At Steel King, “Made in the USA” is More Than Just a Tagline
Posted on Aug 20, 2021
Since Steel King first started manufacturing steel storage rack back in 1970, the company has had a firm commitment to buying and using American-made steel in all our products and keeping production in the US. Over the years we have seen competitors start to buy imported steel from countries such as China, Japan and South Korea and offshore parts of their manufacturing process. However, our commitment has not changed.
Last year Steel King shipped close to 100M pounds of American-melted, American-made steel products and employed over 500 American workers. In addition to being proud to be an American manufacturing company, there are also numerous business benefits to purchasing American-made steel. We asked Brian Pfannes, VP of Supply Chain and Platform Products, and Jay Anderson, President, to explain a little more.
Why does Steel King purchase “Made & Melted” in the United States steel?
“From my position,” said Brian, “the decision to purchase an American-made product is rooted in the ideals of doing the right thing for your customers, team members and the communities that we live and work in. More than a decade ago Steel King took the position to do everything we can to procure our goods and services locally, and where at all possible “Made & Melted” in the United States.”
According to Brian, there are three main benefits to buying steel that has been made and melted in the US:
- Partnerships – Building a supply chain partnership built to deliver even during some of the most challenging of times. These supplier partners know our business and they often have a shared vested interest in not only seeing Steel King succeed but our customers as well.
- American Jobs – Procuring American metal means we are supporting good-paying American jobs throughout the United States and often in the local communities where we work and live.
- Sustainability – Buying steel made and melted in the United States helps to reduce our overall carbon footprint by not needlessly shipping steel coils halfway around the world. In the United States, Steel King has made an environmental choice to purchase as much steel as possible through mini mills. Mini mills often take scrap steel, used appliances, cars, and other steel products generated in the United States and recycle them in a far more environmentally manner than some may find overseas.
What is the benefit of Steel King products being manufactured in the USA?
In addition to the points that Brian brought up, Jay said there are two main additional benefits to manufacturing Steel King products in the US:
- Economy – Paying Americans for their work leads to domestic consumer spending, which fuels the domestic economy, instead of that money flowing to other countries (some of whom are working against our company, industry, and national interests). This has been borne out by Steel King’s participation in the Coalition for Fair Rack Imports, which revealed through US Government investigation the unfair Chinese government subsidization of Chinese rack manufacturers.
- Dependable Quality – The domestic materials used to produce Steel King products present logistical advantages and frequently offer more reliable and consistent quality and performance.
Overall, said Jay, “producing and procuring product in the USA is simply what’s best for our country, our customers, and our company.” We couldn’t agree more!