from automotive parts to boats, home furnishings, gym equipment and oil drilling supplies.” Steinhauer says. “With the new technology that IMS is bringing to our markets, we’re helping our customers make better products, more cost effectively and more competitively. We believe that if we can support more innovative domestic manufacturing and more sophisticated fabrication techniques, we’ll also help our customers bring some manufacturing jobs back into the USA. Instead of looking overseas for finished metal products, we anticipate that our customers will do more manufacturing here.”
Reliance Completes PNA Acquisition
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, has completed its acquisition of PNA Group from Platinum Equity in a deal valued at $1.065 billion, including $725 million of PNA’s debt. Reliance funded the purchase of PNA with proceeds from its new $500 million senior unsecured term loan and borrowings under its existing $1.1 billion credit facility.
PNA’s subsidiaries include the operating entities Delta Steel LP, Feralloy Corp., Infra-Metals Co., Metals Supply Co. Ltd., Precision Flamecutting and Steel LP and Sugar Steel Corp. PNA operates 23 steel service centers throughout the United States, as well as five joint ventures with seven additional service centers in the United States and Mexico.
PNA Group, the 12th largest service center operation in North America in the Metal Center News Top 50 of 2007, processes and distributes primarily carbon steel plate, bar, structural and flat-rolled products. PNA had revenues for the six months ended June 30 of about $1.1 billion.
“We are very pleased to have completed this acquisition. PNA is a strong fit for Reliance’s continued growth strategy as it complements our existing business, adds new products in new areas, and enhances our product, geographic and customer diversification, which have been key factors in our success,” says David H. Hannah, chairman and CEO of Reliance, the second-largest service center company in 2007.
UPM Opens Facility Near Los Angeles
United Performance Metals has opened a new warehouse in Southern California. The O’Neal Steel subsidiary recently began shipping material from a 14,000-square-foot facility in Santa Fe, near Los Angeles.
“The new location is good news for our customers on the West Coast. While we have always enjoyed a strong base of customers in this region, lead times and increased shipping costs have been a hindrance. The ability to place a solid inventory of specialty metals within hours of our West Coast customers will lower costs and lead times significantly,” says Executive Vice President Annette Tiesman.
United Performance Metals has established an initial inventory at its California warehouse that includes specialty stainless, high-temperature alloys and a limited amount of cobalt alloys in popular sheet sizes.
Briefs
ThyssenKrupp Steel USA has opened a new sales office in Troy, Mich., to serve manufacturers in the United States and throughout North America with products from its new carbon steel facility under construction in Calvert, Ala. The new facility, scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010, will have a capacity of 4.1 million tons of carbon steel. The new office is being opened in Troy in part to serve the company’s automotive customers in the Detroit area.
Specialty Metals Processing Inc., a toll processor of nonferrous metals, has closed its Akron, Ohio, sheet and plate facility and moved it into a new climate-controlled facility in Stow, Ohio. The 160,000-square-foot facility will house all of the company’s coil, sheet and plate processing under one roof. SMP’s current processes include slitting, cut-to-length, buffing, polishing and grinding, while a 72-inch, high-speed cut-to-length line with edge trim is being installed and will be ready to accept orders in September.
Rolled Metal Products has added a high-speed, multiple strand slitting line to operations at its Alsip, Ill., facility. The new line can slit, edge and oscillate wind in a single operation, and complements the plant’s edging capabilities, which include round, rolled, slit, deburred and squared-edge options.
O’Neal Steel, Birmingham, Ala., has achieved ISO 9001:2000 registration at each of its district and corporate operations. The certification culminates a 14-year effort for the company and its 80 locations.
RathGibson, North Branch, N.J., was honored for perfect performance in on-time delivery, zero defects and outstanding service during MarmonKeystone’s annual Supplier Quality Day. Other suppliers honored by the Butler, Pa.-based tubular products distributor included Industrial Hard Chrome, Geneva, Ill., for perfect performance and Chicago’s Atlas Tube and North American Stainless Canada, Guelph, Ont., as most improved suppliers.
Advanced Gauging Technologies LLC, Plain City, Ohio, has completed the commissioning of several AGT400 thickness gauges and S.P.C. reporting systems. A third AGT 400 was commissioned at MISA Metal Processing Inc., Portland, Tenn.; JDM Steel Service Inc., Chicago Heights, Ill., has purchased a new AGT400 for its 72-inch Red Bud SCS coil line; and Pro Coil Company LLC, Canton, Mich., has upgraded from a gamma gauge to an AGT400.
Rolled Alloys, Temperance, Mich., has expanded its stainless inventory to include 11-gauge and 12-gauge 2507 sheet product. The super duplex 2507 possesses maximum yield strength of 80,000 psi and is approved for ASME pressure vessel use.
McNichols Mexico has released its first master catalog. The catalog provides photos and specifications of the various metal products offered by the company.
ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg, has acquired Astralloy Steel Products Inc., a subsidiary of International Metal Service. Astralloy operates three U.S. warehouses and had 2007 revenues of $34 million.
General Steel Holdings Inc., one of China’s leading non-state-owned steel product producers, has acquired 99 percent of Maoming Hengda Steel Group Ltd., Maoming City. Hengda is a steel products processor with production capacity at the facility of approximately 1.8 million tons annually.
People
A.M. Castle & Co. has appointed Scott Stephens to the position of vice president-finance and chief financial officer, replacing Larry Boik. Stephens had been chief financial officer of Lawson Products, a distributor and marketer of systems, services and products to the maintenance, repair and operations marketplace.
Bob Driscoll has been appointed general manager of O’Neal Steel’s Knoxville, Tenn., operation. He spent 11 years at O’Neal’s Birmingham district and corporate office. He replaces the retiring Jerry Tucker.
James J. McElhaney has been promoted to corporate purchasing manager at Marmon/Keystone’s corporate office in Butler, Pa., replacing Harry J. Makinak, who retired after 43 years.
Peter Johnson has joined TW Metals as branch manager of the company’s Milwaukee sales office. Before joining TW Metals, he worked as sales manager/nonferrous contract manager for Ryerson.
Cleveland Metal Exchange Ltd., a supplier of excess and off-prime stainless steel sheet, strip, plate and coil, has hired Jim Stephens as president. He spent 25 years at Ken-Mac Metals, most recently serving as vice president of stainless sales.
Mike Folley has been named the general manager of Main Steel Polishing’s Commerce, Calif., location. Folley had been general manager of the Permamet division of Ryerson. He replaces Gene Harsma, who retired after 20 years with the company.
Martin Bullen has been named director, inventory management for Alliance Metals Inc., West Chester, Pa. Bullen has more than 20 years experience in inventory management, sourcing, purchasing and general management.
Kathy Colunto has joined Metal Processing Corp., Gary, Ind., as a customer service representative. Colunto had been employed at Ryerson, most recently in customer service at the company’s coil processing operation in Chicago.
Obituary: Paul von Zech
Paul von Zech, vice chairman of the board of directors at Sandmeyer Steel Co., died June 27 in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Mr. Von Zech attended and played football at Drexel University before entering the steel industry. Before being named vice chairman in 1998, he served as executive vice president for 29 years and vice president of operations before that.
In 1995, Sandmeyer Steel Co. named the building that houses their forming and bending operations after him. The company also awards the Paul L. von Zech scholarship to a dependent child of a plant employee in his honor.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years Anita; children Paul III (Chip), Betsy and Gloria; and three grandchildren.
