BlackHawk Industrial continues its aggressive expansion, with the metalworking and industrial supplies distributor adding Alro Industrial Supply to its footprint via acquisition.

BlackHawk (Broken Arrow, OK) announced Dec. 19 that it completed a deal to acquire Alro, which is a subsidiary of metals and plastics distributor Alro Steel Corporation (Jackson, MI). Alro Industrial Supply has three locations — Jackson, MI; Grand Rapids, MI and Clearwater, FL — furthering BlackHawk’s presence in Michigan and Florida.

In business since 1964, Alro Industrial Supply specializes in cutting tools, abrasives, coolant and MRO supplies, alongside a proprietary tool management system that assists customers with transaction cost reductions. The company is a member of Affiliated Distributors.

“BlackHawk Industrial is the perfect partner to position Alro Industrial Supply into the future,” Alro Steel Corp. CEO Randy Glick said in a news release. “Like Alro, BlackHawk highly values providing cost savings and productivity improvements to their customers. BlackHawk possesses the resources, the systems, and market focus to continue with investment and expansion in the highly competitive industrial supply space. Alro looks forward to continuing its investment and growth in the Steel and Plastics businesses.”

Terms weren’t disclosed for the deal, which represents BlackHawk’s third acquisition of 2023, and its 10th since the start of 2022. Its previous additions this year were Pocatello, ID-based Advanced Industrial Supply and Chattanooga, TN-based Stock’d Supply.

“We continue to build the largest technical sales force in the industry. The addition of Alro Industrial Supply’s team of experts just extends our lead,” BlackHawk President and CEO John Mark added. “We look forward to building on the value that Alro has brought to so many customers in the Michigan and Florida Markets. It is extremely exciting to have the talented associates of Alro Industrial Supply join BlackHawk and contribute to our ongoing success.”

BlackHawk was No. 32 on MDM’s 2023 Top Industrial Distributors List, and No. 14 for MRO distributors. With locations across the U.S., Mexico, United Kingdom and the Phillippines, the company’s markets nearly 3 million products, with a heavy emphasis on metalworking categories.