The First in a Family of Rugged Products
Real-life Tested for Value that Lasts: For years now, PaulB Wholesale has been a reputable source for agricultural, industrial, mechanical and fleet services parts at discount prices.
We house more than $2 million worth of inventory inside our 60,000-square-foot building. That range of products, and prices, makes it extremely attractive to the small contracting firm, and to medium and large companies as well. We’ve helped hundreds of companies save thousands of dollars.
Yet PaulB Wholesale wanted a way to highlight products that were not necessarily high-end (and, therefore, higher priced) nor low-cost (with possibly less durability or a shorter lifespan).
That’s why the PaulB Wholesale team launched its own family of products, Vallast.
“The whole idea of value is getting the most out of your hard-earned dollar,” says Kory Musser, e-commerce coordinator.
The roller chain is the first to earn the Vallast label. Candidates among roller chains were chosen and a local company was contracted to pull them, stretch them, and basically abuse them. “We actually had it tied to the ends of a piece of equipment and they stretched it until it blew it apart,” says Jim Hostetter, president of PaulB Wholesale.. The one that performed the best of all the brands was chosen to undergo yet another value test.
“That roller chain spent six months on equipment, in the hands of reputable repair shops,” Hostetter says. “We went back and asked how it performed. We got no negative feedback at all.”
The chain will wear the Vallast family crest as a symbol of its ability to withstand a beating and still offer the professional manufacturer, contractor, or farmer his money’s worth.
Ball valves, cam-lock fittings, implement jacks and poly fittings are next in line for testing, and now PaulB has a shop where it can set up testing apparatus.
“It’s very much what we feel our customers do,” Hostetter explains, referring to the pulling, stretching and strain the products are put through. “They would stretch roller chain between two tractors. Our industry is very grease, dirt: ‘Give it to me and I can tell you if it can do anything.’
“For the poly fittings, we pressure tested them and then drop-tested them. We hooked each fitting to a piece of hose and dropped it from 25 feet until it shattered. The fitting was slammed to the ground while hooked to a hose, “because that’s what a farmer is going to do. That’s an everyday operation. Let’s duplicate that,” Hostetter says.
“It seems rather basic,” says Musser, “but that’s what is happening to them.”
Although the roller chain is the first product to wear the Vallast label, other products will undergo similar real-life use and testing, and if they’ve earned it, they also will be welcomed into the Vallast family.