Moving Metal

ahead.” Crider was steadfast, and replied, “Well, that’s got nothing to do with how I work. Why, I connect with guys at all ages whenever I’m out in the field.” Crider got the promo- tion and began to shift territories, rotate salesmen, shed dead wood, and deal with other problems that he had recognized from the field. As a result, Drake’s Fresno business boomed. Crider later attributed his success to a dogged work ethic. “Each job I went to, I always tried to do it better than I found it,” he said. Shortly after Reliance bought Drake, Crider decided to invite Gimbel to Fresno for a ride-along so he could introduce the President to Reliance’s new customers. Crider once again approached his supervisor, telling him, “I want Bill Gimbel to come up and spend a couple of days with me to call on all our accounts. Call him and ask if he’ll do it.” Crider’s boss shuddered at the thought of bothering Gimbel. “ You call him!” he snapped. So Crider gave Gimbel a call and asked him if he would like to visit the Fresno sales territories. “Well, of course I would,” Gimbel replied. He and Crider spent two days driving around Fresno together and meeting Drake’s biggest accounts. Gimbel liked “hobnobbing,” as Crider put it, and the two men became good friends during this first important encounter. Gimbel returned to Los Angeles sure that Crider was worth watching—but left him in Fresno for the time being. Reliance spent the six months from August 1963 to February 1964 integrating Drake’s facilities and personnel into its own organization. Gimbel clearly had big plans for Robert Zurbach, naming himAssistant to the President, with responsi- bility for inventory control, steel mill relations, new production andmarket research, and traffic. Almost immediately, Zurbach took on a high-profile role as company spokesman in the

As soon as Reliance acquired new facilities, arrangements were made for improved storage and handling. Here an employee installs rails for a “sideloader” truck at the Santa Clara service center.

newspapers and trade publications. Likewise, Gimbel gave Zurbach the honor of presenting a “fitting program for the 25th anniversary of the founding of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.” at the March 1964 shareholders meeting. With Zurbach and his colleagues making a relatively seamless transition to Reliance just as the Triax racking system was coming online, there was indeed a general sense that Reliance had reached a major milestone. Gimbel predicted to the shareholders that 1964 would be the company’s biggest year ever in sales volume—up at least thirty percent—and insisted that despite twenty-five years of “severe” competi- tion, long-term profitability was finally ensured—he projected profits to rise twenty percent in 1964.

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