Bull Moose Pipe Bullish on Arizona, Plans New Plant in Casa Grande

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Bull Moose Tube Company (Chesterfield, Missouri), a U.S. subsidiary of Caparo Industries (Walsall, West Midlands, England), part of the Caparo Group (London, England), a holding company with operations in steel products, aluminum casting, fasteners, and hotels, is preparing for expansion. The company has purchased an existing 130,000 square foot plant, former home of Mulay Plastics Incorporated of Casa Grande, at 1001 North Jefferson Avenue in Casa Grande, Arizona, and is currently undertaking the process of retooling and installation of a pipe mill to manufacture sprinkler pipe for fire suppression. This plant will be Bull Moose's seventh manufacturing operation.

The company expects to begin operations in December 2004, using just about half of the available space in the building. Plans are to expand operations with another mill for larger-diameter tubes, possibly in its second year of operation.

Bull Moose Tube, which serves as Caparo's North American base of operations, owes its offbeat, but unforgettable, name to founder and original owner Don Beattie's fondness for the General Bullmoose character in Al Capps' comic strip, Lil Abner. The General was noted for saying, "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the U.S.A.," and Mr. Beattie felt that, with only minor modifications, that phrase could be turned into an appropriate slogan for Bull Moose Pipe - "What's good for the CUSTOMER is good for BULL MOOSE!"

The company has six manufacturing facilities in the U.S. - in Burlington, Ontario (Bull Moose Pipe Limited); Chicago, Illinois; Masury, Ohio; Elkhart, Indiana; Gerald, Missouri; and Trenton, Georgia - where it specializes in manufacturing welded mechanical tubing. Mechanical tubing is used in a wide spectrum of applications, such as exercise equipment, automotive parts, and furniture components, for industrial applications, such as roller conveyors and telescoping applications, and for structural application such as handrails or barrier protection.