A. M. Castle & Co. (NYSE: CAS) (“the Company” or “Castle”), a
global distributor of specialty metal and plastic products, value-added
services, and supply chain solutions, today announced that it has
realigned its management structure to empower employees throughout the
organization, enhancing accountability and profitability focus at every
level of the Company.
At the executive management level, Castle has consolidated seven
corporate functions into four key executive vice president positions
reporting to President & CEO, Steven W. Scheinkman, as follows:
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Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Patrick R. Anderson
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Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary & Chief
Administrative Officer, Marec E. Edgar
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Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Ronald E. Knopp
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Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, Stephen J. Letnich
Mr. Anderson was previously Vice President, Corporate Controller and
Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer. In addition to his promotion to Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Anderson will assume responsibility for IT
functions. Mr. Edgar was previously Vice President, General Counsel &
Secretary. With his promotion to Executive Vice President and Chief
Administrative Officer, Mr. Edgar will assume responsibility for
managing the Company’s global human resources functions. Mr. Knopp was
previously Vice President, Operations. With his promotion to Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Knopp will assume
overall responsibility for the management of the Company’s inventory
levels with an emphasis on reducing overall inventory while ensuring the
Company has the right inventory at the right locations to meet our
customers’ needs. Mr. Letnich maintains his previous role as Castle’s
Chief Commercial Officer. The Company’s Plastics business will continue
to be led by Thomas L. Garrett, Vice President and President, Total
Plastics, Inc., also reporting directly to Mr. Scheinkman.
Castle also announced the creation of a branch management structure
designed to empower local leadership and drive accountability, inventory
management, and profitability focus at each of its network locations.
The Company has identified several key internal employees that have
accepted positions as Branch Managers, who will have ultimate profit and
loss and inventory management responsibility for defined groups of
Castle locations globally. The Company has further identified a
combination of internal candidates and key recruitments for three
General Manager roles to whom the Branch Managers will report. The
General Managers will report to Steve Scheinkman.
Commenting on the new structure, Mr. Scheinkman noted, “As we discussed
when we announced our profitability and liquidity improvement
initiatives last month, one of the two key thrusts in our restructuring
plan is to improve the value proposition we provide our customers by
increasing customer intimacy, service, and support. These structural
changes will drive more resources, capabilities, and responsibility down
to our branches so they may be closer to our customers, and more
responsive to the customers’ evolving needs. They will also provide
greater accountability to maintaining a consistent organizational focus
on inventory management and profitability moving forward. Finally, by
providing local operational visibility and empowerment on our total
Company inventory levels, the new structure will free up our regional,
national, and international sales teams to spend their time in the field
with customers.”
Scheinkman concluded, “I am also very pleased that we were able to
provide these growth opportunities to our key talent and have been able
to attract new talent to join our team. In addition to proving to our
stockholders, customers, and mill partners that Castle remains a market
leader in the metals service center industry, we are focused on ensuring
our employees know and trust that they have long-term career growth
opportunities with Castle. These announcements are a critical first step
in building that trust while fostering a partnership culture both inside
the Company and externally.”
About A. M. Castle & Co.
Founded in 1890, A. M. Castle & Co. is a global distributor of specialty
metal and plastic products and supply chain services, principally
serving the producer durable equipment, oil and gas, commercial
aircraft, heavy equipment, industrial goods, construction equipment,
retail, marine and automotive sectors of the global economy. Its
customer base includes many Fortune 500 companies as well as thousands
of medium and smaller-sized firms spread across a variety of industries.
Within its metals business, it specializes in the distribution of alloy
and stainless steels; nickel alloys; aluminum and carbon. Through its
wholly-owned subsidiary, Total Plastics, Inc., the Company also
distributes a broad range of value-added industrial plastics. Together,
Castle and its affiliated companies operate out of 47 service centers
located throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Its common stock is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CAS”.
Cautionary Statement on Risks Associated with Forward Looking
Statements
Information provided and statements contained in this release that are
not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities
Act”), Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(“Exchange Act”), and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Such forward-looking statements only speak as of the date of this
release and the Company assumes no obligation to update the information
included in this release. Such forward-looking statements include
information concerning our possible or assumed future results of
operations, including descriptions of our business strategy, and the
cost savings and other benefits that we expect to achieve from recently
announced corporate initiatives, including facility closures and
organizational changes. These statements often include words such as
“believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “predict,” “plan,”
“should,” or similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of
performance or results, and they involve risks, uncertainties, and
assumptions. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements
are based on reasonable assumptions, there are many factors that could
affect our actual financial results or results of operations and could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements, including our ability to effectively manage
our operational initiatives, the impact of volatility of metals and
plastics prices, the cyclical and seasonal aspects of our business, our
ability to effectively manage inventory levels, and the impact of our
substantial level of indebtedness, as well as those risk factors
identified in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. All future written and oral
forward-looking statements by us or persons acting on our behalf are
expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements
contained or referred to above. Except as required by the federal
securities laws, we do not have any obligations or intention to release
publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect
events or circumstances in the future, to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events or for any other reason.
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