Consolidated Pipe & Supply
Consolidated Pipe & Supply Company Inc. (CPS) is a privately-owned manufacturer which fabricates and supplies structural and specialty pipe and tubing for the energy, paper, mining and nuclear industries. The Birmingham-based company was founded in 1960 as a partnership between Tom Kerr and Pete Raughley. It employs 650 people in 40 locations across the country.
Consolidated opened its first branch distributor in Nashville, Tennessee in 1965. By 1972 it had 10 locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Raughley left the business in 1976. In 1981 the company created a subsidiary, Vulcan Plastics Corporation to manufacture PVC pressure piping from a plant in Athens, Limestone County. In 1982 Kerr's three children, Bob, Howard, and June took over ownership of the business.
In 1986, another subsidiary, Consolidated Power Supply, was launched, furnishing materials to the nuclear energy generation industry. It is located on Mary Taylor Road, off Gadsden Highway in Trussville, with offices in West Berlin, New Jersey and Wilmington, Illinois. During the 1990s the business added manufacturing lines for HDPE and MDPE pipe and fittings, as well as structural products, controls, and coatings.
In 2011 the company moved a storage yard from Brock Industrial Drive in South Pratt to another site off I-459 in Bessemer to make way for a new pipe coating shop, replacing one it operated on Burlington Northern Railroad property off Arkadelphia Road. A new access from 1065 Avenue V was opened. In 2017 CPS acquired High Country Fusion, another manufacturer of HDPE pipe in Fairfield, Idaho.
In 2021 Consolidated Pipe & Supply employed 300 people locally and reported revenues of $890 million, ranking it as the area's 13th largest private company. By 2023 the company's revenue had grown to $1.26 billion while with a local payroll of 250, and ranked 11th on the same list. At that time, its corporate headquarters was located on a leased site at 1205 Hilltop Parkway, within the Birmingham-Southern College campus.
In 2022 the third generation of Kerrs, Richard and David began assuming ownership. That same year, Consolidated agreed to purchase 28.6 acres at the intersection of Tom Martin Drive and Lakeshore Parkway from the City of Birmingham for $3.25 million for development of a new 30,000–40,000 square-foot headquarters office plus a distribution center. The land was rezoned in September 2023, and the sale closed in December. The company's Pratt facility was also expanded in 2024. The Birmingham City Council approved incentives of up to $290,000 to support those expansion projects.
References
- Tomberlin, Michael (December 9, 2009) "$5 million plan for Consolidated Pipe & Supply plant." The Birmingham News
- "Pipe & Supply Company to Buy Land for Relocation." (September 30, 2022) Birmingham Business Journal
- Parker, Illyshia (September 28, 2023) "Consolidated Pipe & Supply plans corporate headquarters expansion." Birmingham Business Journal
- Parker, Illyshia (March 25, 2024) "HQ expansion, consolidation project to create 40 new jobs." Birmingham Business Journal