Above: With 20 manufacturing locations across the U. S. and Canada, Zekelman Industries is the largest independent steel pipe and tube manufacturer in North America.
November, 2024: Zekelman Industries launched a new marketing campaign—one that is also a personal mission—in September, called “Demand Domestic.” The campaign, unveiled from the shop floor at Zekelman’s Wheatland Tube facility in Rochelle, Illinois, is being supported by a website and media presence. The campaign encapsulates the passion and conviction of Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of the privately held, Chicago-based company.
“Demand Domestic helps to make this a great nation, a more creative nation and better stewards of the planet,” Zekelman says, reaching out to service centers, steel buyers and electrical product and pipe distributors. He challenges these users to stop supporting foreign steelmakers.
“When you buy steel from around the globe, some of it is made in inferior plants with few environmental controls. It’s made from products and materials that have been mined and made by labor that people have taken advantage of—labor with no health care and working in terrible conditions,” expresses Zekelman.
By comparison, the 1 million-square-foot Rochelle plant is the company’s most advanced manufacturing facility with an emphasis on quality, safety and sustainability. With more than $200 million invested since opening in 2022, Wheatland Tube increased automation and enhanced safety at the facility, which produces electrical conduit, fence framework and products supporting the solar energy industry. Even the nuts and screws used in the factory were sourced domestically, says Zekelman.
PHILLY NATIVE
The Zekelman Industries roots trace back to 1877 and the founding of a pipe, valves and fittings distributorship in Philadelphia. In the early 1900s, the company started manufacturing pipe and tube in Pennsylvania under the Sharon Tube and Wheatland Tube brand names. Today, Zekelman Industries’ portfolio includes Sharon Tube and Wheatland Tube as well as Atlas Tube, Picoma, Western Tube and Z Modular—encompassing 20 manufacturing locations across nine U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. Zekelman claims these pipe factories are among the lowest CO2 emitting sites of their kind in the world.
From the floor of a Zekelman Industries’ plant, Barry Zekelman launches the Demand Domestic campaign stressing the importance of buying domestic.
“What we make supports our economy. We make steel for schools, for manufacturing, for transportation, to help heat homes and to help service farmers with data and technology,” Zekelman says, citing part of a long list of steel pipe and tube applications. “Steel enables dreams. And dreamers build.”
Zekelman Industries offers its 3,000+ employees competitive pay, health care, tuition reimbursement, scholarships for employees’ children and more, according to the company’s website. “We’re also supporting high paying jobs. We pay taxes in our communities and support our communities through charitable donations,” adds Zekelman.
‘CHEAP ISN’T CHEAP’
“Cheap isn’t cheap, it’s expensive,” notes Zekelman, especially when taking into consideration product quality, the environment and the impact on local jobs and surrounding communities. He uses an example of import pipe selling for $1,000/ton versus pipe from Wheatland Tube selling at $1,300/ton. “About $750 per ton of that domestic sale is tax money. It goes to the income and corporate taxes we pay, the state and local taxes we pay, the employee payroll taxes we cover, the transport taxes for the trucks that haul our products, and more,” explains Zekelman.
Barry Zekelman visits an Atlas Tube facility. Zekelman Industries offers its employees competitive pay, health care, tuition reimbursement, scholarships for employees’ children and more.
When a distributor chooses to buy imported steel, that $750 is removed from municipal, county and state revenues. “When you take away that $750 per ton, then those taxes don’t get paid and the jobs don’t get created here,” says Zekelman. He highlights the trickle-down effect of lost tax revenues— lower investments in schools and social services, for example—and what he believes are the spiraling impact such losses have on communities. “When the money doesn’t flow into the economy, the money flows out of the economy. There is a price to be paid for imports, and at some point, that bill comes due,” he explains. “And that bill should be tacked onto every import you bring here,” he adds, directing his observations to service centers and other steel buyers.
QUALITY IMPACT
Beyond the economic impact of demanding domestic, there is also a quality impact. Zekelman cites media coverage of quality mishaps from imported goods in other industries such as drywall, flooring, baby formula and dog food.
“This still goes on today. The United States has different, more robust standards and we care here. Our systems and people apply a higher ethical level in what we make.”
For mission-critical applications like nuclear plants, energy plants, oil refineries, hospitals, food processing and the transportation grid, a mandated adherence to domestic quality standards and reliable certification is typical.
“You depend on our product being perfect every time and we can’t mess with that. And if there’s a problem, we fix it fast. We certify our product in the highest quality labs and our certifications are available to you instantaneously,” reports Zekelman.
The company staffs its own laboratories for testing of all the company’s products. In 2008, Zekelman Industries started testing structural tubing coming in from China to compare to its domestic tube.
“We were in disbelief with the results. So I had the lab send the material out to a third party for further testing,” Zekelman recalls, adding that the third party verified that the strength of the structural tube from China was one-half what it claimed to be. “This shows a callous disregard for our safety.”
Zekelman’s concerns extend to imported conduit, which may be missing rust inhibitors or have poor end-cut quality. He also cites potential quality issues with imported sprinkler pipe, which could be missing antimicrobial coating to prevent mold and mildew buildup that can lead to clogged sprinkler heads.
“When you buy from Zekelman Industries, you are buying products that are 100 percent made domestically. When you bring in product from overseas, you’re supporting things that this country stands against: exploiting labor, polluting the environment and robbing our own communities of the very jobs that they need to survive and prosper,” Zekelman notes.
Sourcing steel domestically helps service centers eliminate quality risk, shorten lead times and lower inventory levels to free up capital. “You get exactly what you want,” Zekelman says.
Through its automated inventory management system, Zekelman Industries helps customers quickly turn inventories. “We are seeing some service centers getting 12 to 14 turns on their inventory every year. Imagine the capital this frees up,” he says, compared with putting steel “on a carbon-belching ship that takes six to nine months to arrive.”
SPREAD THE WORD
Zekelman has been taking his Demand Domestic speech on the road, talking with customers and at industry events. He has been a presenter at North American Steel Alliance and Steel Market Update and met with city officials and schools. He appeared on the Fox Business channel. “I’ve talked with politicians in D.C. and Ott awa and from Idaho to Arkansas. I will get on any perch or soapbox any time,” he says.
The Demand Domestic campaign focuses on illegally imported conduit, jumbo HSS tubes and black UV-coated pipes with zero VOCs, among other products made by Zekelman Industries.
“For all our customers and service centers, you are part of this campaign. We are not just building a product. What we make is the backbone of our communities. It’s the foundation of building America.”
Zekelman Industries, Chicago, 312/275-1600, zekelman.com.
