Valve Report - Industrial Valco Inc REPORT - May 2012.pdf · Valve Report "IV" Valves Flourish ......

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Valve Report "IV" Valves Flourish as Brand Name Recognition Expands By Morris Beschloss MAY 2012 As a 57-year-long intense valve industry activist, I continue to marvel at the brandname longevity of top names associated with flow control products of great companies that have proven their quality acceptance over the years. Such venerable identities as Crane, Walworth, Lunkenheimer, Jenkins, Powell and Stockham can trace their origins back to the 19th century, when the flow control concept fused into the emerging industrial technologies of the 1850's and beyond. In my own experience as a field sales manager for then obscure, but subsequently well-known Hammond Valve, I quickly realized that proven quality and constant availability, in addition to evolution consonant with end users’ flow control development, resulted in established long-term prominence. In the 1960's, this was proven with the emergence of such quarter-turn (butterfly and ball valves, actuators, operators, etc.) embryos as Jamesbury, Worcester, Keystone, Apollo, and my own start-up success story. Quartrol, a Birmingham, Alabama company, strictly committed to all types of ball valves. With the increasingly intensive development of pipe-valve-fittings distribution in the past 25 years, valves have become the centerpiece of the PVF category approaching $50 billion annually at distribution level pricing. Within that group, the valve component can be classified as "big brother" since it represents the mechanism of internal moving parts, in conjunction with pipe, tube and fittings, which complete the total picture. Despite a marketing identity that now closely conjoins valves with its equally important pipe and fittings partners, valves themselves have made consistent progress in keeping with the automation, mechanization, and technological intricacies required by today’s evolving industrial end use technologies. Although the valve sector has gone increasingly global, in both production, engineering, marketing, as well as import-export relationships, brand names have retained a remarkable value in specification and purchasing decisions. Despite the fact that the cost factor added unprecedented emphasis to buyers’ analyses, as the new wave of imports hit America’s shores in the mid 1980's and beyond, today’s maximum value is predicated on the brand name, indicative of the security and backup implied by the source. Since almost all valve companies use some offshore components, as well as a few finished goods, there is a major difference between rank imports from nebulous sources, and valve products manufactured, quality-controlled and exclusively marketed by an American-based and highly respected management control. "IV" valves, the issue of Industrial Valco, inherited its already firmly-established reputation due to the prominence of Los Angeles area-based Industrial Valco. With a proven record of 67 years of master distribution of pipe-valve-fitting brands to the plumbing-heating-cooling-piping and mill supply distribution sector, the "IV" expanding product line of butterfly and ball valves reflects the cutting edge needs of distributors demanding superior service, competitive pricing with similar quality available elsewhere and, above all, the security and fall-back assurance provided by an organization with a faultless reputation. "IV’s" multi-million dollar revenue growth in a relatively short period, emanating in the past decade, is not only a tribute to the Industrial Valco reputation, but a realization that the "IV" line of valves is in lockstep with the quality expected from such a highly respected and regarded industry master distribution stalwart. As 50 years have proven, the retention of long-term specifications at the time-honored end-user level is the best indicator of the continuing regard held by the end-use engineers, maintenance guardians, and purchasing activators of the huge and growing energy and construction sectors. The already remarkable success enjoyed by the "IV" brand name, the newest entry to major valve name recognition, is the clearest indicator of continued progress.

Transcript of Valve Report - Industrial Valco Inc REPORT - May 2012.pdf · Valve Report "IV" Valves Flourish ......

Page 1: Valve Report - Industrial Valco Inc REPORT - May 2012.pdf · Valve Report "IV" Valves Flourish ... with flow control products of great companies that have ... Keystone, Apollo, and

Valve Report"IV" Valves Flourish as Brand Name Recognition ExpandsBy Morris Beschloss MAY 2012

As a 57-year-long intense valve industry activist, I continue to marvel at the brandname longevity of top names associated with flow control products of great companies that have proven their quality acceptance over the years.

Such venerable identities as Crane, Walworth, Lunkenheimer, Jenkins, Powell and Stockham can trace their origins back to the 19th century, when the flow control concept fused into the emerging industrial technologies of the 1850's and beyond. In my own experience as a field sales manager for then obscure, but subsequently well-known Hammond Valve, I quickly realized that proven quality and constant availability, in addition to evolution consonant with end users’ flow control development, resulted in established long-term prominence.

In the 1960's, this was proven with the emergence of such quarter-turn (butterfly and ball valves, actuators, operators, etc.) embryos as Jamesbury, Worcester, Keystone, Apollo, and my own start-up success story. Quartrol, a Birmingham, Alabama company, strictly committed to all types of ball valves.

With the increasingly intensive development of pipe-valve-fittings distribution in the past 25 years, valves have become the centerpiece of the PVF category approaching $50 billion annually at distribution level pricing. Within that group, the valve component can be classified as "big brother" since it represents the mechanism of internal moving parts, in conjunction with pipe, tube and fittings, which complete the total picture.

Despite a marketing identity that now closely conjoins valves with its equally important pipe and fittings partners, valves themselves have made consistent progress in keeping with the automation, mechanization, and technological intricacies required by today’s evolving industrial end use technologies.

Although the valve sector has gone increasingly global, in both production, engineering, marketing, as well as import-export relationships, brand names have retained a remarkable value in specification and purchasing decisions. Despite the fact that the cost factor added unprecedented emphasis to buyers’ analyses, as the new wave of imports hit America’s shores in the mid 1980's and beyond, today’s maximum value is predicated on the brand name, indicative of the security and backup implied by the source.

Since almost all valve companies use some offshore components, as well as a few finished goods, there is a major difference between rank imports from nebulous sources, and valve products manufactured, quality-controlled and exclusively marketed by an American-based and highly respected management control.

"IV" valves, the issue of Industrial Valco, inherited its already firmly-established reputation due to the prominence of Los Angeles area-based Industrial Valco. With a proven record of 67 years of master distribution of pipe-valve-fitting brands to the plumbing-heating-cooling-piping and mill supply distribution sector, the "IV" expanding product line of butterfly and ball valves reflects the cutting edge needs of distributors demanding superior service, competitive pricing with similar quality available elsewhere and, above all, the security and fall-back assurance provided by an organization with a faultless reputation.

"IV’s" multi-million dollar revenue growth in a relatively short period, emanating in the past decade, is not only a tribute to the Industrial Valco reputation, but a realization that the "IV" line of valves is in lockstep with the quality expected from such a highly respected and regarded industry master distribution stalwart.

As 50 years have proven, the retention of long-term specifications at the time-honored end-user level is the best indicator of the continuing regard held by the end-use engineers, maintenance guardians, and purchasing activators of the huge and growing energy and construction sectors.

The already remarkable success enjoyed by the "IV" brand name, the newest entry to major valve name recognition, is the clearest indicator of continued progress.