Charter Steel

CHARTER STEEL — a division of Charter Manufacturing, is a leading American supplier of carbon and alloy steel bar, rod and wire products with distribution and manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin and Ohio. As an integrated steelmaker, providing the highest degree of service to our customers is our primary focus. Our capabilities include steel melting, bar and rod rolling, coil processing and wire drawing.

Charter Steel is an American supplier of special bar quality steel (SBQ) products to customers around the world. Charter Steel is a member of the Charter Manufacturing family of companies, which also includes Charter Wire, Charter Automotive, and Charter Dura-Bar.Charter Steel was founded on the premise that the customer is the key ingredient in the steelmaking process. We melt, roll and process steel but, at our core, Charter Steel is a service business committed to continuously investing in the people and technologies that add value to our customers' products.Our quality system has been certified to the TS16949:2002 and ISO9001:2000 quality system standards. Our laboratories have received American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) accreditation for many of the tests performed and our environmental management system has been certified to the ISO 14001 requirement.

History

Charter Steel is a member of Charter Manufacturing, a privately owned family of companies that has adhered to a simple, successful formula for three generations: 'Do something different and do it right to achieve the highest quality product.'

This 'Charter Philosophy' began in the early 1900s with Alfred Mellowes, who designed the revolutionary iceless refrigerator later to be known as Frigidaire. Alfred sold the concept to William Durant, the father of General Motors, and then entered the lock washer business by founding the Milwaukee Lock Washer Company. Five years later he sold the business only to start another new business, Charter Wire, to supply the Milwaukee Lock Washer Company with steel wire. Alfred's son, Charles N. Mellowes, was named to lead Charter Wire.The second current member of the Charter Manufacturing Family – Charter Automotive – was established in 1948 as Milwaukee Wire Products. It soon became the nation's largest manufacturer of fluid-level indicators and a major supplier of intravenous bottle holders, auto trunk latches and other metal components. The rapid growth of both Charter Wire and Milwaukee Wire required a reliable supply of steel. John Mellowes, Alfred's grandson, and Charter's current CEO, decided to integrate vertically.

In 1978, John Mellowes formed Charter Rolling, which specialized in servicing the cold-heading and cold-forming markets. It became the first mill in the world to produce 4 millimeter wire rod. The establishment of Charter Electrical Melting in 1981 completed the vertical integration initiative. In 1985, Charter Steel opened a state-of-the-art processing plant for cleaning, coating, annealing and wire drawing.In 1991, Charter Steel built a melt shop in Saukville, creating a completely integrated mini mill at one site. Throughout the 1990s, Charter continued its expansion into high-quality and niche markets and continuously expanded its melt shop, rolling mill and processing facilities.

Charter Steel continually looks for new ways to better serve existing and potential customers. In November 2000, it opened a full-service processing and distribution facility near Toledo, Ohio, to better serve its customers.In 2002, Charter Steel purchased the American Steel and Wire division of Birmingham Steel to significantly increase its coil-making capacity and provide customers with a wide range of products. Providing customers with the exact steel they want, exactly when and exactly where they want it.In 2006, Charter Steel started up a brand new melt shop in Cleveland, Ohio to complement the rolling mill by supplying high quality billets produced by modern equipment and processes to support our customers most demanding applications.

OUR VALUES

The foundation of Charter's family is a basic set of core values. These values have shaped the company over four generations and are fundamental to who we are as a company and as individuals.

• Trust. We earn trust by having integrity, being accountable, communicating openly and developing our relationships and capabilities.

• Teamwork. We work best when we are collaborating with each other.

• Safety. We want everyone to finish their work in the same condition they started.

• Continuous Improvement. We strive to get better every day.

WHY CHARTER STEEL?

CHARTER STEEL HAS SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, ATTENTION TO DETAIL, AND STRICT ADHERENCE TO QUALITY STANDARDS THAT SET US APART FROM THE COMPETITION.Rather than being process centered, Charter Steel is customer focused. We approach every customer as a supply chain partner, focusing on ways to minimize their inventory costs through reliable, just-in-time distribution. In addition, our technical engineers are always available to make sure your product fits just right.

Charter Steel's commitment to quality begins with classroom training for every production, administrative, and management employee. This ensures that everyone understands the methods needed to accurately control every stage of our melting, rolling and processing operations. Our rigorous application of microanalysis and statistical process control has resulted in an exceptionally low in-field rejection rate.