Continuing Our Commitment to Engineered Excellence

In 2006, Simpson Dura-Vent deployed its first laser welding equipment. This equipment reflects our commitment to Engineered Excellence – it was custom-designed to meet our requirements for precision small diameter welded seam pipe manufacturing. The first unit was installed in our Vacaville plant in February and the second in our Vicksburg plant in July.

Laser welding will launch us into the special vents market, a new market segment for the company. On-demand water heaters and high efficiency residential boilers are gaining prominence in the water heating and residential heating markets as highly efficient, fuel-saving appliances. These appliances require airtight, leak-proof venting. We will enter this market in late 2007.

The laser weld equipment enables the production of perfectly round pipe lengths, which are critical to the production of venting systems for pellet fired, and direct vent burning appliances. Laser welding provides significant quality improvements in the products that we manufacture for those appliances. This process also helps reduce material and labor costs.

In the summer of 2006, Dura-Vent introduced PelletVent Pro®, a new version of its very successful PelletVent® product line, designed specifically for the Specialty Hearth Retail market. This was the most successful new product launch in the company's history. The next product line to be introduced utilizing this equipment is DirectVent Pro™. As the innovator and market leader in the unitized direct vent pipe market since 1993, Direct-Vent Pro raises the bar for competitors seeking entry into that market.