very fall, Alaska Business releases its list of Top 49ers, and every year readers are left wondering—which companies just missed making it onto the list, and by how much?

One up-and-comer is ARG Industrial, still waiting to crack the ranks for the first time in its 43-year history. In any other recent year, ARG Industrial’s reported gross revenues of $54 million would have been enough to catapult it onto the list; last year, that revenue would have been enough for number 47. But this year, with the bottom revenue set at $62.3 million, ARG missed the ranks. Barely.

President and CEO Mike Mortensen believes the day is coming.

“As we continue to grow, we hope to occupy that space someday,” he says. “We’re looking forward to officially making the Top 49 list someday soon.”

After four decades in business, what’s brought ARG Industrial to the precipice of breaking into the rankings? According to Mortenson, it’s a mix of strategic expansions and acquisitions, the debut of an e-commerce platform that showcases an extensive line of products, and a company culture focused on customer service.

“We focus primarily on the fluid conveyance and lifting and rigging space,” Mortensen says. “We sell hose and fittings and all the related industrial products around that, wire rope chain and synthetic slings for lifting and rigging, and we get into a lot of other areas.”

Headquartered in Anchorage, ARG Industrial’s 190 employees at twelve locations throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest serve the oil and gas, mining, construction, agriculture, and food processing markets. It is positioned as one of the largest regional distributors in the industry and is considered a leader in its vertical for distribution.

ARG Industrial opened in 1980 as Alaska Rubber & Supply and operated out of a single storefront in Anchorage. Changes to the company’s operations and footprint began in 2006 when the original owners decided to sell.

“Several of us that were there at that point purchased the business from the owner and formed an ESOP [employee stock ownership plan],” says Mortensen, who started with the company almost thirty years ago as a delivery driver before being named president and CEO in 2021. “It satisfied a desire for many of us to have a stake in the business but also set up a situation for succession management.”

From there, the company began its slow, steady expansion throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. In 2009 it doubled its Alaska footprint when it opened a second storefront in Wasilla and acquired Alaska Rubber and Rigging in Fairbanks. That acquisition led the company to change its name to Alaska Rubber & Rigging Supply. In 2014 it opened a fourth Alaska location in Kenai, and in 2020 it acquired Arctic Wire Rope & Supply in Anchorage.

In 2013 the company broke into the Pacific Northwest with the purchase of five Washington-based companies. That was followed by the acquisition of Pacific Hose & Fitting in Oregon in 2021 and Industrial Supply Inc. in Bellingham, Washington in 2022, making a total of twelve locations in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon.

The up-sized company also downsized its name, with Alaska Rubber Group rebranding earlier this year, adopting the “ARG Industrial” moniker to encompass its broader scope.

The expansions and acquisitions tell only part of the story when it comes to ARG Industrial’s rise.

“Obviously, every time we’ve done an acquisition, that comes with revenue expansion,” Mortensen says. “But we’ve also done really good at becoming the supplier of choice with the products that we sell in the markets that we serve.”

A business-to-business e-commerce platform that ARG Industrial launched in 2021 helped by extending the company’s reach beyond its physical locations and increasing its visibility to potential customers.

“People who know us from our former trade name Alaska Rubber think we just sell tires or something,” Mortensen says. “That’s one of the great things about our website. It really gives people an understanding of the depth and breadth of the products and the services that we offer. And we don’t just sell to contractors. People can walk in without an account and do business with us.”

Mortensen believes the company’s corporate culture and its switch to a 100 percent employee-owned ESOP plays a pivotal role in its success as well.

“It’s not just about the product that we sell but what we’re willing to do for the customer to help them solve their problems,” he says. “When our customers deal with members of our company, they’re talking to an owner. We like to think that shows employee-owners go above and beyond in serving the company.”

With more than half of its stores located outside of Alaska, and its product and service lines heavily expanded, the rebranding to ARG Industrial symbolizes growth beyond rubber—and beyond Alaska. The company’s Outside acquisitions were operating as subsidiaries, but the rebranding, Mortensen says, brings them under the same banner.

“We decided that our plans were no longer just about Alaska or just about rubber, so we rebranded to ARG Industrial,” he says, a process that is 75 percent complete. “The ‘ARG’ is still Alaska Rubber Group, but it also tells a different story. When we’re in Washington or Oregon or Montana or wherever we go, it’s not just Alaska, it’s not just rubber.”

Mortensen says the company is open to further expansion and acquisitions where it makes sense. But no matter how far Outside ARG Industrial’s reach may extend, it will remain true to its Alaska origins.

“Alaska is where our corporate offices are. It’s where more than half of our executives are based,” he says. “We’re Alaskans at heart. Even if it’s not directly in our name right now anymore, the ‘A’ is Alaska. We’re all super proud of that history and that heritage, and we don’t have any plans for that ever changing.”