Sioux Chief Manufacturing

Business

Sioux Chief's product line is divided into three core groups: Supply, Drainage and Support. Sioux Chief's customers also include various building industry professionals such as engineers and builders.

Sioux Chief is a Buy American Compliant company which manufactures more than 90% of the products it sells. Sioux Chief designs, builds, and maintains its own machines, tools and dies, and equipment, including copper tube forming tools and machines, plastic injection molds, packaging, cleaning and testing equipment.

Beginning

In 1953, Martin E. Ismert, Jr., (Ed), left his father-in-law's plumbing supply business and partnered with his brother, Jerry, to form Double I Supply (Double I represented the two Ismert brothers), in Kansas City, Missouri. The company's first proprietary product was the foldable magnesium rod, designed to replace conventional rods for water heaters, which were made of straight pipe and had to be cut out of the heaters in sections when replaced. Typically inserted from the tops of the units, the long rods could not clear the ceilings of the locations where the majority of the hot water heaters were installed. The same was true of the replacements rods. Ed's folding rod allowed them to be inserted into the heaters a fold at a time.

In 1957, Ed Ismert started a catalog supply company and chose the name Sioux Chief. Ed and his partners knew and understood the plumbing supply market and positioned their new company in a different niche than his father-in-law's firm, selling directly to plumbing wholesalers instead of plumbing contractors. The first Sioux Chief catalog was a single sheet of paper printed on both sides and included the magnesium rods being manufactured by Double I Supply, still owned by Ed and Jerry Ismert.

Copper spinning

Ed Ismert and brother, Ted Ismert, saw a new need in the post World War II home building market for a newly designed air chamber which was a required device on water lines to prevent "water hammer" (banging when valves are turned off quickly). Most municipalities required the air chambers, although the length and diameter could vary from place to place. Plumbers would fabricate the air chambers on site, and the labor-intensive installation processes that would include a copper cap, solder, torch and flux. The brothers theorized that a prefabricated test nipple or air chamber would be a labor and time saving device that plumbers would embrace. They were right. The problem was in creating a copper tube that was "spun" closed at one end, eliminating the need for a soldered, fitted cap. After reading an article in a magazine on spinning copper, Ted Ismert created a breakthrough system for spinning closed copper pipe. [Michigan-based Wolverine Tube had successfully spun closed chambers, but their products were expensive and relegated to the back of their catalog]

The swift-selling pre-fabricated air chamber was the major breakthrough that poised Sioux Chief on the brink of lasting success. Ted Ismert made the spun-closed stub-outs and Ed Ismert sold them to plumbers through Double I Supply. Later, Ted automated production by building a magazine loader for his spinning machine.

Ownership

Sioux Chief is located near Kansas City. Members of the Ismert family continue to own the business, led by president Joseph P. Ismert.

Equipment

Sioux Chief designs and builds its own machines, tools and dies, and equipment to ensure that exact product tolerances are achieved.

Logo

Sioux Chief founder, Martin E. Ismert Jr. (Ed), had a personal interest in Western Americana. Ismert's father, Martin Sr., was a collector and Midwest authority on Western and Native American artifacts between the 1930s and 1950s. Ed chose the name Sioux Chief, having learned from his father about the Sioux Indian Nation. Ed commissioned his brother, Cornelius Martin Ismert, an artist who studied under Thomas Hart Benton, to draw the "Young Determined Sioux Chief" in full ceremonial dress as the logo for his company.

No Lead Law

Sioux Chief no longer builds stock or produces leaded brass for F1807, F1960, F2080 or sweat fittings that fall under the necessary federal mandates. Federal legislation known as Federal Public Law 111-380 or the "Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act" a.k.a. "Safe Drinking Water Act" was signed into law in 2011 and eliminates the sale or installation of plumbing fixtures (drinking water pipes, pipe fittings and plumbing fixtures) with a wetted surface area containing more than a weighted average of 0.25% lead. National requirements allow for standard leaded brass to be installed up until January 4, 2014. However, these products will be non-compliant and obsolete as of January 4, 2014 and may not be grandfathered for continued use. The law requires pipes, pipe fittings, and plumbing fittings or fixtures, intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking or cooking, to meet the new “lead-free” definition. Additionally, any other end-use devices intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking or cooking must meet the new lead-free requirement. Examples of items covered by the new law include kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets and drinking water fountains.

Awards and honors

Kansas City Business Journal Champions of Business Award