Consolidation for SBQ, Cold-Drawn Steel Suppliers

Dec. 22, 2010
Turret Steel acquires Wilcox Steel: New beginning for Wisconsin cold-drawn steel bar processor

Turret Steel Industries Inc., a processor and distributor of SBQ steel, has acquired the assets of Wilcox Steel in Green Bay, WI.

Wilcox Steel is a cold-drawn steel bar supplier established in 1936 and known as Fort Howard Steel until Nucor Steel acquired its Oak Creek Division in 2005. (That operation is now Nucor Cold Finish Wisconsin Inc.) The plant in Green Bay is a 63,000-ft2 built in 1990 that custom processes bar products ranging in diameters from 0.187 to 1.000 in. diameter, in rounds, squares, and hexagons.

In September 2005, Fort Howard Steel’s Green Bay operation was purchased by a group of investors, including the owner of Wilcox Forging. They renamed it Wilcox Steel.

Wilcox Steel operations manager Fran Larson will remain with the organization as its general manager. “We are so excited by this change. With the stability and strength of Turret Steel behind us, we plan to return to the days when we were shipping 40,000 tons a year from this facility.”

“This is an excellent opportunity and fit for Turret Steel Industries and our customers,” according to Turret Steel president and CEO Wayne Gould. “Wilcox Steel got stung by the economic problems outside their control over the past few years, but their long history of producing quality cold finished bars, their exceptionally experienced and dedicated workforce combined with modern equipment, will provide the foundation for continued success and growth in the cold finished steel bar markets.”

Turret Steel Industries Inc. and its affiliate Sunbelt-Turret Steel, Inc. are full-service distributors of SBQ carbon and alloy bar stock in dimension up to 32 in. diameter. Sunbelt-Turret Steel Inc. supplies cut forged and rough-turned carbon and alloy bars, and Turret Steel ships rounds, squares, flats, round cornered squares, hexagons, and billets throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.