DeZURIK was recognized for excellence in workplace safety and health during the MN/SD Safety & Health Virtual Conference on October 19-20. DeZURIK is one of 262 employers to be honored through the awards program, coordinated by the Minnesota Safety Council.

Since 1934, the annual Governor’s Safety Awards program has honored Minnesota employers with exceptional safety performance. Applicants are judged on several years of injury data as it compares with their industry’s national statistics, and on their progress in implementing a comprehensive safety program.

DeZURIK’s award recognizes continuing improvement and/or a continuing outstanding record with incident rates that are 51%-90% better than the industry average, and a score between 75 and 90 on the safety program evaluation scale.

Velan Inc. announced that James Mannebach has been appointed chairman of the board. The outgoing chairman, Tom Velan, will continue to serve as a director of the company. Mannebach, who joined the board in 2018, is the first independent chairman of the company. He has extensive experience in the valve and flow control industry having worked in senior leadership positions at Emerson Process Management (Xomox, Fisher Controls, Micro Motion and Rosemont), Roper Technologies and IMI.

Rob Velan has been appointed vice-chairman of the board as the Velan family continues to move from the second-generation leadership to third-generation and independent leadership. Rob Velan has served on the board since 2013 and is the executive vice-president of MRO and Aftermarket, one of the company’s strategic business units.

Trillium Flow Technologies has announced the merger of their facility in Salt Lake City, UT to Fresno, CA. The company currently employs 137 people in the city of Fresno and this merger is expected to generate over 50 additional jobs in the next five years.

“This merger not only brings value to our customers but brings enormous opportunity to the Central Valley of California,” said Trillium Flow Technologies CEO David Paradis. “As we advance this project and achieve the planned growth, we will continue to recruit local talent to fill a wide range of roles.”

Industrial Distribution has unveiled its annual Big 50 List. All Big 50 List companies are ranked according to their 2019 full-year global sales. All the companies are based in North America, or if headquartered elsewhere, Industrial Distribution accounts only for their North American operations. Master distributors are not eligible for Big 50 List inclusion.

VMA members who made the list are MRC Global (#7), NOW Inc. (#10) and Wolseley Industrial Group (#13).