December, 2025- Supported by a team of more than 700 highly capable individuals, Toledo-based Heidtman Steel, known primarily as a distributor and processor, has evolved into a company that also offers pickling, galvanizing, blanking, tubular products and parts assembly.
Such developments take time, of course, but CEO John Bates Jr. Believes the second generation, family owned business is realizing the fruits of years of strategic investments while also plotting out its future.
“My career started here in June 1994. My father, who was CEO at the time, called me and asked, ‘What are you doing this summer? Come see me at the plant.’ I came to his office, he gave me some gear and said, ‘Now you work at the plant.’ I worked nights stacking and packaging on the cut-to-length line.”
Throughout the years, Bates worked at different Heidtman facilities from offices to production floors. After college, he worked as a materials manager/applicator, then as director of resource planning. “That is production, planning, processes—applications, scheduling, inside sales.” He was promoted to vice president- commercial, and those responsibilities included purchasing, sales and resource planning. Last year, Bates took over as CEO when Tim Berra retired.
Heidtman installed its first tube mill during COVID lockdown and a second in early 2024.
CORE AND MORE
“Everyone thinks of us as a giant service center and, yes, our core business is to buy, sell, pickle, cut to length and slit steel,” Bates says. But the company’s scope has broadened quite a bit. “We want our customers to know all the things we can offer—things we control in house.”
In 1984, John Bates Sr. And Cyrus Tang, CEO of National Material L.P., formed National Galvanizing, a 50/50 joint venture, “which has been a great partnership,” Bates Jr. Says. The company performs coil-to-coil galvanizing on material up to 1/4 inch thick. “It gave us the ability to galvanize coils on our own behalf.” Ninety percent of the galvanized coils go to Heidtman Steel and National Material.
National Blanking runs two shifts per day. There are six presses from 400 to 1,200 tons.
Fulton County Processing pickles and slits steel, managing up to 1 million tons per year.
“Having that company gives us the ability to give different pricing models,” says Bates, particularly long-term fixed pricing through hedging. “We are weighted to construction products, automotive, agriculture and solar on that galvanizing line, which separates us from other service centers in the U.S.”
National Galvanizing, Monroe, Michigan, coats coils from 24 to 49 inches wide, and thicknesses from 0.050 to 0.25 inch. “We buy hot-roll coils and pickle, galvanize and slit them ourselves. We can turn around a coil for shipment to the customer in a couple of days, versus a mill’s lead time of a couple weeks.” The line’s capacity is 200,000 tons per year. The plant also operates both a pickling line and slitting line.
BLANKING
Heidtman Steel has a second joint venture with National Material called National Blanking in Toledo, Ohio. Originally Toledo Blank, Heidtman acquired the assets in 2009, and National Material purchased a stake in 2016. National Blanking runs two shifts per day. There are six presses from 400 to 1,200 tons.
According to Bates, the blanks primarily are processed for both partners, but the company also performs some toll processing for outside customers. It specializes in manufacturing circle blanks, but also performs some assembly with press operations.
Finished blanks end up with the solar, heavy truck, construction products and automotive end markets, Bates says. “We cut circles for tanks and water heaters, and we have a lot of circle dies built for general circles. We can also form configured blanks and perform light assembly.”
TUBING
Heidtman Tubular Products in Erie, Michigan, has “an interesting story,” says Bates. “Our first pickle line was built in the late 1970s in Erie. When we decided to partner to build a pickle line in Delta, Ohio, the Erie pickling line became old and obsolete. We removed that in 2016 but we still had slitting capacity.”
He says management was keen to keep the Erie workforce in place and repurpose the plant and equipment, “so we decided to get into the tubing business. We began installing our first tube mill during the COVID lockdown.”
Heidtman Steel can turn galvanized coil into tubes, re-weld and re-galvanize over the weld seam.
Initially, end markets included recreational vehicle manufacturers and service center restocking with “a bundle here and a bundle there.”
Soon, however, solar panel manufacturers came calling, and that outlet continues to grow, Bates says. Heidtman installed a second tube mill and commissioned it in January 2024. The two mills make 5-inch-diameter round tubing and 4-inch-diameter square tubing. “We can do rectangles as well.”
One of the unique things about the two mills is a two-coat spray box, a rust preventive and a clear coat, which uses a UV light source to finish. “The solar companies like the clear coat because they use the product outdoors,” Bates explains.
Overall, the markets for Tubular Products are construction, solar, agricultural equipment and service centers. “We are running two shifts at the tube company. At our current pace, we have 96,000 tons forecast for next year, which leaves 50,000 to 60,000 tons of open capacity.” Bates says the company is able to cut tubing and has a 180,000-square foot depot in Toledo.
HIGH-VOLUME PROCESSING
Another arrow in Heidtman Steel’s quiver is Fulton County Processing in Delta, Ohio, near North Star Bluescope Steel Co., a flatrolled mill. FCP was once a three-way joint venture, but “we took it all over in 2022. It has one of the best independent pickle lines in the U.S.,” Bates claims. There are five slitters, a cut-to-length line and a specialized narrow cut-to length line with edge conditioning capability. The lines at Fulton County process over 1 million tons per year.
“We can slit from 0.10 to 1/2 inch thick and up to 72 inches wide and down to 3/4-inch wide cuts. We also have an independent shape correction cartridge leveler that can take terribly shaped coils into flat coils. We have all the bells and whistles.”
Ninety percent of this business is processing steel for other service centers or directly for North Star Bluescope.
‘YES, AND’ MENTALITY
Besides Erie and Monroe, Michigan, Heidtman Steel has service center operations in Toledo, Ohio; Granite City, Illinois; and Butler, Indiana. Granite City and Butler have pickling, slitting and cut-to-length lines. Butler also has two temper mills. “Each unit is geared toward both direct sales and toll processing.” Companywide, “we sell 60,000 tons a month, and toll from 140,000 to 150,000 tons a month,” Bates says.
Heidtman has a sales office in Monterrey, Mexico, that partners with Mexican toll processors to service clients in Mexico and the southern U.S. “We are transforming the company,” he says.
“We continue to supply core business but broadening our capabilities to offer more processes, parts and assemblies, to provide better service.”
For example, he says, “we can turn galvanized coil into tubes, re-weld and re-galvanize over the weld seam. We turn around products quickly. We expect to continue our growth and enter more product areas that will help our customers with downstream processing, like laser cutting tables and other parts and pieces they don’t want to perform themselves.”
Heidtman was one of the first service centers to adopt financial hedging strategies in 2010, and the company remains in a leadership position by doing so. The practice allows pricing options to meet all customer needs, including fixed pricing, fixed with downside, price caps, range collars, and scrap conversion,” according to Bates.
Over time, he expects Heidtman will add capacity at Fulton County and at its tubular business, and move “further downstream to laser cutting, forming and assembly.” At the moment, “we are mapping out our strategic plan for the next five years.”
Heidtman Steel, 419/691-4646, heidtman.com
