Along time ago the saying was “Go West, young man.” Nowadays, it’s “Get to the Dakotas.” The modern-day oil boom in the Bakken region — covering a majority of North Dakota, northwestern South Dakota, eastern Montana and in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan — has been an impressive launching pad for PVF distributors willing to commit resources to the area.
Visitors looking for the latest heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and sanitation products and technologies at the 2013 ISH China & CIHE show didn’t leave the New China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing disappointed.
Ed Ismert, Jr., started plumbing product manufacturer Sioux Chief in 1957 as a way to smooth the boom-bust housing cycle his plumbing wholesale supply company experienced. Nearly six decades later, Sioux Chief, still run by the Ismert family, continues to thrive as an American manufacturer of a wide variety of plumbing installation products.
A strong mix of industry veterans and talented newcomers committed to a team concept, coupled with key technology and training advances position Spirit Group as a market leader in Florida and is the basis for the 20-year-old company being named the 2013 Supply House Times Manufacturers Representative of the Year.