Central States Industrial: Sanitary piping manufacturer celebrates 25th year in business

Twenty-five years after launching Central States Industrial Equipment & Service Inc. in Jefferson City, the company founded by Jim and Shirley Cook has grown to annual revenues of $18 million. Its anniversary is July 1.

CSI designs, fabricates, distributes and installs industrial sanitary piping systems to food, beverage, bio-technology and health care companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. "Any of these companies, whether it's a Kraft or a Hiland or Ragu or Cheseborough Ponds or Lral all use the type of piping we provide," said Mark Cook, president and co-owner of the company with his father.

CSI manufactures piping systems to carry "the food that you eat, the beverages that you drink and the drugs that are put in your body, so therefore they need to be extremely hygienic," Cook said. "They have to be cleanable and the welds that are used have to cleanable."

During Jim Cook's work as maintenance manager at Cheseborough Ponds in Jefferson City, "he was convinced that he had not ever seen (sanitary piping) done very well," according to Mark Cook. Beginning in Jim and Shirley Cook's garage, CSI grew between 1977 and 1984 to fill 2,000 square feet of rented space and added two more employees.

Heading south

The company's Springfield presence began in Feb. 1984, when the Cooks and their two employees moved operations to 1,250 square feet of rented space at 450 S. Union Ave. This move was designed to handle field service work and other on-site plant requirements in southwest Missouri, said Cook, who joined the company full time in Nov. 1984.

Between 1984 and 1988 the company grew to 12 employees before it moved again. In 1988 they invested $500,000 into an 8,000-square-foot building at 210 S. Union Ave. to accommodate CSI's increased manufacturing processes, said Tina Phillips, marketing director.

"We were just out of room due to growth," Cook said. "We had no parking over there, which encouraged people to get to work early."

Partnership Industrial Center

In 1997, CSI pumped $3.2 million into a new 37,000-square-foot facility at 2700 Partnership Blvd. Here business operations comprise 20,000 square feet for shop and warehouse space, 14,000 for offices and 3,000 for storage. Its roster of employees includes 19 craftsmen, 13 in engineering and design, 44 sales and support staff and eight customer service representatives.

One bonus to CSI's present location "is the image of the industrial park is very clean, and (for) the kind of customers that we are selling to we have to project that image," Cook said. "A lot of companies will want to come and do a quality audit inspection tour, especially in the biotech industry."

Cook said the company's success is a surprise for his parents, particularly his father. "He never intended for it to get big. He really just started it so he could make a living and enjoy what he was doing."