MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. is one of the premier distributors of Metalworking and Maintenance, Repair and Operations (`MRO`) supplies to industrial customers throughout the United States. MSC distributes approximately 590,000 industrial products from approximately 3,000 suppliers to approximately 350,000 customers. MSC reaches its customers through a combination of approximately 27 million direct-mail catalogs and CD-ROMs, 96 branch sales offices, 927 sales people, the Internet and associations with some of the world's most prominent B2B e-commerce portals.