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PVF Hall of Fame
PVF Hall of Fame celebrates decade of industry focus
W
hen Portland, Ore.-based Paramount Pipe and Supply’s 19-branch operation joins the exalted group of manufactur-
ers, distributors and industry leaders comprising the previously chosen inductees into the Pipe, Valve & Fittings Hall of Fame, increasing focus will be be- stowed on an annual, highly celebrated PVF indus- try institution. The gratitude for making this PVF Hall of Fame recognition possible must go to Tom Brown,
Prior to the PVF Hall of Fame introduction in
2001, oilfield expert and manufacturer Westbrook Manufacturing Company’s co-owner Sid West- brook organized the PVF Roundtable, which brought together the “vertical” interest groups: raw material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, ar- chitect-engineers, specifiers, turnkey constructors, master distributors, exporters, etc. This has evolved into today’s PVF Roundtable,
owner and publisher of The Wholesalermagazine. I presented this idea to him after joining The Wholesaler as the PVF industry and economic an- alyst in 2001. It’s worthy of his understanding the expanding role of PVF activities in the PHCP in- dustry as a whole that he gave me carte blanche to move this idea forward. The independent stature of the PVF manufactur-
ers and distributors as a group with a distinguished identity dates back to the 1970 birth of the Ameri- can Supply Association. This event was culminated by the merger of the Midwest-based Central Supply Association and the national federation of distrib- utor regionals, the American Institute of Supply As- sociations. This new entity, the ASA Industrial Piping Division, was recognized by the ASA’s charter board of directors, which I had the privilege to present to the initial meeting of the combined na- tional distributor organization. I was privileged to have been one of the archi-
tects of the ASA-IPD. As chairman of the Valve Manufacturers Association, I joined Fred Keenan of Keenan Pipe, George Keenen from Keenen- Cashman, and Charlie Ransburg of Pittsburgh Gage in constructing this originally crafted distributor- oriented association of wholesalers, who craved a
meeting quarter-annually in Houston at the H.E.S.S. Club. This organization is on a roll, hav- ing reached an attendance of over 250 at the Feb- ruary meeting. The highlight of these meetings has become the two-hour networking between the varied industry fac- tor representatives. These in- clude raw material suppliers, manufacturers, manufactur- ers’ reps, wholesale distribu- tors, master distributors, end users, OEMs, turnkey con- structors, exporters and importers. It is a fitting tribute to
the unified nature of the joint associations to de- clare the May PVF Roundtable meeting as the Hall of Fame all-star extrava- ganza. In fact, the ASA-IPD has gra- ciously worked their spring execu- tive council meeting into a per- manent session to follow the Houston evening Roundtable meeting with a Wednesday morning program. The prestigious Delta Group is also expected to be in attendance at this all-industry summit.
Needless to say, all PVF partisans are cordially
invited to register for the PVF Roundtable session on May 17, which will not only feature the induc- tion ceremony and an introduction of previous in- ductees present but also short talks by Hall of Fame member and IPD chair Pat Adams, MKS Supply, and, of course, this year’s recipient, Paramount Supply’s president and majority owner, Ken Grothe. With a record attendance at the February meeting already established, we expect all in- terested PVF participants to celebrate what is on the verge of coalescing into one of the greatest industry years ever.
s e p a - rate identity in their relationship with me- chanical contractors, industrial end users
and original equipment manufacturers. Previously, those not familiar with overall plumbing - heating- cooling-piping practices had lumped PVF together with PHC on the one hand, or mill supply distribu- tion on the other, even for those who catered solely to the industrial project and MRO trade.
Ken Grothe — flow control upgrading leadership provider
By a remarkable coincidence, I had occasion to
interview Ken Grothe for the American Supply Association’s former publication ASA News in 1996. This dialogue was particularly memorable to me, since Ken had the foresight to commit himself and his fast-growing multi-branch oper- ation to flow control instrumentation, actuation,
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BY MORRIS R. BESCHLOSS PVF, economic analyst emeritus
systemization and gasketing. Even then, Grothe was passionately committed
to the future development of upgraded valving op- portunities in a territory encompassing Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. At that time, his offer- ings already included such exclusive or limited dis- tribution lines as Asco, Yarway, Dresser, Garlock and Chesterton, Durco and American Valve’s fam- ily of 4000s. Amazingly, he had already stationed engi- neers at most of his then-15 loca- tions, with a 48-strong outside sales force. This en- abled Grothe to
penetrate such major end use sec-
tors as pulp and paper, food process- ing and oil refining. He was also on the
cutting edge of semi- conductors, which were
then experiencing dra- matic growth.
Grothe also commented on the continuous product orientation sessions his teams were holding with such diverse users as Intel, Boise Cascade and Ponderay Newsprint, a paper specialty
provider. This led to Ponderay naming Paramount Supplier of the Year in 1995. He further informed us that Paramount’s Anchor-
age branch provided engineering advice and valve product services to the Aleyeska Oil consortium operations. As future developments have proven, this helped develop intimate relationships for Para- mount and its suppliers and end use customers. Grothe further intrigued me with his intimate
professional relationship with Bob McCray, founder and developer of the Worcester ball valve line, which Paramount helped introduce. McCray was a valve industry colleague of mine and suc- ceeded me as chairman of the Valve Manufacturers Association in the mid 1970s. It’s a matter of pride and satisfaction to observe
that Grothe and Paramount have stuck to their founding principles during the past 15 years, which has led to the continuation of their “Paramount” success and continued leadership in the expanding flow control technology.
n
Morris R. Beschloss, a 55-year veteran of the pipe, valve and fitting industry, is PVF and economic an- alyst emeritus for THeWHoleSAleR. (PVF Hall of Fame continues on page 34.)
•THE WHOLESALER® —MAY 2011
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