Parts on Tap

By Business Observer Staff
| 6:00 p.m. September 28, 2007

Entrepreneurs

Parts on Tap

MANUFACTURING by Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

Carter|VerPlanck, a Tampa-based supplier of parts for water and wastewater plants, never stops searching for product innovations.

You're an 80-year-old water and wastewater treatment parts and sales company in a competitive industry with hundreds of companies and all of your clients are governments.

How do you possibly stay fresh and ahead of the pack?

If you're Carter|VerPlanck, a Tampa company that meets that description, you travel the globe, looking for the latest technology and the latest equipment to offer your clients. Its manufacturers are in the United States, Germany, Italy and other countries.

Its customers include Tampa and Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

"Our growth depends on our ability to find the right product," says Saade Chibani (Pronounced Sah-Dee, Chee-Bah-Nee), CEO of Carter|VerPlanck, an environmental engineer from Boca Raton who joined the company in 1995. "We've been very successful getting the newest technology."

Chinese companies tend to be more cost-conscious. European companies are more experienced because that continent has dealt with water quality issues longer than the United States, notes the Lebanon-born Chibani, who earned his engineering degree in the United States.

"Europe is heavily populated on a smaller land mass," Chibani, 48, says. "Some manufacturers are better, some are just as good, some are not as good."

The tradeoff in bringing the latest and greatest products to customers is that these sometimes carry a higher initial price. However, over the 20- to 30-year lifespan of the product, the products can be more cost-effective than cheaper versions, which may break or need to be replaced.

"We're not going after the customers who only focus on out-of-the-box price," Chibani says. "We want people who appreciate quality. We're not sticking with the same products like some other companies do.

"If you stand still, you're a target," he adds.

The water plant parts industry is unique in that there are no new sources of water in the world and some sources are declining. Meanwhile, the population is increasing. And regulations are increasing. This puts pressure on cities and counties to deliver more fresh water.

"It's always been a political hot potato," Chibani says.

Family and diversity

The grandfather of current company partner Buzz VerPlanck started the company in 1927. Buzz VerPlanck ran the company from 1984 to 1995. Chibani arrived in '95 and also brought in fellow environmental engineering consultant Ken Walker, the new president.

The company opened sales and service office in Roswell, Ga. in 1999. In 2006, it opened offices in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi and northern Georgia.

Carter|VerPlanck now has about a dozen product lines. When Chibani became CEO, it was only two: pumps and valves.

Now the company sells chlorine systems, blowers, filtration systems and biological systems. For a recent client, the Seminole Tribe in Florida, the company provided all of the parts for new water and wastewater treatment plants.

"They are state-of-the-art facilities," Chibani says.

As a result of the product diversity, the company has seen sales, which had leveled off at $20 million annually, continue to rise every year for the past four years.

Despite its diversification, one of its competitors, TSC Jacobs, describes Carter|VerPlanck as, "more of a pump house," says Paul Jacobs, one of the owners of TSC Jacobs, another parts seller in Tampa.

Jacobs said the companies compete on a couple of lines of products.

"They are well thought of in the industry," Jacobs says.

Jacobs notes that there is, "a lot of price pressure" in the industry and different ways to analyze price. A more expensive product may be able to save energy costs for a city.

TSC doesn't see the need to travel the world because most of the manufacturers come to TSC seeking representation.

"But traveling, looking for new product is not something unheard of," Jacobs says.

Moving, searching

Carter|VerPlanck recently moved into a new 10,000-square-foot headquarters building in Tampa's Westshore business district to make room for new employees. It's old home, across the street, was 6,000 square feet.

Hiring is important for every business, but for Carter|VerPlanck, there's a special need: Finding good engineers who can also sell product. The company has 11 sales people in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.

"It's a highly technical business and it requires an engineering background," Chibani says.

These same technical people have to carry out a mission of maintaining and improving longstanding relationships with customers.

"They (customers) need to believe in us," Chibani says. "They have us 24/7."

The company's future strategy will remain its current one: Find the best products. Get it to customers. Serve them quickly. Get paid later.

"In this industry, getting something fixed quickly and staying up and running is important," Chibani says. "We try to make that happen."

INFORMATION

Carter|VerPlanck Revenues

2004: $24 million

2005: $26 million

2006: $30 million

2007: $32 million-plus (projected)

Source: Carter|VerPlanck