More and more, I’m hearing good things about AMERICAN’s customer service, and it continues to make me proud of our employees. Getting positive feedback about our customer service tells me that we, as a company, are accomplishing what we set out to do. One of our most important goals is making sure every employee at AMERICAN is fully aware of the importance of good customer relations. AMERICAN’s founder, John Eagan, was a remarkable man whose business principles remain ingrained in our culture. One of his primary rules was very basic: Treat customers the way you would want to be treated. That sounds simple, but let’s face it: Truly taking care of customers takes effort, and many companies do a poor job of it. In the three feature articles of this Pipe Progress issue, customers in Arizona, South Carolina, and Alabama said that our service was a key factor in timely completion of their projects. Said one: "(AMERICAN’s) commitment to meeting our needs as a contractor is a great value that reflects well on our bottom line." Said another: "AMERICAN’s overall service has been excellent." Another contractor quoted in this issue said, "(AMERICAN’s) deliveries were always on time. We could plan our work and work our plan around them." Yet another relayed that, "Customer service was critical to our success, and AMERICAN supplied us with excellent customer service personnel." These customer comments are not fluff. They are based on experiences from working with us on very large, important projects. I’m very proud of all this because I know that we try to perform well enough to merit such feedback. The customer is at the very beginning of our thought process at AMERICAN. We carefully consider customer needs and wants at every turn — from manufacturing through sales, product delivery, and billing. The dominant focus of our Ductile Iron Pipe Division’s Mission Statement, for example, is on customer service and customer relationships. The statement’s contents: To become an indispensable partner with our customers by: Attracting and training professionals who are valuable resources to our partners Adding value to all our relationships Providing the best customer service and support Providing high-quality products to reliable schedules Continually improving all aspects of our business to provide more value to each relationship. Speaking to the ACIPCO Chapter of the National Management Association, a customer from Michigan said his company’s 10-year relationship with us had been built by AMERICAN’s commitment to provide quality products and make reliable shipments. He reminded us that to maintain such relationships, AMERICAN must stay focused on the needs of customers. "All employees are customer service representatives," he said, and he was right. For almost 100 years, AMERICAN has placed high importance on customer needs, certainly more so than most companies. In recent years, however, we’ve taken it to a higher level. We have expanded and improved our Customer Service Department, but we know that the players must include all of our people. AMERICAN knows that building customer relationships requires time and effort, and we will forever be working along those lines. We also want to hear from you on how we can do better. In the meantime, however, I am going to savor some of the things said about AMERICAN’s customer service in this issue of Pipe Progress. I hope you enjoy this issue, too. Van L. Richey President & Chief Executive Officer

Van L. Richey President & Chief Executive Officer