07 Jan Central Steel Service Celebrates 40 Years as a Family-Owned Business
By: Keith Woods, Owner and CEO of Central Steel Service
As a company, we are thrilled to celebrate 40 years of serving our customers as a third generation family-owned and operated business in 2021. The strength and prolonged growth of Central Steel Service can be attributed directly to our team’s long-term commitment to the company and the loyal support of our customers.
Our Team
In light of our 40-year anniversary, I would first like to thank our employees. Without their service and dedication, we would not be in a position to provide the high level of service that we provide to our customers. Without their long-standing commitments, we would not be where we are today.
Just this past year, Russ Guyton retired after 28 years of serving as our Sales Manager, and Jim Vanderslice retired after 33 years serving as our Purchasing Manager. Russ’ son, Jay Guyton, has been with us for 13 years and is now serving many of Russ’ previous customer accounts. Likewise, Travis Badeux, our outside sales representative, marked 21 years in his role, and Kelli Buryn, our accounting and office manager, marked 20 years in her role, and Jason Parker, our sales account representative, marked 9 years in his role during 2020. Our long-term “live” receptionist, Jennie Schoggen, has been answering the phone and offering exceptional service to our customers in a variety of ways for more than 16 years. We added Alan Bendawald to our sales team just over a year ago. Alan grows our area of service in the upper western region of the U.S. by serving our customers on the West Coast.
Our company is also within its third-generation of family involvement. My son, James Woods, has been with Central Steel for 6 years and took over the purchasing reins from Jim Vanderslice when he retired. My son, Thomas Woods, marked 3 years in sales in 2020, and my third son, Michael Woods completed his first year learning a variety of functions, which will serve him and our customers well in the future. My daughter, Mary Kathryn Moshier, now manages our marketing and social media efforts and has for the past three years.
Even with the long-term employee commitments above, I believe it is our production personnel who drive our excellence in customer service. Our shop manager, Joe Leslie, has been with Central Steel for 27 years. Joe’s nephew, Ernie Leslie, initially worked in our shipping/receiving at 18 years old and is now a plasma burning machine operator 26 years later. Handling the shipping/receiving of our structural products, Ross Purser and Mark Brown, have been working side by side for 19 years. We have been told that we operate the best looking trucks on the road!! Sammy Flores, our transportation manager, came to work for Central Steel back in 2003 after being run out of Louisiana by Hurricane Lili. His son Brandon Flores, started with us in shipping/receiving and now operates and maintains our delivery tractor trailer combinations. Brandon has been with us for 4 years.
Central Steel Service operates three high definition plasma machines. Melvin Windsor, a 15-year employee manages the overall burning operations, as well as maintenance for our three machines. Jeremy Kay operates one of the plasma machines and has been with us for 12 years. Jeremy worked in shipping/receiving before moving into the operator position. Branden Senatore started with Central Steel in shipping/receiving in 2014, and today he operates a burning machine, while still handling shipping and receiving. With a six year tenure, Michael Dennis handles the shipping and receiving of all of our sheet products. Michael has won our Employee of the Year several times and is as dedicated to the service of our customers as they come. Finally, we have recently added Tina Renda to our team to assist our burning machine operators and in shipping and receiving. Tina who will complete her first year of service in February 2021.
Above you will notice several references to son, daughter and nephew, which exemplify the “family” culture that permeates our organization and that will hopefully only continue to add to the years of service by our employees.
Our Long-Standing Purpose and Values
Beyond our family culture, the foundation and culture of Central Steel was established back in 1981 based on our purpose and values. Our purpose is to completely satisfy our customers demands for high strength weathering and high strength steel, fulfilling their unique and unexpressed needs, expediently, without problems and with complete reliability.
Additionally, each member of our team commits themselves to our company values of:
- Being charitable by giving back to our community
- Excellence in customer service
- Long term-relationships supersede short term profitability
- Teamwork and mutual respect among ALL employees
- Honesty and integrity in our dealings with our customers, vendors, and each other.
- Employee safety will not be compromised
- Product quality will not be compromised
- High work ethic and initiate
- Professionalism
Our Customer Relationships
As emphasized in our company values, we believe long-term relationships supersede short-term profitability. I’d like to thank our customers for their loyalty over these 40 years. We know that long-term customer relationships are a two-way street. Without our customers helping us help them, we would not be in the position to serve them as a third-generation family business.
Thank you! We ALL appreciate you and look forward to serving you for many more years!