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Specialty Structure Brands
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Valmont PiRod
A Solid History of Product Innovation |
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 PiRod was established in the early 1950’s as a part-time garage based venture in Plymouth, Indiana. Bob Kirkley founded PiRod in 1950 as PiRod Sales & Service. The manufacturing of towers was started as a means of selling and servicing TV sets. As that market matured, the TV portion of the business was discontinued and the manufacturing of towers for two way radio communications started to expand. PiRod was a major supplier to Motorola and G.E. in the early 1960’s. The small company built towers for home television antennas. This market became a mainstay of the business until early 1970’s when sales of FM radio and UHF television broadcast towers increased dramatically.
In 1970, Bob Kirkley sold his tower erection equipment and concentrated on manufacturing. He started selling a few broadcasting towers for AM and FM use. He sold the company to Myron Noble and Roger Johnson on October 1, 1970. The sales in 1972 were $250,000 and projected sales for 1973 at $375,000. From 1973 to 1978 average growth rate was 33 ½ %. The primary markets during this time span were two way radio and broadcast towers. The largest project completed during this time was for G.E. in Indianapolis involving 41 towers and several large towers in the 1000” range for TV and FM radio. The basic thrust was to improve the manufacturing process and facilities. PiRod’s facilities grew from 4800 sq. ft. to 8,400.
 In 1978-1986 the average growth rate was 28 ¾%. A gentleman by the name of Ken Blessing joined the firm in 1978. He immediately started the company into the “computer age”. He developed the computer programs to quickly design, cost, and bid a wide range of applications. The microwave industry was added to our product line in 1979 and it grew very quickly. We added a universal self-supporting tower line in 1980 featuring totally interchangeable parts. Considerable amounts of time and energy were spent developing our automated bill of materials and tower assembly drawings. Also, the facilities were increased from 8,400 sq. ft. to 40,000.
In 1987 sales plunged from $11 million to $8 million, a drop of 22% and forced PiRod to "regroup". We emerged, reorganized, and sales hit $20 million in 1993. PiRod had very solid growth for the balance of the 90’s and in the first quarter of 2001 Valmont Industries purchased PiRod and consolidated the Plymouth Indiana plant with Microflect in Salem Oregon to form Specialty Structures, a segment of Engineered Structures of Valmont Industries. This consolidation was finalized in 2003 and functions within that group as of today. |
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