Viking Pump is proud to have Michael Smith Engineers (MSE) as a distributor in Great Britain. The company has a solid reputation as one of the GB's leading pump specialists, providing solutions for difficult liquid handling since 1971. With a broad range of experience and ISO 9001 accreditation by NQA Ltd since 1994...

There are really four main types of suppliers of hygienic, or sanitary pumps for food and pharmaceutical applications. There is no best source for everyone – each has advantages and disadvantages depending on your situation and budget. Here are some points to consider when choosing where to source your pumps.

A-L Equipment Company, Inc. has been in business since 1955, at which time it was incorporated by founder Art Nelson and his wife Gerry. Art was no stranger to liquid handling systems, as he had worked at a pump distributor before going out on his own. His legendary reputation for successfully installing pumps where people said “it couldn’t be done” was a perceived threat to his employer, who sadly told him to stop. That was an impetus for Art to launch A-L Equipment and do things his way!

Centennial Equipment was founded in 1958, by Jack Putt, in Golden, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. This was a one-man show at first, with Jack being the owner, sales person, and maintenance crew all rolled into one. The company began as a manufacturing rep and distributor for industrial equipment, including rotating equipment and other things with shafts that turn. By 1960, the first pump lines and handling equipment were added, along with more people joining the sales force in the later ‘60s. Anyone who knows this region, understands the market sparseness back then, so it is no surprise that the entire Rocky Mountain region became Centennial’s target area from Day 1—covering the entire state of Colorado and stretching into Wyoming—and continues to be their territory today.

DXP Enterprises was founded in 1908, under the name of Southern Engine and Pump Company (SEPCO). Initially, SEPCO operated as a product distribution company, providing pumps and gas compressors in its normal market area. The company continued to grow over the years, gradually acquiring additional products, services and locations. They kept the SEPCO name until 1996, when President and CEO, David R. Little, took the company public and registered it as DXPE (DXP Enterprises) on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Crane Engineering is a third generation, family-owned business that began 80 years ago with founder Herbert Crane, who started the company in 1939, on Wisconsin Ave. in Appleton, WI. At that time, it was a one-man operation, representing two manufactured lines provided by Viking Pump and ITT Goulds Pumps. The initial target market was pulp and paper, with Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Consolidated Papers, Inc. (now Stora Enso) as the first customers—both products are still carried by Crane to this day.

Pye-Barker was founded in the 1930s, when John Pye and Ben Barker decided to start their own company in Atlanta, Georgia. Both Georgia Tech graduates, the pair had been working together at Goodyear when they created a new way to cut conveyor belts into custom links. This was an exclusive, innovative concept in those days for which Pye-Barker became well known.

Rogers Machinery Company, Inc. was co-founded in 1949 by two war buddies, Ned Rogers and Walter M. Novak, who served together aboard the USS Reno in the South Pacific during WWII. These like-minded veterans followed their dream to build a business providing compressed air equipment and pumps to the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Oregon), home to the pulp and paper, aluminum, agriculture, and food processing industries. Since they were far away from key suppliers on the East Coast, the company did their own customized packaging of products from Day 1; and to fill the long-distance gap, they also found it necessary to maintain a significant local inventory level and develop close customer ties. 

Kerr Pump & Supply, a notable first distributor of Viking pumps, has an illustrious 100+ years business history in the Detroit area. The company began manufacturing electric and steam driven centrifugal pumps under the name of Kerr Machinery & Supply, founded in 1905 by Alexander M. Kerr, along with his two sons, David and Robert, and incorporated in 1907. A profile written about Robert Kerr in the book, The City of Detroit Michigan, 1701 – 1922, Volume 1, highlights his business ethics: “As the head of this and subsidiary companies, he succeeded in building up a business second to none in the state, achieving splendid results through honesty, square dealing and by reason of the value and worth of his products.” These same practices have been carried on through generations and continue today under the leadership of Tom Gross, who has been president for the past five years. Viking is, therefore, proud to have them as a high integrity partner helping customers solve their challenging pumping needs.