MSC Industrial Supply Co. has acquired two related Ohio-based companies – distributor Buckeye Industrial Supply Co. and custom tool manufacturer True-Edge Grinding Inc. – to bolster its position as a prominent multichannel supplier of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services, MSC said today.

Erik Gershwind, MSC’s president and CEO, said Buckeye and True-Edge, which have common ownership, will add to business transactions processed through MSC’s flagship ecommerce site, MSCDirect.com, and also bring MSC new capabilities in tool manufacturing services. MSC does close to $4 billion in annual sales, processing more than 60% of sales transactions through ecommerce.

MSC said it plans to build on Buckeye’s technical, high-touch relationships and value-added services by offering customers access to more than 2 million industrial products while driving more revenue through MSC’s flagship ecommerce site, MSCDirect.com.

In addition, True-Edge will serve as MSC’s “center of excellence” for product engineering and design and join MSC’s existing metal regrinding operation to support manufacturing customers throughout the Midwest. MSC said True-Edge does much of its business in “designing and producing tools from scratch, with a strong focus on the automotive and medical markets.”

Buckeye and True-Edge reported $28 million in combined estimated 2022 revenue and have a combined workforce of 80 employees, MSC said. The two companies will continue to operate under their current names as MSC companies. MSC did not disclose what it was paying for the two companies.

Rick Meizlish, principal, Buckeye Industrial Supply Co. and True-Edge Grinding Inc.

Rick Meizlish, a principal of both Buckeye and True-Edge, said “we are looking forward to combining our metalworking expertise with MSC’s” to bring more metalworking value to manufacturers. MSC is known for its Millmax metalworking service.

The Buckeye and True-Edge deals follow several other acquisitions MSC has made in the past few years, including four Midwest-based industrial products distributors: All Integrated Solutions, Wm. F. Hurst Co., Deco Tool Supply, and Engman-Taylor. Engman-Taylor appears to have the most developed ecommerce operations, including vending machines and the ecommerce site Engman-Taylor.com.

MSC, based in Melville, New York, and Davidson, North Carolina, also recently acquired Holtsville, New York-based Tower Fasteners.

John Hill, MSC’s executive vice president and chief digital officer, will give a June 22 keynote address on ecommerce technology and strategy at the EnvisionB2B 2023 Conference & Exhibition.

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week, covering technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact editor Paul Demery at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @pdemery.

Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when new Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content is published.