Nine trade press editors and publishers attended a media training event at Viega’s educational facility in Nashua, NH, in December. Supply House Times Editor Jim Olsztynski and Pat Lenius, managing editor, were among the attendees. Here are some highlights:

Viega is not pronounced vee-yay-gah as I used to think, but veee-gah.

Viega has been family-owned 110 years. It manufactures plumbing, heating and piping products in both Germany and the U.S. and views itself as a complete systems solutions provider. The company has maintained steady growth in recent years.

Enlarge this picture Jason McKinnon, manager of training and technical support at Viega, discussed the company’s ProPress, PureFlow and ProRadiant products.

“We have automated as much as we can, focus on features and benefits and compete with service,” says Christian Geisthoff, vice president of business development/marketing. He predicts the market should be coming back somewhat by early 2011.

Viega has 140 field salespeople who sell direct and some rep agencies. The company has five locations, offers 14,000 products and has more than 2,500 employees worldwide, including about 500 sales and office staff in North America.

Viega offers training, tech support and design services, according to Mike Parent, director of technical services. The training is application-driven. The company charges for its training but does not profit from it, he says. Training is offered at various price points depending on how many days are involved and if it includes hotel, airfare and/or a tool.

Enlarge this picture Supply House Times Editor Jim Olsztynski solders pipe after learning about Viega’s Propress solderless connection system.

MANABLOC is Viega’s modular manifold system that serves as a master control center for household water. It controls the flow of hot and cold water to every faucet, toilet or appliance from one central location. Also, all the shut-offs are in one easily accessible location.

Only Viega pipe is approved to be used with Viega fittings.

Stainless steel is stronger than copper.

Silane is a chemical additive that is added after PEX has been extruded to make it more chlorine- or UV-resistant.

PEX al PEX and FostaPEX are not the same! PEX al PEX has aluminum in the middle and PEX on the outside. FostaPEX has the aluminum outside and the PEX inside.


— Pat Lenius