Moving Metal

let them deal with some of the things you do,” he told Metal Center News —and he was pleased to find that they invariably tackled the challenges. This was an important insight—that the business might be in metals but it was all about people. Hannah enjoyed walking through the warehouses to talk with the employees, and visiting with customers to see what they did with Reli- ance’s products. “We want to be humble and leave our egos at the door,” he insisted, “because we all came from modest beginnings.” Most importantly in a company where making agreements was routine, a handshake for Hannah meant that the deal was done. Metal Center News recognized Hannah’s qualities when it named him the 1998 Service-Center Execu- tive of the Year, an honor reserved for “an individual whose career and business strategies represent a model for the rest of the industry.” Hannah could not do it alone, though. He needed a strong operating hand to watch over operations and size up the acquisitions. Gimbel had Crider; Hannah had Mollins. Since they had begun working together in 1992, Hannah and Mollins had created an effective partnership that grew stronger over time. Commonwealth Industries was a long- time Reliance supplier, so its CEO Mark Kaminski got to know both men well. He called the team the “best legacy” that Gimbel and Crider could possibly have left. They have a “yin and yang” type relationship, Kaminski said. While the CEO invariably kept the big picture in sight, he could count on his “hired gun” to take care of the details. “Do what you’ve got to do,” Hannah had told Mollins, and he did—with a good deal of finesse. Years after his retirement, Crider paid the two men perhaps the greatest compliment: “They actually did better than Bill and me when we were there.”

days and sixty-hour weeks and, as Crider described it, being “hard driving and aggressive” in his business dealings. But Hannah knew where to draw the line. He left the business behind at the end of the long day and did not call in on vacation. “It’s good for your people for you to get out and

Clean room manufacture of electropolished stainless steel tubes at Valex. Valex expanded into South Korea in 1999.

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