ASA Platinum Supplier Partner Spotlight: NIBCO

By Sally Boyer, Director of Marketing Communications – NIBCO INC

As we move through 2022, it’s been refreshing to see exhibit halls full, meetings in conference rooms rather than Zoom rooms, and even the hustle and bustle on our highways as many workers return to their offices. The future looks much more optimistic.

And the future is particularly paramount to American Supply Association’s (ASA) key initiative, “Building One Future.” This long-term, 10-year strategic action plan strives to help members remain competitive well into the future.

To build this future, we must come together as an industry. As a Platinum sponsor of ASA, NIBCO is proud to be supportive of this initiative on several levels. In the plan, ASA has identified several critical issues that our industry must face together to shape a better future. Talent recruitment, networking and education are among these.

Developing talent is an investment that NIBCO continues to support, understanding its significance and impact on the future of the industry. NIBCO CEO Rex Martin has long been an instrumental and driving force behind the company’s ongoing support of apprenticeship programs and trade schools, realizing that investing in our youth is constructing the path for the future.

In response to the labor shortages facing our industry, which have only intensified since the world experienced a global pandemic, NIBCO adopted a sales-training program aimed at bringing young people into the industry through our college recruitment efforts.

Networking is yet another ASA initiative that is key to building the industry’s future. Recognizing this, NIBCO Executive Vice President Ashley Martin (and fifth-generation family member leading the company) cofounded ASA’s Women in Industry division more than nine years ago, providing women in our industry the connections and opportunities to meet and exchange ideas to advance their knowledge and careers.

This strategy to empower women and recognize the important role they play in our industry also translates to NIBCO internally, where Martin is a strong advocate of bringing women into the company to launch their careers. She is the executive sponsor of the NIBwomen’s Group, an internal group founded by Alice A. Martin, that celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2020.

Keeping members well informed of the latest industry technologies is another key pillar that ASA and NIBCO commonly believe to be critical to the betterment of the industry. Providing the best education to our customer base, both distributors and end users, NIBCO offers multiple opportunities both in person and online that allow for transferring critical information about products and technologies. Educational webinars can also be accessed online at one’s convenience.

This year, NIBCO launched a new website that provides our customer base a more streamlined experience to find the information they need quickly and efficiently, as well as access technical documents and organize, store and revise submittal documents.

NIBCO is incredibly proud of its rich legacy in this industry. With a history of success and innovation in the plumbing industry, NIBCO is focused on bringing products and technologies to market that make installations easier and more efficient. More than 90% of NIBCO’s valves, fittings and flow-control products are proudly manufactured in nine U.S. manufacturing plants strategically located from the East Coast to the West Coast.

NIBCO is also proud of its strategic partnership with ASA, leveraging its resources, but also giving back by sharing our knowledge, our passion and our commitment to the industry.

Together, we are better. Together, we are building a greater future.