United Pipe & Steel

Last updated
United Pipe & Steel Corp.
Company typeMaster Distributor
IndustryPlumbing, heating, hvac, pvf, electrical
Founded1980;45 years ago (1980) in Everett, Massachusetts
FounderDavid Cohen
Headquarters Ipswich, Massachusetts
Number of locations
12 Distribution Centers (2024)
Area served
Contiguous United States
Key people
Greg Leidner (CEO)
Products Pipe, electrical conduit, strut channel, threaded rod
Services Less than truckload shipping
Owner Reliance, Inc.
Website unitedpipe.com

United Pipe & Steel Corp., a subsidiary of Reliance, Inc. and headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a distributor of standard pipe and tube products in the United States. The company serves wholesale distributors in the plumbing, heating, HVAC, fire protection, electrical and other industries from their distribution centers across United States. Products sold include steel pipe, copper tubing, PVC pipe, electrical conduit, strut channel and threaded rod. [1]

Contents

History

United Pipe & Steel was founded by David Cohen in Everett, Massachusetts, in 1980. [2] Morgenthaler, a private equity firm, acquired the company in 2013. [3]

In 2019 United Pipe & Steel was acquired by One Equity Partners, [4] and operationally integrated with Merfish Pipe & Supply, a master distributor based in Houston, Texas. In 2020, both companies were merged and renamed Merfish United. [5]

In 2021 Reliance, Inc. acquired the company, [6] and it was renamed back to United Pipe & Steel in 2023, with an updated brandmark. [7]

Business model

United Pipe operates a fleet of semi-trailer trucks and flatbed trailers, delivering less-than-truckload orders of pipe to wholesale distributors in the industries served. This model, known as master distribution, supports the supply chain by allowing suppliers to make smaller purchases and replenish their inventories more quickly. [8] By allowing distributors to mix and match products, low minimum order weights can be easily met for free freight allowed on regular, weekly truck delivery routes. [9]

Related Research Articles

Investcorp is a global manager of alternative investment products, for private and institutional clients. Founded in Bahrain in 1982, the firm has offices in United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, China, Japan, and Singapore. Investcorp's principal client base is in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but it also has a growing base of institutional clients in North America, Europe, and Asia.

McKesson Corporation is a publicly-traded American company that distributes pharmaceuticals and provides health information technology, medical supplies, and health management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceutical products used or consumed in North America and employs over 51,000 employees. With $308.9 billion in 2024 revenue, it is the ninth-largest company by revenue in the United States and the nation's largest health care company. The company is headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a member of the S&P 500 and New York Stock Exchange, where it is traded under the ticker symbol NYSE: MCK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardinal Health</span> American multinational health care services company

Cardinal Health, Inc. is an American multinational health care services company, and the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, the company specializes in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical products, serving more than 100,000 locations. The company also manufactures medical and surgical product, including gloves, surgical apparel, and fluid management products. In addition, it operates one of the largest networks of radiopharmacies in the U.S. Cardinal Health provides medical products to over 75 percent of hospitals in the United States.

Ingram Micro Holding Corporation is an American distributor of information technology products and services. The company is based in Irvine, California, U.S. and has operations around the world. Founded as Micro D, Inc in 1979 in California by Geza Czige and Lorraine Meccathe, the company has grown significantly due to acquisitions and expansions into new markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WESCO International</span> Holding company

Wesco International, Inc. is a publicly traded American holding company for Wesco Distribution, an electrical distribution and services company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Cycle</span> American bicycle company

Pacific Cycle, Inc., is an American division of Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings that imports and distributes bicycles. It was founded in 1977 by Chris Hornung. The company pioneered the sourcing of bicycles from the Far East for distribution in the U.S., developing relationships with suppliers primarily in Taiwan and China. The company now owns several well known bicycle brands as well as diversifying into bicycle accessories and other types of children's play equipment. Pacific Cycle sells more bicycles than any other company in North America and is one of the most prolific bicycle suppliers in the world. In 2006, Chris Hornung left Pacific Cycle leaving President Jeff Frehner in control. Alice Tillett has been the President of Pacific Cycle since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markel Group</span> US financial services company

Markel Group Inc. is a group of companies headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and originally founded in 1930 as an insurance company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apax Partners</span> British private equity firm

Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of March 2024, the firm had raised and advised funds of approximately US$77 billion. Apax Partners is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms operating on an international basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VWR International</span> U.S. chemicals company

