Founded: 1947 in Columbus, OH
      Branches: Cincinnati, OH in 1977 and Lexington, KY in 2002
      Markets served: Automotive, Medical, Aerospace, Mining, Environmental,
          General Contract, Machining and Stamping

          A strategic focus at Buckeye Industrial Supply, in addition to our cutting tool application focus, is to develop inventory management systems with our customers.  Coupled with this is our on-going commitment to customer process improvements through product and process evaluation.  Our goal is to provide products and services to customers at the lowest total cost.  Currently we have inventory management programs with customers whose annual purchases with us range from $200,000 to $3,000,000 at single as well as multi-plant locations.  One quarter of all Buckeye personnel currently works full-time inside some of our customers’ plants.

Here is the “who, what, where, when and why” of Buckeye. 

      The company was established as a family-owned business in 1947 to serve the metalworking manufacturing factories in central Ohio.  In the 1960’s Buckeye began concentrating on cutting tools, carbide inserts, abrasives, coolants, stamping components and the application of these products on the factory floor.  We knew that having great products to sell was not enough.  Many distributors had access to the same lines and we knew we had to do more. Therefore, Buckeye differentiated itself from competition by providing customers in-depth product application support using its own in-house technical sales staff and product specialists.  This provided customers with greater value than just selling them products.  Customers knew we would roll up our sleeves and work with them out in the plant to help solve problems and find solutions.  As we grew over the years, so did the number of our locations and we expanded into Cincinnati and then Lexington.

     In the 1980’s customers and distributors began discussing ways to improve their working relationship.  The goal was to streamline processes and lower costs.  Buckeye embraced this new direction as a natural extension of the high level of service we were already providing.  It took a few years of real-life experiences before customers and distributors, working together, could make the process run smoothly.  We learned early on that the keys to success were a commitment to a win-win result and open two-way dialogue.  We are proud to say that we have been helping to manage the inventory for some of our customer/partners for over twenty years.

     To stay ahead of the constant changes that were occurring in the supply-chain, Buckeye management became very active in industry trade associations.  In the early 1980’s, Buckeye Industrial Supply became a founding member of the Ohio Industrial Distributors Association and a few years later joined the Central States Industrial Supply Association where our management took leadership roles.  This regional association merged with others to form the national Industrial Distribution Association (IDA) with approximately 1,000 distributor members. 

     Recognizing the value and opportunities available through this national trade association, our senior management continued to take an active role.   Starting in the early 1990’s Buckeye’s current CEO, Jack Meizlish, chaired several committees and served on IDA’s board of directors for a number of years.  In 1998 he was elected President of IDA and served as Chairman the following year.  Our company’s in-depth involvement during these critical years enabled us to stay ahead of the curve as changes in the supply chain continued at a rapid rate; we networked with leading distributors from around the country, participated in numerous educational classes and met twice a year with key personnel from the leading cutting tool and MRO brands being used by our customers.

     It became apparent that the customer interests would be better served if distributors and manufactures work closer together for the benefit of the mutual end-user, the buyer of our products.  In response, the distributor-only association expanded its membership to include manufacturers and the IDA name was changed to the Industrial Suppliers Association (ISA) to reflect this new strategic supply-chain initiative.

     As is often the case, events tend to go full circle.  All of our inventory management programs were initially built around our cutting tool application expertise.  However, as a result of the program’s effectiveness, customers asked us to also supply MRO products like personal safety, janitorial, material handling and a wide variety of other indirect materials.  To more effectively learn about and supply MRO products, in 2007 Buckeye became a member of Affiliated Distributors A-D.  A-D is the premier national organization of its kind that leverages members’ purchases and provides product training, and additional in-depth networking opportunities.

     In 1996, again responding to customers’ needs, Buckeye Industrial Supply became affiliated with Tru-Edge Grinding.  Tru-Edge started with just a few machines in a garage behind the one employee’s house.  Today that employee runs an operation that has over 25 associates, state of the art grinders and equipment and occupies a 12, 000 square foot facility.  To learn more please select the Tru-Edge tab above.