History & Vision

History

AA Metals was founded by Jack Cheng in 2003. Jack started the company in a small home office in Lexington, Kentucky, but in just over a decade his vision and leadership has created one of America’s premier distributors of non-ferrous metals and steel.

A first-generation Chinese immigrant, Jack set goals for our company that drew from his personal emphasis on exercising professionalism, competitiveness, and raw ability. Earning multiple academic degrees in metallurgy and other subjects, he has since surrounded himself with like-minded, experienced individuals who all work hard to improve company and industry.

As the company grew rapidly, so did the challenges. In 2016, AA Metals experienced, for the first time in company history, a drop in revenue from the previous year. Taking advantage of his experience and education, Jack implemented groundbreaking adjustments to the company’s infrastructure and operation abilities. Adopting an advanced cloud-based ERP system and reassigning personnel to more specialized roles were only a small part of his sweeping corrections. Within a couple years of these adjustments AA Metals increased growth to 30% a year beginning in the 2017-2018 period.

Over the last 7 years, AA Metals has twice been recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. His company serves 500+ customers with over 200 million pounds of aluminum and steel from dozens of mills located in Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East. With 10x growth of volume and 5x more employees in the last decade, it’s clear we’re only getting started.

Vision

The AA Metals philosophy is built on erecting higher standards for ourselves than other organizations might accept. Based on our leadership, ground and office personnel, and industry dominance, we expect to reach $1 billion in revenue within 5 years.

We work to be the largest and most dependable North American master distributor of high-quality metal products. We will drive this by delivering competitive solutions for our customers through cost effective supply chain management and long term vendor partnerships.

We strive to be the market leader by vigorously developing and pursuing efficiency and innovation to become the most admired company for our people, our partnerships, and our industry performance.

We Are Determined To Improve

Yes, we receive accolades for our fast growth, and although we are recognized as being blessed with excellent leadership, we don’t think we’re anywhere near perfection. In our goal to be the largest and most dependable distributor, we will improve product, service, and process until we are meeting every customer’s challenge perfectly. We would be honored if you took part in this endless pursuit of improvement.

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