It allows you first to be more competitive in the marketplace and maintain and improve your quality in the product. The company chose the Lorain plant for the investment because of its close proximity to the existing customer base and to other Republic Steel facilities. Having a smaller physical footprint allows you to allocate resources to growing areas more easily to develop strong teams, while delivering a consistent experience for customers.
Our customers have a supplier that has no debt and that is investing in its business. So we feel that our customers see us as a long-term partner, and they can stick with us for years to come.
When your company is facing market volatility, past plans and strategies may get tossed out the window rather quickly. In fact, he says borrowing money often results in the opposite outcome for companies by stifling their spending.
Carrying zero debt allows you to make decisions without dealing with banks or lenders. We tested it through this downturn, and we were able to manage through the recession a lot better than some other companies who have big debt or a lot of interest to pay.
As a result, the company has been debt-free since March , operating as a true cash-flow company. When it was created in , the new Republic Steel Corporation became the third largest producer of steel in the United States.
During the late s when Eaton was acquiring stock for his plan, he was also looking for a leader for his new corporation. After consolidating the companies to a manageable level, Girdler became chairman of the new Republic Steel Corporation on April 8, McCleary , of Republic Iron and Steel and formerly Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, became president but died April 22, , and Girdler assumed the duties of president as well.
The corporate structure of the new corporation took some time to develop. The formation of these divisions was largely based on the companies that merged to form Republic and the regions where the actual plants were located.
The s were a critical decade for Republic due to the financial conditions brought on by the Great Depression. Cyrus Eaton, due to financial difficulties from the depression, lost much of his power through stock holdings and was not made a director of the Republic Steel Corporation he created. He became less and less involved as Tom Girdler became Republic's driving force.
There had not been time before the depression began to establish the banking relationships that Girdler and other leaders would have liked, making financing a challenge. Also, taking several companies and merging their operations and workforces together was no easy task. Regardless of these challenges, Republic had earned its first profit by With the acquisition of Corrigan McKinney came a large integrated steel plant in Cleveland, vast ore reserves from its other properties and a great location on the Great Lakes for shipping purposes.
A lawsuit was filed by the United States Department of Justice to prevent the merger due to antitrust concerns, but eventually the merger took place.
These acquisitions added iron ore and coal mines, steel plants, rolling mills and wire plants to Republic's facilities. In R. Wysor was elected president, leaving Tom Girdler to his chairman and chief executive officer duties. An important event in labor relations for Republic and other steel companies occurred also in , the "little steel" strikes.
Republic, like many other steel companies, had an employee epresentation plan, but no contract with a labor union. The other "little steel" companies refused to deal with SWOC, claiming that they complied with the wage and working conditions in U. Steel's contract but they did not feel SWOC represented a majority of their employees. According to Tom Girdler in his autobiography, the main issues of the dispute were closed shop making union membership a requirement of employment and check off having union dues automatically deducted from pay.
For Republic, the strike began in May of Violence occurred at several plants, including Chicago, Illinois and Youngstown, Ohio. In Ohio the National Guard was called to quell the violence at several plants, prompting, by the end of June, a return to work and an unofficial end to the strike. Consequently, SWOC did not gain contracts with the "little steel" companies. By mid the "little steel" companies had agreed to a comparison of membership cards against payrolls by the NLRB resulting in the union having enough membership to gain collective bargaining rights.
Republic's position was vastly different in the s than it had been in the s. From to Republic operated at almost full capacity because of the war demand for steel. Production and shipment rates were high, but government price controls during the war kept profits from growing as quickly.
Regardless of price controls, Republic's profits were markedly improved from those in the s. Republic during this time also undertook an expansion and modernization campaign involving new facilities for stainless steel production at Massillon, Ohio and pipe at Gadsden, Alabama. Other expansion and modernization was done through a government program creating Defense Plant Facilities or Plancor Projects.
The government offered money for the installation of steel making facilities to assist with war time production. Republic leased land to the government, and the government would then build the facility and lease it back to Republic, with the option to buy at a later date.
Republic took on twenty-eight such projects, resulting in new and improved facilities all over the country which Republic later purchased. By the end of , 21, Republic employees had enlisted, and women were employed to fill some of the vacancies.
Labor relations were relatively calm during the s. The main development was industry-wide bargaining in There were a couple of strikes resulting in better wages and benefits for steelworkers during the decade, not nearly as severe as the "little steel" strike of There were some changes in management for Republic in the s. Wysor resigned on May 9, Charles M. White , who had worked for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation with Girdler and had joined Republic shortly after its formation, was then elected president of Republic.
The s would bring more capital improvements to Republic along with some critical management changes and new ventures. Other ventures initiated at this time were maritime operations, a new research laboratory, and a plan to provide limestone and Technical Assistance agreements.
These ventures allowed Republic to assist other steel companies in places like Europe with technical knowledge in exchange for royalties on sales. Iron ore holdings were expanded at this time as well. The management changes were important in that Tom Girdler, the man who headed Republic from the start, stepped down as CEO in and then as chairman in Thomas F.
Patton b. There were some important labor relations events in the s affecting not only Republic, but the entire steel industry. In , President Harry S. Truman seized steel plants in the name of the United States federal government to avert an impending strike that would have affected the United States' involvement in the Korean War.
In a change in collective bargaining occurred when U. This resulted in the first long term wage agreement in steel industry history that could not be reopened. This agreement was to last until July 1, The re-negotiation of this contract opened in May , but no agreement was reached and a strike began July 15, It lasted days, making it the longest steel industry strike ever to that point. Because of the shortage of steel from the strike, imported steel was coming to the United States in much greater amounts than ever before.
Imports would remain an issue for the rest of Republic's existence. The s were for Republic much like the s in terms of capital expenditures for improvements. BOFs were a major technological improvement for steel making, replacing open hearth furnaces. Others were a new coal mine, bar mill improvements and the 84''mill improvement project at the Cleveland plant. Sales were increasing but imports continued to hurt profits, although in producers of foreign steel did voluntarily agree to curb shipments for three years for fear of legislated quotas.
Besides imports, a somewhat new problem was developing for Republic in the s: the cost of environmental controls. These costs reduced the funds available for other projects and affected profits. Labor relations were better than previous decades with no strikes taking place. There was a dispute between the Kennedy Administration and the steel industry dealing with price increases, however.
The steel industry, because of pressure from the Kennedy Administration did not raise its prices. This situation, according to T. Patton, made the steel industry, with rising labor costs and no price increases, unable to earn a fair profit on its investment. Upper management underwent more changes in this decade as well. On December 20, , C. White retired as chairman and CEO. Patton, current president, then also became CEO. On November 19, Patton became chairman as well.
He served in the capacity of all three until May when Willis B. Boyer ca. The early s were a difficult time for Republic with increasing costs, a General Motors strike, inflation issues, steel imports in record amounts, costly labor settlements, and a coal strike which affected operations.
Throughout the rest of the decade Republic's performance fluctuated with economic and market factors. Some years, like through were good. Republic is North America's leading supplier of Special Bar Quality SBQ steel bars, a highly engineered product used in axles, drive shafts, suspension rods and other critical components of automobiles, off-highway vehicles and industrial equipment.
With headquarters in Canton, Ohio, we operate steelmaking centers that produce steel bars in Canton, Ohio, and value-added rolling and finishing facilities in Canton, Lorain and Massillon, Ohio; Lackawanna, N. We employ more than 2, people. Republic Steel was established in September The former Republic Engineered Products changed its name to reflect its rich history and forward-thinking approach.
ICH , a rapidly growing steel producer and processor based in Mexico City.
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