Over 90 Different Product Lines With Customers in 6 States
Steel Sales & Equipment Company of Arkansas began in 1975 as a small die supplies distributor that sold Lempco die sets and Dayton Progress punches and die buttons. Founded by Ted Blumele and Bob Bearden, Steel Sales has grown into an industrial distributor that represents over 90 different product lines with customers in 6 states.
Ted Blumele retired in 1994, leaving Bob Bearden the sole owner. This was the same year that Bob’s son, Mike Bearden, started his career with Steel Sales. Two years later in 1996, Bob hired David Gatling to join the company. A few years later, Bob hired Charlene Chwalinski, making Steel Sales the company that you see today.
In 2005, Bob retired and sold the business to Mike and David. Mike and David count themselves fortunate for having worked with a man who was an industry leader in industrial distribution, and who taught them the importance of taking care of the customer.
Over the years, Steel Sales has been blessed with having the absolute best people behind the scenes. While customers haven’t had the opportunity to work with everyone working behind the scenes at Steel Sales, every member of our team has been such an important part of the machine that has helped us succeed for 49+ years. These employees that have taken care of the day to day accounting and other administrative aspects of Steel Sales have worked with the gratitude of Mike and David.
Marie Hargis worked for Steel Sales for nearly 20 years from 1991 to 2011. She was gracious enough to train her replacement, Pam Tubbs, who began in 2011 and retired in 2016. Before Pam’s 5 years of service ended, Pam trained a fantastic addition to our team, Barbara Davis, who began in November of 2015 and retired in 2016. We were sad to see these past team members leave as they will always be a part of the Steel Sales family. However Judy Hunnicutt joined our staff in March of 2016 and we could not be more pleased with how she has worked out. Judy’s professionalism and attention to detail has transitioned right in to taking over our A/P and A/R. In November 2018, Wayne Krippendorf became the newest member of our team. Wayne is our outside salesman who is adept at identifying customer’s needs and finding an appropriate solution.
