Dan Markus, President of Cal Pipe Manufacturing, discusses his company’s newly christened electric division and other recent developments.

EDN: Tell us about the rationale for launching Cal Conduit Products.

DM: Well, first, it makes our electrical product lines clearer to our customers. We continue to broaden our conduit product line, so it just made sense to group them into a division. We have several businesses that operate inside Cal Pipe that manufacture and sell into different industries. We do structural bending and rolling for the heavy construction industry, we do precision fabrications for engineering companies for one-time projects, we do tight-tolerance custom rolling for customers like the U.S. Department of Defense, and we manufacture our own line of architectural and security bollards.

It was time to separate our fastest-growing line into its own division. Cal Conduit Products is strictly electrical conduit products, especially those that must meet UL and NEC specs.

EDN: So Cal Conduit Products is devoted only to the electrical side?

DM: Exactly. And to further delineate our electrical conduit products, we have branded them. Calbrite is our stainless steel line of conduit and conduit products. Calbond is our PVC-coated conduit brand, Calduit is our EMT steel conduit, CalPVC is our non-metallic conduit line, Caluminum is for aluminum conduit and Calflex is our new flexible conduit line.

Cal Conduit Products sells these branded product lines only through electrical distribution, and all of our products meet or exceed UL and NEC requirements. All of the non-electrical product lines that meet ASTM specs, Mil-Specs or custom engineering specs will continue under the Cal Pipe Manufacturing name.

EDN: So 2005 was a year of growth for you?

DM: Growth *and* change. Last year, we went nationwide in our distribution. We have reps now in 25 states, and we expect this network to expand in 2006. We have added machinery and staff to keep up with the new demand this has created. We now have some of the largest and most capable benders and threaders on the West Coast serving the electrical wholesale market.

Along with the growth for current products, we’ve innovated with a number of new products and expanded product lines to address glaring needs in the market. So we have had our hands full. All of this gray hair you see was new for 2005 as well!

EDN: How have you expanded your electrical product offerings?

DM: I’m really excited about how we are becoming a true “one-stop shop” in terms of conduit, conduit fittings, and sweeps and elbows. We are one of the largest UL-listed manufacturers west of the Mississippi that has the ability to deal in more than one or two materials, and that can offer value-added services. We manufacture or distribute over 3,000 different products right now, and that number keeps growing.

EDN: Can you give us some examples?

DM: In conduit, we can provide our customers with EMT, GRC, PVC, PVC-coated, aluminum and, most significantly, stainless steel. We are a major West Coast manufacturer of bends, sweeps and elbows in EMT, GRC, PVC, PVC-coated, aluminum and stainless steel. We are the *only* UL-listed and UL-compliant manufacturer in the U.S. who works in so many different materials. I’d be surprised if there was another company with greater capabilities in the area of corrosion-resistant products in the U.S.

EDN: Is that what separates you from other big conduit players?

DM: Yes. They are usually companies that are listed in one or two product lines, and rarely are they UL-listed to provide bundles of straight conduit *and* standard radius or custom bends, sweeps and elbows. None of them have a track record like ours for service and quality, or for our quick turnaround on orders.

In December, we sent 80,000 pounds of Calduit five- and six-inch GRC sweeps and elbows from California to Mississippi for a major wholesaler—shipped on time, with not one piece rejected. In fact, we got a reorder!

EDN: So what are your growth plans for 2006?

DM: Our main objective is to grow into being the electrical conduit “go-to” company for corrosion-resistant applications. We have invested time, money and resources to develop the broadest and finest stainless steel product line in the country. We are working with Underwriter's Laboratories and will be working with NECA and NEMA to develop new standards.

We want to let everyone know that our corrosion-resistant products are certified and available for projects today. We believe that this will drive our business into the oil and gas and chemical industries, and into food and beverage, pulp and paper, water and wastewater, and mining and manufacturing businesses, just to name a few. It’s all very exciting.

EDN: Thanks for your time.