Bull Moose Tube Company, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based manufacturer of tube steel products founded in 1962, announced this week that it is enhancing its sprinkler-pipe manufacturing infrastructure to further establish its leadership position in that market. The company has made operational changes and capital investments to all its sprinkler-pipe mills to increase capacity in the past two months and is announcing further capital investments to add more capacity to existing facilities in both the East and the West. The latest infrastructure enhancements, when completed in early 2016, will continue to bolster the company’s reputation as the only supplier of sprinkler-pipe with mills in the eastern US (Masury, Ohio),western US (Casa Grande, Arizona) and central US (Gerald, Missouri).
The capital investment is part of the company’s overall initiative to enhance sprinkler-pipe production levels and to offer new sizes and products. As a result of the initial capital investment and overall enhancement program, the company already has increased its sprinkler-pipe work force by 15-20 percent; and sprinkler-pipe production is on track to grow by 50 percent over last year as a result of the changes already made. The level of the second-phase investment in infrastructure enhancements and the expected production/capacity growth levels were not disclosed.
Despite the challenging and highly competitive nature of the sprinkler-pipe business, as indicated by the recent exit of major players in the industry, Bull Moose Tube CEO Michael Blatz is confident that this investment is the right one for the company: “As the leading manufacturer of steel sprinkler-pipe, Bull Moose Tube values our relationship with our customers. We know how important our customers are to us, and want them to know they can rely on us to continue to lead in this key segment. Additionally, we are confident that the market will continue to grow, along with the demand for our product,” said Blatz. “The recent departure by other manufacturers has created more demand for us as well. We quickly realized that an increase in capacity was necessary to fulfill our commitment to the industry and to continue to provide exceptional products and service to our customers.”
The company anticipates continued growth in demand for sprinkler-pipe, citing the growth in commercial construction, as well as the increase in retrofitting jobs necessary to keep up with increasingly stringent fire-safety codes. After several years of closely aligned supply and demand in this segment, the recent departure of other sprinkler-pipe manufacturers has resulted in an influx of new customers to remaining manufacturers.