Kerotest has announced that it has been in business for 100 years. The company introduced the first steel gate valve for the natural gas industry in the 1960’s and became a major supplier to the emerging nuclear industry in the early 1970’s. The year 1983 was marked by the employee purchase of the company; an event that current CEO, Bob Visalli says was the most significant in the manufacturer’s long history. The company has 30,000sq/ft of manufacturing, machining and office facilities in its Pittsburgh headquarters, a second 100,000sq/ft manufacturing facility in Mansura, Louisiana, and a 50,000sq/ft facility recently opened in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania dedicated to fulfilling an ongoing series of contracts to produce valves for a nuclear enrichment facility in Ohio. Kerotest introduced the first packless metal-diaphragm valve to the refrigeration market in 1930. Later, applying existing Kerotest technology, the company introduced the first metal-diaphragm valve for the nuclear industry. In 1988, the company became the first approved polyethylene valve supplier to British Gas (now National Grid). In 1994 Kerotest introduced the first universal electrofusion control box to the natural gas industry, followed 7 years later by the introduction of the first universal cordless electrofusion controller with bar code technology. And in 2003, Kerotest announced its Polyball Ô polyethylene ball valves with the industry’s first full forward and backward traceability.
