Industrial Distribution's 2018 Big 50 List

FULL STEAM AHEAD

Most of our Big 50 List rankings are very close from one year to the next, especially in the top 10. But with the industrial economy surging throughout 2017 and so far through 2018 and a few landmark acquisition deals, this year’s list may have the most change out of any in this decade. Four of last year’s Big 50 companies were either acquired or merged into another company within the past year, and two companies make their first-ever appearance on our list. Meanwhile, as we continued to refine our list to focus on North-American based operations instead of worldwide operations like in years’ past, a handful of European-based industrial distributors are ranked considerably lower on our 2018 list than a year earlier.

Many economists are predicting a mild recession for the U.S. in 2019 — nothing near what happened in 2008-2009, but a slowdown nonetheless. Still, with the Big 50 based on companies’ most recent full-year sales, almost all 2019 Big 50 entries will be ranked by their 2018 revenue. Based on the performance of this year’s companies so far in 2018, we can safety expect most industrial distributors’ sales figures to be even higher on next year’s list.

Here's part one (Nos. 50-31), part two (30-11) and part three (top 10) of our video countdown.

Here's our 2017 Big 50 List

Oh, and if you haven't checked out the info about our 2018 Big 50 Conference & Luncheon coming up on Sept. 25, see that here. Held at the Hilton O'Hare just outside of Chicago, it's ID's first-ever in-person event! Whether your company made the Big 50 or not, it'll be a great event to attend and here from fellow industrial distribution leaders.

Congratulations to all the companies on our 2018 Big 50 List, and we at ID wish everyone continued success going forward.

— ID Editor Mike Hockett

Industrial Distribution’s 2018 Big 50 List
#	Company	Headquarters	2017 Sales	CEO/President	Locations	Employees
1	W.W. Grainger	Lake Forest, IL	$10.42 billion	D.G. Macpherson	500	25,700
2	Airgas	Radnor, PA	$8.15 billion	Pascal Vinet	1,100	17,000
3	HD Supply	Atlanta, GA	$5.12 billion	Joseph DeAngelo	500	11,000
4	Motion Industries	Birmingham, AL	$4.89 billion	Randy Breaux & Kevin Storer	555	6,974
5	Fastenal	Winona, MN	$4.39 billion	Dan Florness	2,383	20,565
6	WESCO International (Industrial)	Pittsburgh, PA	$3.69 billion	John Engel	500	9,100
7	MRC Global	Houston, TX	$3.65 billion	Andrew Lane	177	4,100
8	Winsupply	Dayton, OH	$3.27 billion	Roland Gordon	600	5,900
9	Applied Industrial Technologies	Cleveland, OH	$3.07 billion	Neil Schrimsher	559	5,554
10	MSC Industrial Supply	Melville, NY	$2.88 billion	Erik Gershwind	N/A	6,000+
11	NOW Inc.	Houston, TX	$2.65 billion	Robert Workman	300	4,500
12	Interline Brands	Jacksonville, FL	$2.60 billion	Kenneth Sweder	N/A	4,300+
13	Sonepar USA (Industrial)	Charleston, SC	$2.57 billion	Rob Taylor	690	N/A
14	Würth Industry North America	Ramsey, NJ	$2.10 billion	Marc Strandquist	110+	1,900
15	Edgen Murray	Baton Rouge, LA	N/A	Dan O’Leary	30+	N/A
16	Wolseley Industrial Group	Newport News, VA	$1.40 billion	Kevin Murphy	168	3,500
17	SunSource	Addison, IL	N/A	David Sacher	N/A	N/A
18	F.W. Webb	Bedford, MA	$1.10 billion	Jeff Pope	90	2,300
19	Kaman Industrial Technologies	Bloomfield, CT	$1.08 billion	Neal Keating	250	5,300
20	DXP Enterprises	Houston, TX	$1.01 billion	David Little	174	2,000+
21	Global Industrial	Port Washington, NY	$792 million	Bob Dooley	11	1,500
22	ERIKS (North America)	Pittsburgh, PA	N/A	Benjamin Mondics	140	2,000
23	Bearing Distributors Inc. (BDI)	Cleveland, OH	$730 million	Carl James	211	1,591
24	Turtle & Hughes	Linden, NJ	$484 million	Jayne Millard & Kathleen Shanahan	N/A	850
25	EWIE Group	Ann Arbor, MI	$475 million	Manoj Sachdeva	21	1,025
26	OTP Industrial Solutions	Columbus, OH	$405 million	Phillip Derrow	35	900
27	BlackHawk Industrial	Broken Arrow, OK	N/A	John Mark	38	710
28	R.S. Hughes	Sunnyvale, CA	$354 million	Bob McCullum	50	550
29	Border States (Industrial)	Fargo, ND	$342 million	Tammy Miller & David White	110	2,500
30	SBP Holdings	Houston, TX	$331 million	Don Fritzinger	54	1,000
31	Descours et Cabaud (North America)	Lyon, France	$330 million	Alain Morvand	51	750
32	Lawson Products	Des Plaines, IL	$306 million	Michael DeCata	N/A	1,720
33	AWC	Baton Rouge, LA	N/A	Bob Wenyon	30	400
34	Hisco	Houston, TX	$286 million	Bob Dill	40	460
35	Endries International	Brillion, WI	$285 million	Steve Endries	46	790
36	DGI Supply	Wheeling, IL	N/A	Jeff Waller	45	N/A
37	Wajax (Industrial Parts)	Mississauga, Ontario	$270 million	Mark Foote	100+	1,750
38	Kimball Midwest	Columbus, OH	$240 million	Pat McCurdy	4	1,484
39	Bossard North America	Cedar Falls, IA	$234 million	Steen Hansen	N/A	250+
40	Crescent Electric (Industrial)	East Dubuque, IL	$214 million	Marty Burbridge	151	2,000+
41	Hydradyne	Fort Worth, TX	$213 million	David Parks	32	560
42	Tencarva Machinery Co.	Greensboro, NC	$203 million	Ed Pearce	29	385
43	CBT Company	Cincinnati, OH	$198 million	Jim Stahl	3	210
44	IBT Industrial Solutions	Merriam, KS	$169 million	Michael Flannery	45	500
45	Bridgestone HosePower	Orange Park, FL	$168 million	J. Palmer Clarkson	45	605
46	Valin Corporation	San Jose, CA	$162 million	Joseph Nettemeyer	18	249
47	Essendant (Industrial)	Deerfield, IL	$154 million	Ric Phillips	61	N/A
48	Fairmont Supply	Washington, PA	$150 million	Paul Fichiera	22	350
49	Womack Machine Supply	Farmers Branch, TX	$140 million	Mike Rowlett	9	192
50	Shively Bros.	Flint, MI	$135 million	Scott Shively	13	348

