GF Piping Systems Reveals Full Scope Of Products And Applications

Brian LaBelle, director of marketing for GF Piping Systems, sat down with Water Online Radio for this live interview from the show floor at WEFTEC 2011 in Los Angeles. LaBelle shares with the audience the genesis of the company, and how its product range has grown to accommodate every aspect of the water cycle. Listen or read on to learn more.

Todd Schnick: We are back, broadcasting live from the Los Angeles Convention Center and the tradeshow floor of WEFTEC. I am Todd Schnick, joined by my co-host Todd Youngblood. Todd, so far so good, pal. We’re off to a roaring start.

Todd Youngblood: It is a roaring start, and I figured it would be. I mean with this crowd here, the excitement keeps building and building as the morning is wearing on too.

Todd Schnick: Well, we’re continuing with the first hour. We are really excited to welcome to the show Brian LaBelle with GF Piping. Welcome to Water Online Radio.

Brian: Well, my pleasure to be here. Thank you, Todd.

Todd Schnick: Before we get into it, take a few minutes and tell us a little bit about yourself and about GF Piping.

Brian: Brian LaBelle, director of marketing with GF Piping Systems, and a lot of people ask me about George Fischer. Sometimes we get telephone calls asking for George himself. It’s important to know, at least it’s important for us, that you know George Fischer is a pretty old company. Johann Conrad Fischer founded the company back in 1802, which happened to be early in the first term of which U.S. President? Any guesses?

Todd Schnick: 1802 ... that was Thomas Jefferson.

Brian: Yeah, thank you very much. That’s right. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. George Fischer was his [Johann Conrad Fischer’s] son and grandson and great grandson and, somewhere along the line, George Fischer became the name of the corporation.

Piping Systems is one of three groups within GF. Within GF Piping Systems, there are three divisions: Industrial Systems, Water and Gas Utilities, and Building Technology.

Here at WEFTEC we’re showcasing our industrial portfolio, which consists of a lot more than pipe. We offer pressure pipe and waste piping, fittings, adjoining technology, manual actuated valves, sensors, and instrumentation for the conveyance, measurement, and control of liquid in corrosive media. So that’s who and what George Fischer and GF Piping Systems is.

Todd Schnick: Brian, I’ve got to take you back to Thomas Jefferson. Most companies that are founded die after two or three years. Very few survive after five. What makes you guys different? How do you survive for centuries.

Brian: That’s a great question. We are a public company, traded on the Swiss Stock Exchange, which means that short-term results and performance matter also. And, of course, that’s what drives and consumes the majority of our attention on a day-to-day basis.

I’ve been with GF for 15 years. As I mentioned earlier, currently director of marketing in one of our largest sales companies here in the U.S. I do have some insight into what makes George Fischer tick, but I’m far from the corporate management group and really can only offer some observations from my own experience. GF’s got strong leadership at every level of the company, with a lot of emphasis on teamwork.

We’ve got excellent planning processes, genuine commitment to quality, a stubborn persistence to do what’s right. I’d be happy to give you as many examples of that as you’d like. And a small set of core values that help us stay focused and that are empowering as we do our jobs. Those core values are: we put customers first, we act fast, we do what we say, we reward performance, and we respect people.

Todd Schnick: Walk us through why municipal water and wastewater treatment markets are of interest to GF Piping.

Brian: All market segments and applications related to the general water cycle are of strategic interest to GF Piping Systems. As I mentioned before, there are three divisions within GF Piping Systems: there’s the Industrial Systems Group, the Water and Gas Utilities Group, and the Building Technologies Group.

So if you think of the water cycle in general, that’s kind of the core concept that binds all of these three divisions together. From extraction from whatever that fresh water source happens to be, to treatment and usage by residences, commercial usage, and industrial usage. Then waste and post-treatment for reuse, reclamation, or discharge back into the environment in that water cycle. That’s where GF Piping Systems plays at every level.

Another thing about the water cycle is that it’s obviously a global market. But it’s, at the same time — just as GF Piping Systems — global and local. We’re headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, but we’ve got major operations in every region of the world with a lot of local facilities for manufacturing and sales and support.

Wherever there’s water, wherever there are populations and industry demanding clean water, GF Piping Systems is there. That provides a great base business for us to branch into other faster growing markets like ship-building or cooling and refrigeration.

We’re focused on the municipal markets. Always have been, always will be. It just provides a great base for our global business.

Todd Schnick: Brian, one of the things I’ve observed in my career is change, or more accurately, the increasing pace of change. What kind of trends are you seeing and what about how quickly they’re happening, particularly in the municipal market?

