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Focus: Engineered
sales to the water, wastewater and industrial wastewater
markets offering “best in class” products. |
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The early years.
John P. Place founded John P. Place Company in 1952.
John was an Army Air Corps veteran of WWII returning to complete his BS in Engineering at Grove City College after the war.
After starting his career as a plant engineer for United States Steel, John joined a respected industrial manufacturers’ representative firm in 1948.
At our founding in 1952 initial product lines included specialty valve and pump products setting the tone for our focus on engineered sales. Sales efforts focused on the iron, steel and aluminum industries.
Early growth years.
By 1960 the business had grown to a point were expansion was possible and the company became John P. Place, Inc.
Edward A. Baldinger and John S. Wolf joined the company bringing extensive experience in the municipal water and wastewater markets to the company.
Clean Water Act years.
With a balanced product mix, the company was well positioned to take advantage of the tremendous surge in municipal treatment plant and pump station construction beginning in the mid 70’s and extending into the early 1980’s.
In 1977, J. Mark Place joined the company bringing process equipment manufacturing experience and a Business Administration degree with a marketing emphasis.
In 1980, Joseph C. Lampart, PE, MBA, joined the company. Joe brought a broad municipal background having served as a consulting engineer, municipal staff engineer and process instrumentation and control sales engineer.
This diversification and expanded skill set served the company well in the closing years of the initial surge of Clean Water Act work and through the near total demise of heavy industry in the territory.
During the late 1980s new markets were developed to compensate for the drop in sales to the steel and aluminum industry.
These diversification efforts led to strong positions in the solid waste industry and the sale of leachate treatment and geo-technical containment systems.
SRF Years.
With the loss of EPA funding, the new state revolving loan fund programs and FHA loan program provided new funding and new challenges in the municipal market.
Thanks to a mix of long term relationships and “best in class” lines, the company was well positioned to participate in the new construction and rehab projects being funded.
The product mix was adjusted to incorporate new and innovative technology from leading manufacturers.
The Present.
From our roots in 1952, we have maintained our focus on engineered sales for premier manufacturers in each product category.
We strive to build long term relationships with our manufacturers, specifiers and end users.
We are proud that some of these relationships have lasted for nearly 40 years.
In an industry constantly challenged by globalization and consolidation, we strive to provide some measure of stability to our customers.
We are constantly challenged to meet our customers’ expectations for high quality information in a timely fashion.
To meet those needs we have continued to invest in the technology to deliver the requested information on a near 24x7 basis.
Recent upgrades to our telephone and computer systems add support to our PDA and laptop equipped sales force.
CD-ROM based presentations have become a major sales tool for focused presentations.
Education is one of our most effective selling tools in an “or equal” market.
In a typical year we present or sponsor as many as 12 educational seminars through industry associations and third party agencies such as the WV Environmental Training Center.
We facilitate these educational opportunities through membership and participation in various industry groups including:
Water Environment Federation
PA Water Environment Federation
WV Water Environment Federation
American Water Works Association
PA Section
WV Section
National Rural Water Association
PA Rural Water Association
WV Rural Water Association
Manufactures’ Agents National Association
Pittsburgh Chapter Steering Committee
Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association
Distributor’s committee participant.
Instrument Society of America
We believe that a professional start-up and knowledgeable after-market support is critical to sustaining relationships.
To meet our customers’ needs, we combine a service trained sales force with factory technicians and a select group of contract specialists.
Local service is supported by a well equipped service truck and a focused parts inventory.
The Future.
The ability to change is critical in these turbulent times.
John P. Place, Inc. has an award winning track record of introducing new technology to the market going back over many years.
Some landmark products and processes include:
- Bentonite based geotechnical liners
- Claricone™ reactor clarifier
- Hidrostal-Prerostal pumping systems
- PACT™ carbon based treatment technology
- Single stage turbo compressors
- Egg Shaped Digestors
- Immersed membrane water filtration
We are committed to finding and developing those new best in class products, which will best serve our customers’ needs and enhance the product lines, which we already represent.
We are cognizant of the turmoil in our industry and look to strengthening relationships with quality manufacturers.
We believe that our active participation in MANA provides both a foundation for these relationships, and also a benchmark for the type of relationship that will be mutually beneficial.
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