Indusco Celebrates 100th Anniversary

Enlarge Image Indusco celebrates 100 years of service this year.

September 24, 2008 • In these tumultuous economic times, it's impressive when a company makes it to the 100-year mark. The Indusco Group, which fabricates and supplies wire rope and rigging gear, celebrates that landmark anniversary this year.

 

“There is a rich legacy here • one grounded in providing outstanding products, fair prices and dependable service; in longstanding customer relationships; and in diligent, loyal employees,” said CEO Howard Schloss, in a letter commemorating the company's 100th anniversary. “I am in awe of this anniversary and what it took to get here. While much has changed, the company has never strayed too far from the timeless values and sensibilities that [the founder] Moses brought to it 100 years ago.”

 

The company held a celebration with many of its original and longtime customers in May on the waterfront grounds of its headquarters in Fells Point, Baltimore Harbor, Md. The company recently released a commemorative booklet summarizing its history. Here are some highlights from Indusco's 100-year story.

 

In 1908, Moses Schloss, an enterprising 16-year-old with a sixth grade education, started a marine salvage business in Baltimore, Md., called The Industrial Sales Company. Schloss made a living going from ship to ship buying, trading and selling anything he could. Using a small rowboat, Schloss would paddle from ship to ship in the harbor, buying used rope by the pound. He recycled the good parts and sent the bad spots to paper plants to be made into newsprint. A week of hard work might generate a $10 profit.

 

As Schloss' reputation for honesty and dependability spread, the business prospered. The company eventually outgrew its first warehouse in a windmill, necessitating a move to a building that had previously served as a prison during the Civil War, and later, a coffee warehouse. It was a three-story building with no-frills • no heat, no hot water, and no bathrooms. 

 

Enlarge Image In its long history, Inducso has been involved in unique projects, such as restoring the statue atop the U.S. Capitol.

Two full-time employees were added, and they stayed with the company for 40 years. Through good and difficult times, Schloss stuck to his core values of a strong work ethic and responsibility to customers. One of those responsibilities was a commitment to have the materials the customers wanted on hand at all times. 

 

Schloss' sons, Sonny and Lou joined the family business. The company expanded its product offerings, as Sonny, Lou, and their brother-in-law, Eddie Edelson, ventured into what we now call the “global economy” • tapping into product sources in Europe and Asia that launched the company's new wholesale division. The company was forced to look to international suppliers as the need for raw materials had outgrown their sourcing companies.

 

The need for wire rope slings, in particular, grew beyond The Industrial Sales Company's ability to hand-splice them. Contacts in Germany led Sonny to a longtime business relationship and friendship with Otto Sahm. Sahm was a partner in a company that had invented a process to mechanically swage a sleeve on a wire sling. The process, which used a hydraulic press, was called Herculoc. 

 

The company's first hydraulic press was imported from Germany in 1954. The invention drastically reduced the amount of time required to produce wire rope, while simultaneously strengthening the seal of the finished products. The companies continue to do business more than 50 years later.

 

New name, new location

As the company's overseas activities increased, so did its use of the Telex Machine. Each message was typed, transformed to paper tape and then transmitted, via long distance phone service. Every typed character was an added expense. The company name was then shortened from Industrial Sales Company to Indusco.

 

In 1953, the company moved to a new 60,000-square-foot home in South Baltimore. The property had five warehouses and an office. Business continued to thrive until 1961, when a devastating seven-alarm fire destroyed the company's plant and its entire inventory. The company managed to reopen in a matter of days, thanks to friends and competitors across the country that offered product, unlimited credit, and open-ended payment schedules. Customers went out of their way to pay bills ahead of schedule. As a result, the company repaid their debts in full within six months. The building was rebuilt and the inventory fully replaced.

 

Enlarge Image After several acquisitions, Indusco now has nine locations across the country.

The company began to build a market supplying materials to building contractors. As a result, the company worked on highly publicized projects, including the dredging of Baltimore's harbor, the Fort McHenry Tunnel, the second span of the Bay Bridge, the National Aquarium, and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

 

The company also continued to make slings, cargo nets and other forms of rigging. In 1993, Indusco's nylon slings and rigging hardware enabled a helicopter to lift off, and later return, the restored 130-year-old, 7.5-ton statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol. There were also numerous specialty products such as the elephant nets used to suspend elephant food at the Baltimore and D.C. Zoos, as well as rigging for feature films like The Ninja Turtles Movie and John Travolta's Ladder 49 that were filmed in Baltimore.

 

The company continues to expand its product range and value-added services. Recent investments in capital equipment and acquisitions have allowed the company to continue its expansion. After acquiring several firms, the company has grown in size and continues to diversity its offerings. Now, with nine locations across the country, Indusco is well positioned to continue its unique style of services to customers.