The cover article for this issue of Pipe Progress takes us to Macon, Georgia, where the Macon Water Authority is involved in more than $200 million in waterworks projects. One way of looking at this is to say that AMERICAN is shipping a large amount of pipe, fittings, valves, and fire hydrants to Macon. A better way would be to say that our work with a valued friend continues. Our relationship with Macon literally spans generations. I recently came across a 1955 Pipe Progress article that featured the Macon Water Authority, and I know that the city's water system was written up in Pipe Progress as early as 1932. I'm sure we were doing business with Macon years before that. To be sure, AMERICAN has enjoyed longstanding partnerships with water utilities throughout the United States. There are simply too many to list here, but a few of them include the utilities in Columbus, Georgia; Decatur, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina, where we first supplied cement-mortar-lined cast iron pipe in 1922; and Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, where polyethylene encasement was first used on cast iron pipe in 1958. It is no accident that these relationships exist. Business 101 says that it costs more to develop new customers than to cultivate new and repeat business with existing accounts. It's simply good business to satisfy existing customers, but that is much easier said than done. It's one thing to satisfy a customer, but there are different degrees of satisfaction. Our overriding goal at AMERICAN has always been to delight customers to the point that they continue to want to do business with us. Put another way: We want their loyalty, and that doesn't come gift-wrapped or hand-delivered. We have to earn it by consistently providing value. It is up to us to come up with product innovations, anticipate customer needs, provide timely deliveries, and respond quickly to questions. Newer technologies have helped tremendously. We fully utilize computerized manufacturing processes, tracking product from order entry to shipment to delivery. AMERICAN still believes success in our industry is mainly a "people thing," so we emphasize a personal approach to doing things. We are trained to put ourselves in the customer's shoes -- to ask: "How would I want to be treated?" We know that the best way to please ourselves is to please the customer first. Business 101 also says that generating new accounts is the lifeblood of a sales organization. Since we were founded in 1905, AMERICAN has constantly worked in that area and we know it's essential to continue those efforts. As with cultivating relationships with longtime customers, it's also good business to pursue new accounts and develop partnerships with them. Today's new account will be a loyal, longstanding account down the road. Still, it is indeed gratifying to realize that our list of customers includes so many that go back for so long. That is a sign that we have pleased the customer for a heck of a long time, and that pleases all of us at AMERICAN. We intend to keep it up. Mike O'Brien Vice President of Sales

Mike O'Brien Vice President of Sales