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Enhancing efficiency
Custom Pipe now has over 400 employees, with 12 different locations across eight US states, demonstrating exponential growth and development as it hits its 50-year milestone. Greg notes one of the key factors for this growth has been the company’ s acquisitions:“ From 2015, we completed three acquisitions – situated in New Mexico, Florida and Nebraska, these acquisitions have all been themed around geographic expansion. It’ s very expensive to ship pipe across the US, so having locations closer to our customer base means we’ re able to save some freight costs. Furthermore, having a physical presence and being able to ship within a 24-hour window is crucial – if you have a hole in the ground with a water leak, you need a pipe in there as soon as possible.” Another catalyst for its rapid development has been recent technological advancements, including the purchase of a robot, which Greg describes as‘ incredible.’ He goes on to explain why Custom Pipe introduced automation:“ Over 50 years, a company goes through various levels of technology or manufacturing capability; when I entered Custom Pipe five years ago, we were still using 70-year-old pieces of equipment for threading. I knew we had to shake things up for efficiency, so we automated a robot to make bearings. That robot can work 24 / 7 and the fact that it’ s there in the background making parts makes the process more streamlined. However, the biggest impact was the introduction of our new CNC threading machines – what used to be a 30-minute operation now takes less than six minutes. These machines are computer-driven and much more fascinating for younger employees who want to be involved in
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