Esmark Consolidates U.S. Operations; Names New Execs
09/30/2010 - Esmark Steel Group is consolidating its U.S. service center operations: Century Steel, Sun Steel, Chicago Steel & Iron, and Independent Steel will operate as Esmark Steel Group. In a related announcement, Scott Sternheimer has been named VP of Sales for Esmark Steel Group, effective immediately.
Esmark Steel Group says it is consolidating its U.S. service center operations under the Esmark Steel Group banner to better serve its growing customer base and streamline operations.
Under the operations consolidation, Century Steel and Sun Steel in Chicago Heights, Ill.; Chicago Steel & Iron in University Park, Ill.; and Independent Steel in Cleveland, Ohio, will operate as Esmark Steel Group. The Illinois operating companies will be called Esmark Steel Group Midwest, while Independent Steel will operate as Esmark Steel Group Northeast.
In May, Esmark Steel Group acquired the assets of Century Steel and Sun Steel in Chicago Heights, and Independent Steel in Cleveland. In 2009, Esmark acquired Amtex Steel in University Park and renamed the flat-rolled products company Chicago Steel & Iron.
Thomas Modrowski, Chief Executive Officer of Esmark Steel Group, said, “The Esmark brand has significant equity in the steel business due to our long history and high profile. We believed it was important to focus all our operations on better serving our customers under one brand and one operations team. We think this consolidation will make it easier and more efficient for our growing customer base to do business with us.”
In a related announcement, Modrowski said that steel industry veteran Scott Sternheimer has been named Vice President of Sales for Esmark Steel Group, effective immediately. Sternheimer joins Esmark Steel Group from Electric Coating Technologies (ECT) in East Chicago, Ind., where he served as President from 2006 until earlier this year.
Sternheimer previously worked for Esmark following the company’s 2003 acquisition of ECT and served as its first Vice President of Commercial. Prior to joining Esmark, he founded and operated two steel industry-related companies before the age of 30. From 1999 to 2000, he served as an outside sales executive for steel service center Viking Materials. He began his industry career as a steel buyer for Fullerton Metals in 1996 and later worked in commercial sales for steel processor and distributor Metro Metals.
Sternheimer said his focus at Esmark will be to capitalize on Esmark’s flat-roll integration expertise, product synergies, and core Midwest customer base to significantly increase flat-rolled shipments in the coming year.
In addition, former Esmark executives Michael Ogrizovich and John Krupinski have rejoined the company and will serve on Esmark Steel Group’s senior management team. Ogrizovich and Krupinski previously held senior positions with Northern Steel Group.
Century Steel, Sun Steel, and Independent Steel are specialists in flat-rolled steel processing and just-in-time services and serve the automotive, construction, durable goods and light manufacturing industries. Chicago Steel & Iron also specializes in flat-rolled products and has formed a division distributing Special Bar Quality (SBQ) products for the automotive and manufacturing industries. The Esmark operating companies have combined annual steel shipments of approximately 300,000 tons of flat-rolled, value-added products and employ approximately 200 people.
Esmark Steel Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Esmark, Inc., was formed in November 2009 to identify and pursue strategic acquisitions in the steel service center sector in the Midwest. The formation marked a return to the steel industry since Esmark sold its Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. and network of 10 Midwest service centers to OAO Severstal in July 2008 for $1.23 billion. In addition to its $10 million acquisition of Amtex Steel in November 2009, Esmark also acquired Meadville, Pa.-based Excalibur Machine Co., Inc. for $3.5 million in cash.
