MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc (MSC), through its subsidiaries, primarily, MSC Industrial Supply Co., is one of the largest industrial equipment distributors in the world. MSC is most famous for publishing "The Big Book", a catalog detailing the company's products, which currently number almost 600,000.

MSC was founded in 1941 as "Sid Tool, Inc.", by Sidney Jacobson, in New York's Little Italy

Little Italy, Manhattan

Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Today the neighborhood of Little Italy consists of Italian stores and restaurants.-Historical area:...

. It originally sold cutting tools and accessories to New York City machine shops. The company later moved its headquarters to Plainview, NY and in 1998, moved to its current headquarters in Melville, New York

Melville, New York

Melville is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Huntington in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, 14,533 people resided there.-Location:...

. The company currently operates from four regional distribution centers and 95 branch offices. On June 8, 2006, MSC completed the acquisition of J & L America, Inc., DBA

Doing business as

The phrase "doing business as" is a legal term used in the United States, meaning that the trade name, or fictitious business name, under which the business or operation is conducted and presented to the world is not the legal name of the legal person who actually own it and are responsible for it...

, J & L Industrial Supply (J & L), a subsidiary of Kennametal

Kennametal

Kennametal is a leading producer of metals founded in 1938 in the Pittsburgh suburb of Latrobe, Pennsylvania and still headquartered there. It delivers productivity to customers seeking peak performance in demanding environments by providing innovative custom and standard wear-resistant solutions...

for $349.5 million.

External links

• MSC homepage