Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News  lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at  http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm.

Released: March 7, 2007

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go halfway around the globe to the Fiji Islands, to a company that is receiving a key component for its manufacturing process from a U.S. supplier. The component is a valve: An industrial valve to be used in the manufacturing plant’s piping system. It is crucial that this valve works properly, for it enables workers to open and shut the passageway and effectively control the flow of products or inputs. The success of this family-owned valve company is no open and shut case, but it is a remarkable example of global growth in rural Kansas.

Wayne McClelland is the president of ABZ Valves and Controls. Wayne grew up in the town of Madison, south of Emporia. After college at Emporia State and Wichita State, he became an accountant in Wichita. But Wayne preferred small town life, so he came back to his hometown of Madison and bought a hardware store. He later bought a local company named ABZ Manufacturing.

ABZ was founded in Madison in 1977. The name ABZ came from the names of the original incorporators: Al, Bill, and a Mr. Zorn. The company worked in oilfield storage equipment and then diversified into industrial valve production, which is now the company’s prime business.

Wayne bought ABZ and it remains a family business today. Wayne’s father Bus is retired, but still involved with the company, and Wayne’s son Jason is sales manager.  The company is known as ABZ Valves and Controls, or ABZ Valve for short.

Its key product is a butterfly valve, which in its simplest form, is a fitting with a disk and stem mounted inside which can be turned to control the flow of product through a pipe. A quarter turn of the stem can turn the disk inside from zero to 90 degrees.

This is a crucial element to control the flow within any piping system. ABZ produces both a rubber seated valve and a high performance valve which can withstand high pressures and temperatures.

Wayne says, “Many types of things are transported through piping systems, such as water, chemicals, beverages, cement, steam, food, and paint. We can trim or coat our valves with compatible materials for any of those applications.”

ABZ offers valves for all types of industrial uses, in sizes ranging from 2 inches to 48 inches. Wow, that’s a biggie. They also sell the related controls or actuators, ranging from gears to pneumatic to electrical controls.

But what is really exciting is how this company’s business has grown. In 1987, the company occupied about 5,000 square feet. Today, it occupies more than 45,000 square feet with a 17,000 square foot expansion in the works. The company inventory is valued at more than $4 million. Recent sales growth has been especially strong, due to new products and an expanded sales effort. During the past 2-1/2 years, sales have grown from $8 million to nearly $20 million.

This company literally sells valves and actuators from coast to coast and around the world. ABZ has distribution in all 50 states as well as Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, China, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and many more.

Yet this global company remains based in its original rural town of Madison, Kansas, population 862 people. Now, that’s rural. How wonderful to find this international presence in small town Kansas.

Wayne says, “The Kansas Department of Commerce and the International Business Department at Emporia State have been instrumental in helping us with our international work. We like the simple life and the good work ethic in small town Kansas.”

More information can be found at www.abzvalve.com.

It’s time to say farewell to the Fiji Islands, where we found a manufacturing company using a valve from a business far away in rural Kansas. We commend Wayne McClelland and all the people of ABZ Valves and Controls for making a difference with their hard work and international entrepreneurship. So I say, turn it on and open it up. With their continued success, the benefits will flow to rural Kansas.

-30-

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

For more information:
The Huck Boyd Institute is at 785-532-7690 or rwilson@ksu.edu

K-State Research and Extension