How Eastern Industrial Supplies is expanding throughout the US while honoring its fundamental beliefs
Founded in Greenville, South Carolina in 1980, Eastern Industrial Supplies (Eastern) has a far greater purpose than the wholesale distribution of PVF and commercial plumbing parts, for which it is highly renowned. Equipped with a set of 28 fundamentals called The Eastern Way, Eastern serves to honor God in all that it does, while caring for its people, continuously improving and growing profitably. Caleb Owen recently took over from his father-in-law as President of Eastern and describes himself as an ‘outlaw’ at the company, being a family member by marriage! “My father-in-law, Kip Miller, is still the CEO here, and still remains in tune with the business and guidance,” opens Caleb. “Kip became Eastern’s first sales intern after attending Anderson University, then transferring to the University of South Carolina and majoring in business. In 1987, he acquired the company after the owner passed, and he firmly believed it was a gift from God. Now, it’s my responsibility. We’re still a family-owned business – both my wife and my brother-in-law work here, too.” The Millers and the Owens aren’t the only families in this family-run business. Numerous other Eastern associates work alongside their spouses, siblings, cousins, parents, and children.
Caleb continues with further details of the company’s offering. “As distributors of pipe, valves, and fittings primarily, we also have a subsidiary that packages nuts, bolts, and gaskets, where we cut our own gaskets from a light manufacturing standpoint. We’ve also invested heavily over the years in our EPIC group, which comprises ‘engineered products, instrumentation and controls.’ to offer custom-built valve solutions and suggest cutting-edge products that give our customers a competitive advantage.
“We lean on strategic partnerships with industry-leading manufacturers and vendors to provide this advantage – through partnerships with tried and true manufacturers like Milwaukee Valve Company for its portfolio of dependable, high-quality valves, while simultaneously exploring new frontiers with innovators like Thermomegatech. Another standout is AIRpipe, an aluminum piping solution for compressed air systems that we’ve seen grow in popularity due to its light weight and ease of installation. I still love steel, but I love all the products we sell. It’s a high-commodity business, and while we’re only as good as our vendors, the unique thing about EPIC is we’re not just trying to make a sale; we are truly caring for our customers and equipping them with the best infrastructure available so they can thrive.”
Company culture
Returning to Eastern’s company culture, it’s an inherently important aspect of the business and is based on the deep-rooted requirement that everybody must be cared for, Caleb reveals. “You can give without love, but you can’t love without giving,” he states. “When it comes to caring, our leadership team believes in Christian principles and faith. You don’t have to be Christian to work at Eastern, but we advocate for those beliefs. We focus on one of our fundamentals every week and it’s been the best change management strategy we’ve ever implemented for our culture. Culture is used a lot in business now. It’s really how our people interact with each other and do things. We have confidential chaplains that go into our locations and help build relationships – they’ve even married some of our people. We also have an emergency fund that’s fully subsidized by our associates, along with our community program called Eastern Cares. We give every team member days off every year that Eastern pays them to volunteer in the community, and lastly, we created our Tanzania fund, where we were able to build two orphanages and a secondary school in Iringa, Tanzania.”
Alongside opportunities for community volunteering, Eastern prides itself on providing learning and development opportunities – including its ten-week internship program, developed by Caleb’s sister-in-law. “The program is extensive, and it’s designed primarily for college students in their junior year looking for a learning opportunity over the summer,” he explains. “We teach them the inner workings of the business, how we ship and move products, alongside sales, pricing, and communications. At the end of the ten weeks, they work on a project and present their ideas to our leadership team. It’s also a big recruiting tool; we like all our branches to have one or two interns in the summer, as it enables us to discover new talent and train them the Eastern way.”
Regarding technological advancements, the company utilizes technology to speed up processes from a production standpoint, yet its most innovative tools, Caleb highlights, are its culture and the way in which the company treats employees. He also discloses his vision for Eastern, which is a priority throughout 2032. “I have outlined a vision to double the size of the company within the next six years, and we’re taking a unique approach. We’re using a project manager to meet with mid-level management and explore the changes we need to make to realize that. We’re listening and we’re learning – I’ve found I learn the most when I travel to locations, spend time on the shop floor and discover what tools and support people need for growth. I want to collect valuable data, but I’m also going to trust my intuition and experience in making decisions. My three main finds have been that Eastern is shifting more towards data-driven decisions, we’re striving to be seamless in collaboration and accountability, and we’re also standardizing transparency in processes. We found that we’ve grown so rapidly that some of our processes don’t work as effectively anymore, so we’re cleaning them up. Importantly, each team is working in partnership with each other; operations, sales, accounting and quality. We’re gathering all the information each group has and collaborating to work towards our shared mission – to continue to grow our presence across the southeast.
“Longer term, I hope to see more of an appreciation of the importance of distribution – from industrial pipe, valves, fittings, and commercial plumbing products down to everybody’s household items and appliances,” he concludes. “The distribution industry is essential to how our country operates and protects the health and wealth of the nation (USA). It’s vital. I’m always trying to promote our industry and protect it, so that distribution remains one of the pillars of American infrastructure for years to come.”
