A. M. Castle & Co. Announces Enhanced Management Structure
May 27 2015 - 6:48PM
Business Wire
Company implements new management structure
designed to streamline corporate functions and drive branch level
empowerment and accountability
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:
- Executive Vice President & Chief
Financial Officer, Patrick R. Anderson
- Executive Vice President, General
Counsel, Secretary & Chief Administrative Officer, Marec E.
Edgar
- Executive Vice President & Chief
Operating Officer, Ronald E. Knopp
- 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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At ALPHA IRAnalyst Contact:Chris Hodges or Monica
Gupta(312) 445-2870Email: CAS@alpha-ir.com