Dakota Supply Group - Index

Dakota Supply Group - dakotaoctober - Index

WATERWORKS 30
AVK: Unique Construction,
Powerful Collaboration With DSG
Quality counts, and when you’re a leading
manufacturer of gate valves and fire hydrants
for the water and wastewater industries, it counts
for a lot. With the importance of a community’s
water supply and the large number of people who
depend on it, municipalities are counting on AVK
to keep the water flowing.
Aage V. Kjaer founded AVK in 1941 in Galten,
Denmark. His son, Niels
A. Kjaer, took over the
business in 1970 and built
the foundation for what
the company is today.
Then, in 1985, AVK gate
valves were introduced
into North America, and
American AVK was born.
When it comes to
the Midwest, AVK is
teaming up with DSG to
lead the way in setting
new standards for the
waterworks industry. In
2004, staff at DSG (including
Waterworks Group Manager
Kevin Paulson) met with AVK representative
Kent Culbertson at an American Water Works
Association (AWWA) meeting in Florida to explore
a potential collaboration. For AVK, the decision to
go with DSG was an easy one. “We’re very selective
of who we sell to,” says Culbertson. “We liked the
size of DSG and the geographic diversity of its
locations. It’s a company that is very professional,
and we knew we could definitely grow with them.”
From that meeting, AVK and DSG developed
a plan to bring the benefits of AVK products to
DSG’s customers across the Midwest. Today, 99.9
percent of the products that DSG’s Waterworks
Group carries are from AVK.
Culbertson and the Waterworks Group work
hand in hand to provide
prompt, professional assistance
throughout DSG’s trade area.
In fact, Culbertson often travels
with DSG representatives to
meet with city engineers to
help explain how AVK’s
www.dakotasupplygroup.com
Kent Culbertson shows off the quality
of AVK at the Missouri Rural Water
Bootheel Expo in Sikeston, MO.
innovative products exceed industry standards and
go beyond customers’ expectations.
AVK focuses on doing things the right way,
whether it’s how something is designed or how
it’s made. Since 1970, AVK has been producing
resilient seated gate valves. It’s not unique that AVK
sells gate valves, but it is unique how AVK makes
them. AVK resilient seated gate valves feature an
encapsulated wedge, fully
encased in EPDM rubber.
“There is no exposed
metal,” says Culbertson,
“not even on the guides.
This results in a watertight
seal, even if debris enters
the valve sealing area.”
This process of
encapsulating the wedge
is exclusive to AVK, and
has been one of the keys
to the valve’s incredible
success in more than 70
countries during the last
four decades. This allows
AVK to apply a vulcanization
process with retractable pins to ensure that the
wedge is fully covered with rubber. This is vital
to the longevity of the valve. AVK even has its
own rubber manufacturing division (something
no other gate valve manufacturer can say).
Additionally, the gate valve stem’s threads
are rolled in a separate coldpressing process to
maintain the steel’s structure and increase its
strength. “It ensures smooth
thread edges for low operating
torques,” Culbertson says.
“Many manufacturers
Every AVK gate valve
features an EPDM rubber
encapsulated wedge.