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Steiner Electric buys Crown Industrial

March 1, 2003
Steiner Electric Co.'s recent purchase of Crown Industrial Supply positions the company as a stronger force to reckon with in Chicago's industrial market.

Steiner Electric Co.'s recent purchase of Crown Industrial Supply positions the company as a stronger force to reckon with in Chicago's industrial market. The acquisition enables Steiner Electric, which for years has had a focus on automation, MRO and OEM business, to offer its customers other industrial products as well, said Rick Kerman, president of the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based electrical distributor.

"We have been tracking changes in the market with integrated supply and national accounts," he said. "OEM and industrial business is a primary focus for us, and we had to answer the customers' question, "We want to work closer with you. What other product could you handle?"

Steiner Electric will eventually stock Crown Industrial's product lines alongside its electrical products in its five locations. The 55-year-old Crown Industrial, which has over 30 employees and had 1998 sales of $10 million, specializes in cutting tools, abrasives and chemicals.

Like Steiner Electric, Crown Industrial is a member of Affiliated Distributors, King of Prussia, Pa. With the acquisition, Steiner Electric plans to become more active in A-D's national-account and integrated-supply initiatives, said Rick Kerman.

About the Author

Doug Chandler | Senior Staff Writer

Doug has been reporting and writing on the electrical industry for Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing since 1992 and still finds the industry’s evolution and the characters who inhabit its companies endlessly fascinating. That was true even before e-commerce, LED lighting and distributed generation began to disrupt so many of the electrical industry’s traditional practices.

Doug earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Kansas after spending a few years in KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism, then deciding he absolutely did not want to be a journalist. In the company of his wife, two kids, two dogs and two cats, he spends a lot of time in the garden and the kitchen – growing food, cooking, brewing beer – and helping to run the family coffee shop.

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