Discover how Olympic Steel’s commitment to community and safety shape its operations
Founded in 1954 by Sol Siegal and Sam Sigel, Olympic Steel (Olympic) originally focused on the warehousing and distribution of steel from a single facility with no major processing equipment. Today, the company offers a much wider range of products and is dedicated to growth, geographic and customer diversity, and the value-added processing of flat-rolled metals, pipe and tube. Zachary Siegal, President of Olympic’s manufactured metal products, discusses the company’s operations.
“As a metals distributor and manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio, we purchase material from metal producers, take it to our warehouse, transform its shape, and send it along to our customers. Our client base ranges from fabricators to industrial OEMs like Caterpillar Inc. and John Deere. Today, we are a publicly traded company with revenues of approximately $2 billion, 54 sales and warehouse locations in North America, and 2,100 employees. We handle everything from metal processing and distribution to full fabrication of cut, formed, welded, and painted sub-assemblies for OEMs. Over the last six-to-seven years, we have been 
acquiring businesses that manufacture their own products from metal, allowing us to process and distribute carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, as well as flat, pipe, and tube products. Additionally, we own end-product companies that manufacture products from that material, enabling us to provide comprehensive solutions for our customers. Whether they need a sheet of metal or a fully welded and painted sub-assembly, we can supply that and anything in between. We are focused on expanding our product portfolio to help our customers get their products to market as cost- effectively and quickly as possible. Therefore, if investing in equipment or locations can facilitate this, we are confident in deploying capital,” Zachary begins.
Acquisitions form a core part of Olympic’s growth strategy. Consequently, the company has specific expectations and criteria for selecting a new business to acquire. “To us, acquisitions are a way to reach our goals faster, as they shorten the timeline for growth. We typically look for profitable, well-run businesses with management teams that will remain post-acquisition. It is also worth noting that we prefer to acquire strong companies at fair prices as we aim to invest in businesses with a solid foundation rather than those in need of turnaround efforts. When we successfully find and acquire well-run businesses with a proven track record and a great company culture that aligns with our own, we find it enhances our margins and provides a quicker avenue for growth for us and our shareholders,” Zachary enlightens.
With that in mind, Zachary shares more about Olympic’s company values and initiatives to support its workforce. “First and foremost is safety; it is our top priority, emphasized from our board of directors down to every employee at Olympic. It is our responsibility to foster a culture of safety, especially as we operate in a complex industry. We adhere to a set of core values that guide our behavior and how we conduct our operations, emphasizing integrity, respect, and teamwork, all of which are crucial to us. Another area that sets us apart and makes Olympic a great place to work is our commitment to community involvement and service. We seek partners and employees who care about the right things, particularly their communities, and actively encourage our employees to participate in community organizations that they find important. When we consider acquiring businesses, we prioritize corporate citizenship and look for companies that share our values and commitment to community involvement. From safety and corporate citizenship to respect and integrity, our core values drive our culture. At Olympic, the culture starts at the top, as our board of directors and executive team embody these values, and this commitment can be sensed throughout the organization anytime someone visits any of our facilities,” he continues.
Inside its facilities, Olympic prioritizes safety and efficiency through the implementation of cutting-edge technologies, as Zachary highlights. “We are investing significantly in automation, including collaborative robots (cobots) that can help with various processes that human employees used to perform. We now have robotic assistants capable of handling various tasks such as welding, and we are considering implementing automated press brakes. Essentially, we are keen to adopt any technology that can help us improve safety, efficiency, speed, cost-effectiveness, and quality. Additionally, we are investing in artificial intelligence (AI), although we are still early on in our journey of exploring how AI can benefit our organization, from material planning to writing work instructions and assisting with HR policies. All in all, these are areas where we are dedicating additional capital to be able to become a leaner, more productive business.”
As we approach the end of the year, Zachary shares insights into Olympic’s priorities for the next few months. “In 2025, trade, tariffs, and macroeconomic factors have been changing rapidly. It is our job to care for our customers by not only delivering the products they need when they need them but also by keeping them informed and educated so they can make the right decisions for their businesses. Given the speed at which news is released, keeping up with those changes has become a full-time job in itself,” he ends.