Industrial Distribution's 2018 Big 50 List

You've seen this year's Big 50 List countdown videos (or if you haven't, you really should). Here, see the full list in a condensed, easy-reference version. See where your company and competitors rank, who moved up, who moved down and who joined the list this year.

Id 35579 Big 50 2018 Feature
Id 35632 Big50 Sponsors

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.

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