Just missing the cut

We know our Big 50 survey respondents hope to see their company name on our official list, so we know it's a bummer for those who finish just outside the top 50, which is why we show the 'First Four Out' here online.

51	JGB Enterprises	Liverpool, NY	$129 million	Robert Zywicki	6	290
52	Martin Supply	Florence, AL	$125 million	David Ruggles	15	302
53	Cummins-Wagner	Annapolis Junction, MD	$116 million	Doug Ardinger	11	230
54	Mahar Tool Supply	Saginaw, MI	$111 million	Barbara Mahar Lincoln	4	103

*Information for company CEO/President, Locations and Employees is as of Aug. 21, 2018

METHODOLOGY

All 2018 Big 50 List companies are ranked according to their most recent full-year worldwide sales, and all figures are reported in USD. In some cases, foreign currency was converted based on exchange rates at the date that fiscal year ended.

All Big 50 companies are based in North America. Some companies are headquartered elsewhere, but for our list, we only account for their North American operations.

We obtain information for publicly-traded companies based on their annual and quarterly reports, earning statements and company verifications. For privately-held companies, we rely on their self-reported data and follow-up communication. Recently published press releases, company website information and other news reports are also used to supplement company data for our Big 50 feature. The Big 50 interviews were conducted via email, survey and by phone by Industrial Distribution editorial staff.

We elect to refrain from listing any companies that don’t fit our criteria of an ‘industrial distributor’, which becomes more challenging each year as the market evolves. Some privately-held distributors elect to not share their revenue numbers, so for those companies, we make an educated estimate based on their most recently shared revenue figures and company news. There are several companies, including McMaster-Carr, which we acknowledge would make our Big 50 List, but haven’t shared their revenue figures in more than five years, for which we elect to not place them on our list by pure speculation.

For those of you who don’t see your company name on our list, but think you should, please contact us with your information and we’ll consider adding your company to our Big 50 pool for 2019. As always, your feedback — good or bad — is appreciated.