Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company - Introduction

Introduction

350 South Grande Avenue, Suite 5100
Los Angeles, California 90071
U.S.A.

Telephone: (213) 687-7700
Fax: (213) 687-8792
Web site: http://www.rsac.com

Public Company
Incorporated: 1939 as Reliance Steel Products Company
Employees: 5,400
Sales: $2.94 billion (2004)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: RS
NAIC: 423510 Metal Service Centers and Other Metal Merchant Wholesalers

The Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company is one of the leading metals processing and distribution companies in the United States. Reliance operates more than 100 metals service centers in 30 states and in a few foreign countries (Belgium, France, and South Korea). The company buys steel and nonferrous metals in bulk from primary producers and cuts it to size for smaller buyers. Reliance distributes more than 90,000 metal products to 95,000 customers in various industries. Carbon steel accounts more than half of sales; aluminum has been the next best-selling commodity with 24 percent of sales.

The company's pride is service, so decision-making is more decentralized than at other national rivals. Individual sales tend to be relatively small (about $900 or so) and typically require delivery within a day. The company often works with small job shops and traditionally has avoided the notoriously low-margin auto industry.

In an industry dominated by small, family-owned businesses, Reliance grew from a single metals-processing center in Los Angeles into a major corporation by acquiring dozens of competitors. In an interview with an industry publication in 1992, Joe D. Crider, then president and chief operating officer, explained, "You can pay the bill [for higher market share] through price cutting, or through paying goodwill to buy a competitor. In cutting prices, you often trash the marketplace. So over time, the latter route is usually the less expensive, as long as you buy at a reasonable price."