HISTORY
Artco Steel was established in 1948 by Arthur Himmel. His first deal involved excess structural steel being sold by the US Navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yards. Recent veterans were given the first opportunity to buy the material, cash on the barrel. With some money scraped together from his savings, Arthur camped out in front of the Brooklyn Navy Yard for 2 days to make sure he was first on line. He bought the steel and immediately sold it to customers in Cleveland (his home town), marking the beginning of his career as a trader.
Over the next 60 years Artco continued the tradition of matching sellers with buyers. This worked for those customers who could afford to wait a few weeks or months for delivery. It was clear though that companies were increasingly reluctant to stock heavy plate inventories, and preferred Just in Time delivery of plate.
Seeing this need, Artco decided in the mid 90's to stock its own steel plate. This gave us the added flexibility to meet not just the long term plate needs of customers, but the immediate needs as well. What started off as less than 2000 tons of inventory, almost all of which was A36, has grown to 12,000 tons of both alloy and carbon steel plate.
Today
Today Artco Steel focuses exclusively on heavy plate. Our sales team includes veterans with decades of industry experience. Each customer has a single point of contact for all inquires, purchases and follow-up. This takes the headache out of tracking your orders from start to finish.
Our interest in our customers does not stop once the purchase order is sent. Our sales team is backed by experts in metallurgy and processing. It is not unusual for Artco to provide its customers with advice on heat treating, choosing appropriate grades for a particular use and selecting material based on mills qualified to produce particular products.
We continually evaluate the needs of our customers to make sure we carry the grades and sizes they need. A good example of this is heavy 4130. Until 2007 we had not had any inquiries for this grade. However after a few inquiries from our customers, and some research on our part, we identified mills capable of producing high quality 4130 plates and began stocking 1,000 tons. Today we are in the process of evaluating potential vendors for other products that are increasingly in demand.
It's not cheap - purchasing trial heats and then extensively testing them to insure quality takes time and money. It's a process that many other companies avoid. It is our philosophy that taking the time to do this up front prevents lost time and rejected plates in the end. Extensively testing suppliers insures that we can deliver plates to you, confident that they will meet your standards.
Call us today at (888) 66-ARTCO today to find out how Artco can help you reduce inventory carrying costs, shorten your delivery time to your customers and deliver new prodcuts to your existing customers.