VWR International is an American company involved in the distribution of research laboratory products, with over 1,200,000 items to more than 250,000 customers in North America and Europe. The U.S. division is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. VWR ranked #91 in 2006, and #77 in 2005, in Forbes list of largest American private companies. Suppliers include Applied Scientific, 3B Scientific Duracell, Kimberly-Clark, Bel-Art Products, and Welch Allyn. VWR primarily serves the government, biotechnology, life science, education, electronics and pharmaceutical sectors. In 2010, the company maintained operations in 25 countries and processed approximately 50,000 order lines daily from a logistical network, which includes 25 strategically located distribution centers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essendant</span> American office supply distributor

Essendant Inc., formerly known as United Stationers, is a national wholesale distributor of office supplies, with consolidated net sales of $5.3 billion. Essendant serves 30,000 reseller customers and stocks over 160,000 items, including traditional office products, office furniture, janitorial and break room supplies, industrial supplies, and technology products. Essendant is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois and also has operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Platinum Equity, LLC is an American private equity investment firm founded by Tom Gores in 1995, headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. The firm focuses on leveraged buyout investments of established companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLane Company</span> American wholesale supply chain services company

McLane is an American wholesale supply chain services company that distributes products to convenience stores, discount retailers, wholesale clubs, drug stores, military bases, fast-food restaurants, and casual dining restaurants throughout the United States. It is also a wholesale distributor of distilled beverages in some parts of the country.

Remy International, Inc. headquartered in Pendleton, Indiana is an American manufacturer, remanufacturer, and distributor of light duty starters, alternators, hybrid power technology, and Delco Remy brand heavy duty systems. Remy has facilities in eleven countries and four different continents around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Natural Foods</span> American health and organic food wholesaler

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) is a Providence, Rhode Island–based natural and organic food company. The largest publicly traded wholesale distributor of health and specialty food in the United States and Canada, it is Whole Foods Market's main supplier, with their traffic making up over a third of its revenue in 2018.

HD Supply Holdings, Inc. is an industrial distributor in North America. The company provides a broad range of products and value-added services to approximately 250,000 professional customers in maintenance, repair and operations, infrastructure and power and specialty construction sectors. The company was re-acquired by The Home Depot in December 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Activant</span> American technology company

Activant Solutions Inc. was a privately held American technology company specializing in business management, software serving retail and wholesale distribution businesses headquartered in Livermore, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dematic</span> American supplier

Dematic is an American supplier of materials handling systems, software and services. With a growth rate of 21.2% in 2021 Dematic was listed as the world's second-largest materials handling systems supplier with a revenue of 3.2 billion USD. The company employs over 10,000 people and has engineering centres and manufacturing facilities in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Belgium, China, Italy, Spain, France, Lithuania and Czech Republic. Its customer base includes small, medium and large companies in several other countries across six continents.

Reliance, Inc. (Reliance), headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, is the largest metals service center operator in North America. The company provides metals processing services and distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including aluminum, brass, alloy, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty metal products to 125,000 customers such as fabricators and manufacturers.

Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. is an American publicly traded company which sells residential and non-residential roofing products, as well as related building products in North America. As of December 31, 2023, the company has 533 locations throughout all 50 states in the U.S. and six Canadian provinces, and over 8,000 employees. In addition to roofing, local divisions may also sell windows, siding, decking, waterproofing and other external building products. The company is currently headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

Eclipse ERP is a real-time transaction processing accounting software used for order fulfillment, inventory control, accounting, purchasing, and sales. It was created for wholesale distributors in the Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, and PVF industries, but is used by a wide range of market sectors. At one point this software was called Intuit Eclipse DMS, and Activant Eclipse, and Eclipse Distribution Management System.

References

  1. "Products". United Pipe & Steel. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  2. "2017 Supply House Times PVF Ring of Honor: United Pipe & Steel | 2017-12-13". www.supplyht.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  3. Equity, Morgenthaler Private. "Morgenthaler Private Equity Announces The Recapitalization Of United Pipe & Steel Corp". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  4. "United Pipe & Steel and Merfish Pipe & Supply announce merger | 2019-02-04 | Supply House Times". www.supplyht.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  5. "Merfish Pipe & Supply and United Pipe & Steel Announce Name Change to Merfish United | 2020-02-03 | phcppros". www.phcppros.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  6. Partners, One Equity. "One Equity Partners Agrees to Sell Merfish United". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  7. "United Pipe & Steel Corp. Returns | phcppros". www.phcppros.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  8. "Master Distribution in the New Era | 2020-06-01 | phcppros". www.phcppros.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  9. "2017 Supply House Times PVF Ring of Honor: United Pipe & Steel | 2017-12-13". www.supplyht.com. Retrieved 2024-04-01.