Moving Metal

to give up the responsibility altogether. He enjoyed working side-by-side with the young engineer on major projects. These included reducing potentially harmful pollution from the plasma torch machine in 1969, and a three-year, $4.9 million redevelopment of the Vernon location, begun in 1973. Their partnership was profiled in a March 1978 Pacific Factory article highlighting Reliance’s role as a technical trailblazer in the industry. By the mid-1960s, the metals service center industry began to recognize Reliance as a national leader. This secured Gimbel’s election as President of the National Association of Aluminum Distributors (NAAD) in November 1966. He also served a three-year term as a member of the Steel Service Center Institute (SSCI) executive committee in the late 1960s. Gimbel had represented Reliance in both organizations for years, but now, by taking on leadership roles, he helped shape the industry’s nationwide agenda—in addition to developing new business opportunities. SUPRACOTE One such opportunity was in the pre-coated sheet metal business. Steel and aluminum sheet metal products were customarily sold unfinished or unpainted. Improvements in paints and coatings in the mid-1960s made it technologically possible to pre-coat coiled sheet metal products in a variety of different colors, giving customers the option of eliminating post-delivery painting. This was particularly desirable in the mobile home construction and aluminum siding industries. With the 1960s housing boom underway, pre-coated sheet metal promised to become very profitable. In late 1967, one of Reliance’s major aluminum suppliers persuaded Gimbel to enter the pre-coated metal business. It

Gimbel’s ascension to the presidency of the National Association of Aluminum Distributors made the cover of the December 1966 Metal Center News.

The SupraCote building in Cucamonga, California, shortly before its March 1969 opening. This bold attempt to market pre-coated coil stumbled due to unexpected competition and because other metals service centers were reluctant to buy from Reliance.

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