Who Are We

Let me introduce myself – my name is John Packard and I am the founding father of Steel Market Update. Since 1977 I have been an active participant in the flat rolled steel business in North America. It is my background which provides the unique flavor and quality to Steel Market Update.

• I began my steel career with Rolled Steel Corporation, Skokie, IL in the summer 1977. Rolled Steel provided an opportunity to experience hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels in both their prime and secondary condition. As a young determined sales person I learned to “pound the phones” and “ask for orders” as was the process at the time.
• In 1980 I took a position with a small toll processing company called Innovative Steel which was located in New Hope, Minnesota. At Innovative Steel I learned to be a “jack of all trades” as I purchased steel, sold steel, worked on slitting set-ups and continued my education regarding both prime and secondary steels.
• My next learning experience came in 1982 as I moved south to Marietta, Georgia and the headquarters for a prime distribution company called Pacesetter Steel Service, Inc. (PSSI). During my first 9 year stint with Pacesetter I sold other service centers; HVAC companies (heating, ventilation & air conditioning) and manufacturers. For most of the 9 years I was the top producing sales person for the company as I mastered the art of “consultative selling” and became an expert in billing methods. My clients included some of the largest companies in North America down to small sheet metal shops and everything in-between. 
• My success at Pacesetter attracted the attention of Duferco Steel Inc. which is a trading company located in Red Bank, New Jersey. I joined Duferco in 1991 and my function was to start a service center division for the company. That division was originally called Sterling Steel which is today the Chicago facility for Macsteel. My time with Duferco exposed me to foreign and domestic mill purchasing as well as managing a new service center operation.
• In 1993 I rejoined Pacesetter Steel – at the bottom of the totem pole – and I built my territory back to the top position by using the consultative selling techniques I had mastered over the years.  My willingness to approach new areas of business and to be creative provided a platform upon which to grow my business. During my second tenure with Pacesetter I concentrated on large OEM accounts (original equipment manufacturers) and focused on conversion from post-paint to prepaint applications. A good example being Stanley Works door division where I was involved in their conversion from post-painting Galvannealed to utilizing a pre-painted minimum spangled galvanized.  It was during my second tenure with Pacesetter  when I began to produce a weekly newsletter strictly for my customers - the original publication was called - Galvanized Market Update.
• By late 1997 I came to the conclusion that I needed a mill behind me in order to continue to grow my business and better perform for my customers. I started Paragon Metal Services, Inc. and offered my sales services to Winner Steel a galvanized conversion mill located in Sharon, Pennsylvania (the mill is now called Sharon Coatings). I represented the mill for a little more than ten years and was the mills top producing sales entity when the mill was sold to Duferco JV – which is a partnership between Duferco Steel (Lugano, Switzerland) and Novolipetsk out of Russia.
• During the 2003/2004 time frame the domestic (USA) steel industry went through a rash of consolidation and the marketplace suffered through periods of time when there was not enough steel or, too much steel. To compliment my efforts at Winner Steel I began representing a couple of international trading companies selling flat rolled steel products out of Chile, China, India and Taiwan into the United States.
• During that same 2003-2004 time period – I was constantly frustrated by the lack of quality information being provided by the steel-related periodicals. I believed my clients deserved more information so they could make educated decisions about their steel sourcing, what was a "fair" price to pay and what direction future steel prices were headed – I began to provide a newsletter strictly for my customers – which I called Steel Market Update.
• In early 2008 as I waited for my contract with Winner Steel to expire I made a conscious decision to expand my focus and content since I was no longer going to be contractually tied to a domestic steel mill. By late Spring 2008 the feedback I was getting not only from my original clients but from others associated with the flat rolled steel business and the publishing business, convinced me to change my career path and to become a provider of quality information to the industry.
• Steel Market Update, Inc. became an official company and business concern in August 2008 and we began selling our first subscriptions.
• Steel Market Update expanded our operations with the addition of our new website in June 2009 and we look forward to further additions to our business in the very near future.