ASKO

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :3/18/2008 3:41:42 AM

Despite being over 75 years old, ASKO inc continues to push the frontiers of industry, producing a wide range of specialty tools designed to help customers around the globe become better businesses. Exec learns more

Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by James McCann

Founded in 1933, ASKO produces a wide range of specialty wear-resistant tooling for the metal producing, metal processing and metal recycling industries. ASKO products are today at work in thousands of metal producing and metal working companies around the world and its expertise has been continually developed.

“We combine expert understanding of special tool materials, technology and tooling application requirements to create innovative solutions for all tooling needs,” adds Bill Rackoff, ASKO’s sole shareholder, president, CEO and owner, who says that ASKO works with mills processors, recyclers and manufacturers to understand what kind of “products and services they need, and what product works best for their applications”.

ASKO makes doing business easy and has a worldwide sales and support network.

Manufacturing in the USA, Europe and Mexico, ASKO’s experience is long in duration and broad in scope. ASKO continually develops grades that lead the industry. Many of the materials it has developed are today’s standards. “We have a great reputation. Why? We have worked very hard over the years to push the envelope,” explains Mr. Rackoff.

Indeed, ASKO consistently demonstrates sensitivity and responsiveness to its customers’ needs. “We serve our customers by striving to do things right the first time and every time,” he adds.

Great leader, even better team

Talking about what defines ASKO as an organization Bill couldn’t help but reference his outstanding team: “ASKO employees, worldwide, are the major source of our strength. Their drive, ingenuity and dedication to serving our customers contributes to our vitality and growth,” he says. One of ASKO’s key strengths is its employees, and Bill works hard to ensure they remain educated, challenged and well rewarded.

ASKO segments its markets into three sectors: steel mills; service centers and processors; and scrap and recycling centers. “We take pride in offering our customers the broadest range of products and services and continue to push for excellence in everything we do in order to increase the value of our products and services to our customers,” says Bill.

ASKO enables metal producers, processors and recyclers to improve operating productivity through the supply of quality products and services. “Our core products are scrap yard knives, rotary knives, spacers, tungsten carbide knives, shear knives, large circular saw blades and rolling mill liners and we also do regrinds – it is an extensive offering,” Bill adds.

In addition to such products, ASKO offers a number of popular services, ranging from the ASKO knife management program to field diagnostics evaluations. “This is all part of offering customers the best possible service options,” says Bill. “Our mission is to enable producers, processors and recyclers to improve operating productivity through the sustainable supply of quality products and services. We are not just about delivering products – it is about delivering productivity to the customer. It happens to come in the form of product and service. We do this by operating highly specialized machine tools and by correctly matching the optimum tool material grade and heat treatment with each metalworking application. We have a continuous focus on upgrading our customer’s performance, offering tools for a wide variety of processes including almost every metalworking cutting and rolling application.”

ASKO, it seems, is very familiar with customers’ slitting and shearing applications. Perhaps in many cases, says Bill, “we are more familiar with them than they are themselves”.

Boom, boom, boom

The steel industry has grown dramatically over the last few years, primarily driven by the growth in emerging markets such as China and India. According to Bill, it is driven by the growing need for infrastructure around the world. “The global infrastructure is growing very dramatically at the moment,” he says. “As a result, the steel demand is expected to continue to grow by to seven percent on average. That is very high compared to historical standards in the steel industry.

“The previous cyclical steel industry seems to have changed to a little more continuous growth with less significant downturns,” he continues. “And our customers are all making very good returns.” There has been a lot of consolidation, which has made ASKO’s customers’ healthier, and there are a lot of new steel plants being built. “The market opportunity in the steel sector is pretty good,” says Bill.

The service centre sector is also consolidating, Bill believes, and the outlook in that sector is similar: “It goes more or less cyclically with GNP,” he says. “However, we expect a lot less volatility than in the past – the long term trends are pretty positive. Those that are related to the infrastructure activity are booming and going very, very strong.”

He adds: “The recycling business is running very well too, so we are going well on all fronts. The steel scrap is a major raw material for steel making today. The prices of iron ore are going up at an astronomical rate, which is creating an increasing demand for scrap.” Indeed, as the demand of scrap increases there will be more demolition and more recycling, which is great news for ASKO when you consider the products and services it has to offer.

Optimistic future

ASKO has strong metallurgical knowhow. Bill Rackoff is very optimistic about this company’s future. “Steel that is produced by our customers is a basic material, it is found in every other industry – every industry consumes it,” he says. “As the world population grows and as people in emerging markets want to experience all the benefits that we in the west have enjoyed over the years, there is going to be a booming demand for steel products. Significantly, we have over 75 years of history now and have accumulated the knowledge that enables us to evolve with the steel industry; so we will be able to offer customers exactly what they want.”

He adds: “The industry has changed considerably, and we have adapted with that. I’m sure as things change in the future, we’ll have the challenge of adapting again and I’m sure we will.”

ASKO’s legacy of working with integrity, making sure customers are happy and focusing on service, seems to be paying dividends. Indeed, they are just some of the many reasons why it is a success.

Click here to view the corporate brochure on Asko