When Jack Streeter and Art Briggs teamed up to invent a new type of marine pump 65 years ago, they did more than pass on their initials to the company they founded. They handed down a passion for innovation that continues to drive the company's global success today.
Jabsco (Jack Art Briggs Streeter Company) pumps are used on pleasure boats and small workboats around the world for engine cooling, bilge pumping and fresh or waste water handling. The company, which came aboard ITT Industries in 1966, also produces marine toilets, ventilation blowers, searchlights and other accessories.
Jabsco Worldwide consists of a U.K operation in Hertfordshire which makes improved versions of Briggs and Streeter's brainchild -- the flexible impeller pump -- and U.S. operations in Foothill Ranch, California, and Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The acquisition of Rule and Flojet in 1998 and 1999, respectively, greatly expanded Jabsco's product and market portfolio. Rule is the global leader in submersible bilge pumps for the boating industry and a major provider of accessories such as compasses and winches. Flojet in Foothill Ranch is a top supplier of small pumps, motors and dispensing pumps for the industrial, RV, beverage and marine industries.
Though run as separate companies with independent brands, Jabsco, Rule and Flojet have joint sales and marketing organizations and share manufacturing facilities. There are two manufacturing plants in the U.S. (Foothill Ranch and Gloucester) and two in the U.K. (Hoddesdon and Milton Keynes).
Jabsco sells its products through an international network of Appointed Marine Distributors as well as directly to boat builders and engine manufacturers like Sea Ray, Beneteau, Volvo, Caterpillar and Cummins. Customers are served from sales and marketing offices in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and Australia.
"We have distributors and retailers everywhere in the world. Whether you go to a small island in the Pacific or Malta in the Mediterranean, you'll always find Jabsco products" says Nick Hill, president of Jabsco Worldwide. Noting that 85 percent of Hoddesdon's pumps are exported to other countries, Hill says, "We've been a global company from day one."
Day one was in 1938 when Streeter and Briggs introduced their flexible impeller pump. It revolutionized marine pumps by replacing sliding metal vanes in the rotor with rubber vanes that flexed up and down to create a positive pumping action. With close contact between rubber and metal, the new pump was self-priming, and the moving parts did not wear away as was the case with metal gears or pistons when exposed to sand and debris in seawater.
The pump quickly became the industry standard, and Jabsco continues to dominate the market. Despite the efforts of several big competitors, primarily in the U.S. and Sweden, Jabsco supplies more than 50 percent of the impeller pumps worldwide. Last year the 85,000-square-foot, 200-employee Hoddesdon plant shipped about $45 million of product.
Jabsco has also carved out a profitable niche in industrial markets. Since impeller pumps can run very slowly and transfer substances without damaging them, they're favored by food, beverage, pharmaceutical and other industrial companies. "We're very good at pumping 'difficult things' like cherry pie filling, toffee, thick glue or even yogurt with whole strawberries," says Mike Gill, managing director of Jabsco UK.
Breakthrough products emanate from three major engineering groups organized as centers of excellence. Gloucester R&D concentrates on compasses and submersible pumps, Hertfordshire on impeller pumps and Foothill Ranch on diaphragm pumps.
The goal is to sustain double-digit top-line growth with the help of an expanding after-market business. The key is to achieve what he calls greater "customer intimacy." "We've got to anticipate our customers' needs, develop innovative products for them and tailor solutions for their problems."
"Whether you go to
a small island in the Pacific or Malta in the Mediterranean, you'll always
find Jabsco products."
- Nick Hill,
President, Jabsco U.K.