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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
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