Brian: Well, you know there’s a tremendous need just to bring our average municipal operations up to modern standards. This is a story that you’ve probably heard from others and you’ll hear it again throughout the day. We’ve got an aging infrastructure here in the United States. One of the trends that we’ve seen over time is that in spite of this need for investment, we see operations and maintenance budgets continue to get squeezed. We see these operations and maintenance crews continue to be asked to do more with less. That puts a lot of emphasis on automation.

That’s measurement and control. Especially those systems that are less expensive and less time-consuming to maintain. That’s our forté. That’s our specialty and the focus of our automation business. Reduction of energy usage, low carbon footprint — those remain major drivers in many regions. We do address those needs very directly also.

In terms of material usage in the industry, PE100 piping systems in plants — as well as deeper into distribution systems — is growing. Piping systems, in general, are getting larger and larger to accommodate greater capacities for treatment and distribution. The GF product portfolio is growing right along with these trends.

Todd Schnick: Brian, what makes you guys different? If you had to pick out one or two key differentiators of you and the rest of the marketplace, what would they be?

Brian: GF Piping Systems’ diverse portfolio. “Piping Systems,” on the face of it, might be a bit misleading. But if you were to visit our booth here, you’ll see that we are a lot more than just pipe.

It’s pipe, it’s fittings, it’s the joining technology, it’s the manual and actuated valves, and it’s the sensors and instruments that come together and form the most complete piping system that you’ll find available on the market.

It’s really about the diversification of our portfolio and the diversification of the markets that we serve both globally and locally.

Todd Schnick: Now, GF Piping is exhibiting here. What are you all hoping to achieve at WEFTEC? Is it about lead generation, launching new products, market education, identifying new partners — what are your goals here?

Brian: It’s primarily about launching new products. We’ve got several new products that we’re featuring here. We’ve got a new free chlorine analyzer. We’ve got a new turbidimeter.

We’ve got a new 9900 instrument, which is a single-channel, multiparameter platform that can be used for flow, pH, ORP, conductivity, and pressure temperature level. And we also have a new double containment piping system called Double C, which is a vinyl-by-vinyl, double-containment piping system.

This show is a great show. It’s a big show. It’s an international show and it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase some of the new releases and the products that we offer.

But it’s also a great opportunity for us to show the breadth of the package and how those products work together for common applications in water and wastewater treatment.

Todd Schnick: I’ll tell ya, breadth of the package, that is exactly what I was thinking of as you were just talking. One of the things that I would have trouble with is just keeping up with all the different aspects of what you could do to serve one of your customers.

How do you approach that challenge? How do you keep your customers informed of the value that you really do have to bring to them.

Brian: Water Online, obviously, is one great way for us to reach our customers. Through the Internet, we’ve got a website, www.gfpiping.com, with lots of great support information there on the products and services that we offer.

We often, at large trade shows like this one, we go to market exclusively in the United States through a network — a very large and vast network of stocking distributors. So there are literally thousands of feet on the street — people that are familiar with GF Piping Systems.

These are trained field sales engineers, guys that can help you solve your problems with the latest and most innovative products on the market today. Really, a shout-out to the distribution network for GF, plus the resources that we offer through gfiping.com.

Todd Schnick: Okay, we’re about out of time. Brian, where can our audience find your booth?

Brian: Our booth number is 5733 here in the West Hall at WEFTEC in Los Angeles, 2011. We’re happy to be here. We’d love for you to come by our booth, take a look at what we have to offer, ask us any questions that you’d like.

But following the show, this interview will be archived for a long time on Water Online and also through gfpiping.com. That’s where you need to go — www.gfpiping.com to get the latest and greatest information on a super portfolio.

Todd Schnick: Gosh, Todd, I love a good marketing guy.

Todd Youngblood: I wish we could get him to open up a little bit.

Todd Schnick: Do we replicate him in any other organization?

Todd Youngblood: How much content did he pack into a quick conversation. Pretty impressive.

Todd Schnick: I’m telling you what, that was just fascinating. Hey, Brian, one more time before we let you go, share with the audience how they can get in touch with GF Piping and learn more about your work.

Brian: Thanks for that again. It’s www.gfpiping.com.

Todd Schnick: Alright. It was a pleasure having you. Thanks for joining us on Water Online Radio.

Brian: My pleasure.

Todd Youngblood: Thanks, Brian.

Brian: Have a great day.

Todd Schnick: Alright, that wraps this segment. On behalf of Todd Youngblood, I’m Todd Schnick. Water Online Radio will be right back.