Founded by Sylvester and Helen Smith in 1950 as a small welding supply company, S.J. Smith has grown from a single store front, three person business, to a four state, 13 location business. The Smith's early vision was to provide individualized service to those smaller customers that their supplier, Airco, felt it could no longer afford to service directly.

In 1969, their son Richard entered the business after college and military service. Sylvester's poor health forced Richard to take over the Presidency of the company in 1972. Richard never lost sight of his parent's vision of service to all customers large or small, and led the company expansion through a series of acquisitions and scratch starts that grew the business to its present geographic coverage in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and North Eastern Missouri. As times have changed, so has the company. No longer can the salesman just show up and "hock their wares." Now the customer expects zero errors, instant response and problem solving advice from its key suppliers. The customer also expects to buy from fewer vendors and competitively. To that end, S.J. Smith has evolved into a multifaceted problem solver using technology to help us service our customers.

S.J.Smith expanded into safety and industrial supplies, high purity specialty gas manufacturing, welder repair, resistance and spot welding, san/jan, office supplies, and welder training to provide a greater service level to our customers.   S.J. Smith developed its welder training program to help educate, certify and upgrade our manufacturing customer base. Smith's operating system, developed specifically for our business, allows for the customization of billing statements and report writing for all accounts. The customer has the flexibility to order with us via walking in to one of our 13 stores, through one of our 39 outside sales people in the field, through electronic data interchange (EDI) or this web store. The company's philosophy is to treat our customers and vendors with professionalism, responsiveness, and honesty. We will serve our business partners by adding value with a commitment to continuous improvement, innovation and mutual satisfaction. As S.J. Smith enters its 59th year in business it is with determination to continue to be the premier supplier in our market place.  To do so S.J.Smith is undergoing a new philosophy.  We have started the C.I. Process which helps us find issues with our processes and fix them.  What does this mean to you?  It means that we can provide even better/faster service to you the customer at a lower cost.