In an industry where mergers and acquisitions often get a bad reputation, it’s important to recognize the cases where the merging of two companies is of the best interest of each party and their respective customer bases. This was on full display in 2019 when two longstanding PVF product suppliers decided to merge into one powerhouse.

After a challenging couple of years plagued with post-pandemic effects, unprecedented weather events and supply-chain disruption, November of 2021 served as a hopeful turning point for the waterworks sector with the passing of the U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — the largest investment in water in history, according to the American Waterworks Association’s 2022 State of the Waterworks Industry report (SOTWI).

According to a few industry experts, the sector is experiencing enough demand to say the market is in decent shape overall. Better yet, there are technology advancements happening to help provide relief from labor shortages.

For Ed Long and Tom Murphy, the decision was almost a no-brainer. And if you’ve seen the way the two are transforming the 40-year-old stainless pipe, valves, fittings distributor — Ace Stainless — since purchasing the company in 2020, you’d be shocked to know it’s just a team of about 10 people behind the major growth.

Respondents reported calendar-year-to-date sales growth of 24%. For the trailing 12 months ending March 2022, respondents reported strong sales growth of 23.7%. 

Raritan Group announced its recent hire of Donna Macaron, who will join the team as an Industrial Sales Specialist. In her new role, Macaron will be accountable for creating strategies to improve profitability and increasing sales. 

Respondents to ASA’s monthly sales report reported a median sales increase of 27% for February 2022 vs. the same February 2021 timeframe. These results reflect another month of robust performance compared to the same month a year ago, though compared to January 2022 totals, the median sales growth was a more modest 4.5%, reports Industry Insights, which prepares the report for ASA distributor members. 

Wolseley Industrial Group announced it has officially changed its name to Ferguson Industrial. The business has been operating as part of Ferguson for the last 15 years, but kept Ferguson’s parent company former namesake, Wolseley, until now.

Supply House Times did a quick spot check with a few valve manufacturers to get their take on the commercial/industrial landscape heading into the new year and beyond.

In terms of trends, Rick Wentzell, marketing division executive at Bonomi North America, says designers, engineers and industrial end-users are now looking to ensure the valves they order are chemically correct.