Decades-Old Metal Firm Supplies Goodwill in Community

Neil Sherman’s Industrial Metal Supply may be generating over $100 million in annual revenues, but he’s never too busy to run office supply errands and clean windows for a new branch when he’s opening a new location. Started in Burbank in 1948, Industrial Metal Supply now maintains four different locations and claims to offer the broadest line of metal products available in Southern California. The business, started by Sherman’s father Norman, had humble beginnings, however “He started up pretty much as a scrap dealer,” said Neil Sherman. “He was located in Burbank, being close to the airport. At one time Burbank and the area around Burbank was really a mecca of machine shops catering to the aircraft industry.” Norman Sherman would visit the shops and collect scrap metal from each of them, so that customers who were looking for small replacement pieces could come to Sherman rather than having to order a 20-foot long piece of new metal. A few years ago, the company moved its headquarters from Burbank to Sun Valley. IMS now has branches in Sun Valley, San Diego, Irivine, Phoenix and its new Riverside location. The company employs a total of 268 people. Sherman says the business has continued to grow from those roots based purely on demand. “It just evolved based on the nature of customer needs and wants,” Sherman said. “Someone would come in and say, ‘I wish you’d carry this, I wish you’d carry that,’ and I get it and take a chance on it. Sometimes people would say, I wish you’d carry swimming pool supplies as well as metal supplies, but we’re not in that business.” Its offerings have grown to include hand-forged ornamental iron, stainless steel railing systems and welding supplies among a growing list. Services like shearing and band sawing can be completed on the premises. The success of the business, he said, has depended on making the company convenient for both large industrial customers as well as individuals. Wide customer base “People can walk in and purchase materials in any quantity that they want to. We have an area for them that’s clean and nice to walk in and shop and allows them to walk through our entire warehouse,” said Sherman. “Unlike other materials companies, we’re open on Saturdays. We run the full gamut of customers, we have people coming in Rolls Royces looking for metal for a bathroom art project, to Hell’s Angels.” As the business has grown, Sherman has made investing in his employees’ well being and in the community a priority for the company. When the company was moving into its new headquarters, he included a children’s play room for use by parents whose children had to miss school and did not have a babysitter. “We have working mothers who aren’t necessarily making huge salaries, and if you have a mother whose children were sick or had a day off from school, very often they would have to stay home and miss work,” Sherman said. “Now they’re able to bring their children and keep them entertained. We’ve got computers, videos, books and games, probably more than they would have at home. It helps them, and maybe it helps us as well, because it allows them to come in and get their work done.” Employee bonuses When gas prices started to rise a couple of years ago, Sherman also started including a $40 bonus for each employee every month, which has been the policy for the last year and a half. The company’s commitment to charity and community groups is even broader. Sherman has been involved in the Special Olympics for 15 years, helping to start the Winter Special Olympics in California. The company supports the Boy Scouts, it donates metal to Cal State University Northridge’s racing team and high school robotics programs, the Police Activity League and dozens of other groups over the years. IMS regularly makes its meeting rooms available to neighborhood councils and city councilmembers and donates used computers to local schools. “We’ve received hundreds of plaques for the business. We don’t hang them up, they’re in my closet,” Sherman said. “We do things for the community, not for publicity.”