Distributors and Channel Partners: Completing the Valve Family Circle

The Distributor/Channel Partner membership category is open to any distributor or channel partner of valves and/or actuators that, at the time of application, has met certain criteria. The company must be incorporated in the United States or Canada and must have been engaged for a minimum of three years in distribution of valves and/or actuators manufactured in a U.S. or Canadian facility. The company must also be a distributor or channel partner for at least one VMA member with net annual sales of valves and/or actuators manufactured in U.S. and Canadian facilities over $1 million. In addition to these, at least 50% of the company’s total sales in the most recent fiscal year must be of valves and/or actuators manufactured in U.S. or Canadian facilities.

VMA Chairman Mark Cordell of Cameron Valves & Measurement said, “A lot of the valve manufacturers provide product to end users through these channel partners who tend to bundle a variety of different products from different valve manufacturers to the end user. So by including the distributors as associate members of the VMA, it fits us all closer together to understanding the needs of the customer and together fulfilling those needs.”

He continued: “At one end of the chain, we have people who supply products to the valve and actuator manufacturers. Then there are the manufacturers, and then we have the valve repair people. So now, by having the distributors at this end, we have flow from supply through manufacture through distribution. It completes the circle and will allow for better networking and better strategic planning. Together we can learn from each other and help accomplish what the end users are asking us to do. At the end of the day, we’re all doing our best to service the end user better.”

VMA President Bill Sandler added his thoughts: “The addition of distributors and channel partners to the VMA family provides the membership and the industry as a whole with the ability to network, face-to-face, with an important segment of our industry, a segment that is the link between our manufacturers and their end users. I encourage all valve and actuator distributors and channel partners to become part of the only association representing the interests of the industrial valve, actuator and control industry in the United States and Canada.”