FAST vs MPLX Comparison

Fastenal began as an industrial retailer, expanding its product portfolio from nuts and bolts to cutting tools, safety equipment, and janitorial supplies. It transitioned into a distributor by building out a dense network of branches close to its business customers. Once a customer becomes large enough, Fastenal installs vending machines and its own personnel on-site. Today, these on-site locations exceed Fastenal's branch count and remain the firm's main focus for expansion. Fastenal acts as a one-stop outsourcing partner for its industrial customers, offering value-added services along with a wide breadth of maintenance, repair, and operations supplies.

MPLX is a partnership that owns pipelines and gathering and processing assets with extensive holdings in the Appalachian and Permian regions. The asset base is made up of crude oil and refined products assets dropped down from Marathon Petroleum, its sponsor, and natural gas and natural gas liquids gathering and processing assets that were purchased or built.