Marty Silverman, vice president of marketing at General Pipe Cleaners, a leading manufacturer of drain cleaning equipment for the professional and rental industries. He’s the third generation of leadership at the four-generation family-owned business. Marty had a chance to sit down with FocusOn Global Insights for an interview and chat about the rental market.
When did you join the family working at General Pipe Cleaners and what was your first job?
That’s a long time ago. I would come to the factory with my father on weekends and he would put me to work sweeping and doing all sorts of odd jobs. I worked summers in the plant during high school and college. And 42 years ago, I joined the family business as an adult after working for an ad agency for three years gaining experience in marketing.
General Pipe Cleaners is truly a family affair; how many Silvermans are working at the company today?
So, my father and uncle have never officially retired even though my father is 91 and my uncle is 88. I work with my brother and four cousins. And three of their children have joined the business. So, I think 11. That’s the second, third, and fourth generation in that headcount.
Has Pittsburgh always been the home of General Pipe Cleaners?
My grandfather, Abe Silverman, first started the business as a spring manufacturer in 1930. He broke away from his uncle’s business, Rapid Wire Spring Company, to start General Wire Spring. Interesting story, how we got the name General Wire Spring. My grandfather needed a name for the business and his brother-in-law said, well, what’s good for General Motors should be good for you, so we became General Wire Spring.
When did drain cleaning tools become a major part of the company?
We were originally a manufacturer of custom industrial springs back then. One day, a plumber came in and asked, can you make this spring – it was a drain cleaning snake. My grandfather said, yeah, we can do that easily. And then he figured out a way to make the drain cable better and more durable.
Back then all drain cleaning cables were hollow. My grandfather came up with an idea of putting a wire rope, the same thing used in suspension bridges, inside the cable to make it stronger and less likely to kink than the hollow cables and patented it.
Over the years, rental centers started buying our cables and putting them in the other brands’ machines. And then we thought, well, let’s make the machine for them as well. We started making drain cleaning machinery in the ‘40s. And open cage drain cleaning machines for the rental industry in the ‘60s.
When I was looking at some of the company history, it looked like that that’s the Flexicore that you’re talking about, right?
That’s right. First came the patented Flexicore cables, and then we designed machines for them. So, the very first machine was called the Sewerooter for clearing 3″ to 10″ drain lines. Then we introduced the Sewerooter Junior, a smaller version of the original, to clear smaller 2″ to 4″ lines. Our current machine, the Sewerooter T-4, is an evolution of the original Sewerooter Junior. It’s carried forward in various designs. The other machine that’s come a long way was the handheld power sink machine called the Handylectric. My grandfather liked to combine words for drain cleaning machine names.
That evolved into the Super-Vee, which had a different kind of chucking system, instead of a Jacobs chuck, the Super-Vee had a slide-action chuck. And then from there, we designed an automatic feed system that’s used today on the Power-Vee.
The Power-Vee of today was originally introduced in an earlier form in the ‘40s as the Handylectric. So, you can see a lot of longevity in our products as we developed it and advanced the design through the years.
I was reading about when you first introduced the camera system, it was the first portable sewer camera. Was everybody on board with that as a drain cleaning tool or did they think it was kind of a gimmick and that it wouldn’t catch on?
My role is in marketing and advertising, and I’ve always had an interest in video production. So, I had a good feel for what the video inspection camera was and what it could do way back then. In the late ‘80s, inspection cameras were big expensive trucks and miniaturization hadn’t really caught on yet. Then we introduced our portable video inspection camera in the early 90’s. Back then it was a black and white picture, and we were the first to include a recording device – a VCR – remember those?
Is the Gen-Eye inspection system an important part of the rental business?
It is, I would say. Cameras are the most asked about product at the rental trade shows. Mostly because it’s new. People know about our Flexicore cable drain cleaning machines and that they are reliable and don’t wear out. So, rental stores don’t need another one because the machine they bought from us years ago is still working just fine. They’re so satisfied with its longevity and performance they say, ‘I like that machine, what else have you got?’ So, they ask about our camera systems.
Our customers have been with us for so long, relying on our drain cleaning and plumbing tools for their needs. We’ve been exhibiting at the rental show for more than 50 years, showcasing our latest drain cleaning machines and hand tools. They appreciate that we give them a straight story on this, whether it’s about a drain auger, drain snake, or the right tool for the job. Cameras are a good tool for a specific application, not for every application, especially when dealing with clogged drains or sewer pipes.
For more information about General’s tools and equipment, including our top-rated drain cleaning accessories and drain cleaning machines, visit drainbrain.com/rental or contact the Drain Brains® at General at 800-245-6200.
