Zekelman Industries, Chicago, kicked-off an integrated marketing campaign to spotlight the issue of illegally imported steel products into the United States and to encourage the electrical industry to buy American made product.
“Domestic manufacturing is important to our country because it supports American jobs, American communities, and American prosperity,” said Barry Zekelman, CEO of Zekelman Industries, in the press release. “When we bring product from overseas, we're supporting all of the things that this country stands against. We're exploiting labor, we're polluting the environment, and we're robbing our own communities of the very jobs that they need to survive and prosper.”
Zekelman’s campaign, simply titled “Demand Domestic,” is designed to tap into the pride that electrical contractors have in the products they use and projects they complete, as well as the service and support distributors provide to contractors. The campaign leverages trade advertising, social media, video, direct marketing and public relations. The campaign will also be promoted at the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) tradeshows.
“As pressure escalates on electrical contractors to deliver on time with exceptional quality, taking a chance on imports risks longer lead times, limited offerings, and real quality concerns adding to higher cost, contractor frustration, and customer dissatisfaction,” said Jim Hays, president of Electrical, Zekelman Industries, in the press release. “At Zekelman, we will continue to invest in our plant, our equipment, our teammates and ultimately, our customers so that they can deliver superior quality and meet time expectations.”
The press release said rigorous product testing and regulatory code compliance is required of all conduit products in the United States and there are well-documented rusting and other issues with the quality of imported products. When the building and construction industry buys steel conduit not made in the USA, a significant amount of tax revenue is lost and not put back into economy, including real estate taxes and corporate income taxes at the local, state, and federal level. Dirty steel manufacturing practices from imports, and excessive shipping distances the product must travel, make imports a poor environmental choice.
“When you buy product from Zekelman Industries, you can be assured that you're buying product that is sourced domestically, meets all regulatory thresholds, and is backed by our own technical and service support,” Zekelman added. “Demand domestic. It's more important now than ever.”
Zekelman is a family of operating companies which include Atlas Tube, Picoma, Sharon Tube, Wheatland Tube, Western Tube and Z Modular. The company has 20 manufacturing locations and 3,200-plus teammates across North America producing , the company is the leading independent manufacturer of hollow structural sections (HSS) and steel pipe, and the top producer of electrical conduit and elbows, couplings, and nipples in North America.