Salem's roots can be traced to one man, four products and a single market. In 1934, Ralph Siewers opened an office on the 14th floor of the R. J. Reynolds Building in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Siewers Sales Agency's line of glass-related products consisted of rouge, pumice, felt and cork wheels. The market was the Furniture Industry. Winston-Salem was, at that time, surrounded by the largest concentration of furniture manufacturers in the United States.

At that time, the glass segment of the Furniture Industry was in its infancy. Production processes were not yet mechanized and all glass beveling and polishing were done by hand. Mr. Siewers learned the industry from the inside. That was his strength. He saw the Glass Industry changing and had the vision to lead the way in consumable supplies, offering the best products available.

As the Glass Industry became mechanized, processes demanded more efficient products. Diamond wheels and coolants were being introduced, polishing rouge gave way to cerium oxide glass polishing compounds. True to its original vision, Salem maintained working partnerships with manufacturers, and were instrumental in the development and introduction of this new generation of products.

In July, 1972, the Siewers Agency was incorporated and changed its name to Salem Distributing Company. By then, the company was supplying surface preparation materials not only to the Glass and Mirror Industry but also to the Ophthalmic and Precision & Electro-Optical Industries. For the next 70 years, Salem has serviced these diverse Industries. It continually set the standard for meeting the industry's demand for cost-effective, high-quality, innovative machinery and supplies. Just recently, Salem has focused its unique capabilities into serving the Stone Industry. Once again distilling its broad knowledge and infrastructure, Salem will raise the bar of service to another industry.

Today, Salem is a 100% Employee Owned Company with sales in 39 foreign countries. A support staff of 56 is housed in the Corporate office located in a 50,000-square-foot facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and 23 field sales people are strategically located throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Warehouses are maintained in Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Toronto, Canada and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Salem was founded upon the philosophy that it was not just about supplies and machinery. It was about service. It was about value. It was about earning confidence and building partnerships. This was the commitment that brought Salem to this point and the same commitment, shared by employee ownership, that will take it into the future.