Are MSC and Enco related?

[wquiles]

I just got some goodies form MSC and this particular item did not come from their "normal" GA warehouse but from one in Indiana, specifically:
28551 Laura Court
Elkhard IN 46517-1179

That address looked familiar, so I looked at my latest ENCO shipping invoice, and guess that is their address:
28551 Laura Court
Elkhard IN 46517-1179

Both papers/forms, except for one saying ENCO and the other saying MSC are identical - not similar, but identical.

Definitely not a coincidence. Things that make you go hum ....

Will

 

[precisionworks]

An interesting story, especially if you go back to the 1980's. Back then, Enco provided mostly high end tools & tooling (in the days before China had an export market in this area). I have an Enco tapping head that's identical to a Tapmatic 90-X ... phone call to Enco verifies that the head is made by Tapmatic ... phone call to Tapmatic gets the same reply. Pretty neat when a top end company lets a distributor put their name on a product.

Then, early 1990 IIRC, Enco was sold to a marketing group who changed the product mix to emphasize the low cost tools & tooling. J&L Industrial specialized in metalworking only, no MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Operations) items, and owned that market niche.

MSC has been a player in both middle to upper end tools & tooling, as well as MRO items, since way back when. A history here:

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNPAGE?PMPAGE=aboutmsc/history.html&PMINI=Y

On 2-5-1997, MSC bought Enco. But they've been buying a little here & a little there for many years ... a summary here:

http://www.alacrastore.com/mergers-acquisitions/MSC_Industrial_Direct_Co_Inc-1029596

Sid Jacobson, who founded MSC, became terminally ill a few years ago. He & his wife Bernice were found dead in their car inside their garage on 6-23-2005, from suicide. He had retired some years earlier, and appointed his son Mitchell as president of MSC in 1982.

J&L Industrial became a natural acquisition within the past year or so. Now, J&L, MSC & Enco are all under the same umbrella. Enco still carries many lower priced items, J&L still specializes in metalworking, and MSC continues to compete with McMaster for the MRO business.

It is a small world

 

[wquiles]

Ahh - the mystery is solved. Thanks much - I did not realized they were part of the same larger company

Will