Our History
ED YOUNG SALES COMPANY was incorporated in 1985 by Ed Young Sr. and Ed Young Jr.. The two founders’ selection of a logo for the Company was based upon their personal guiding principles of Honesty and Integrity, which are represented by the two columns of the original ED YOUNG SALES logo and remains still today as the cornerstones of the EYSCO logo.
Ed Young Sr. started his natural gas career in Engineering with Piedmont Natural Gas (PNG) in 1951, and was the seventh (7th) employee hired by PNG (now the USA’s 11th largest gas utility). Desiring a new challenge to “explore Sales”, he joined Kerotest Manufacturing Corp. (a Control Data division) in 1975 as Southeast Regional Manager. In 1985, Kerotest became an ESOP, resulting in Kerotest converting their direct Sales personnel to Manufacturer’s Representatives. Ed Sr. accepted this offer, leading to him inquiring of Ed Jr’s interest in forming the Rep firm.
Ed Jr. worked for natural gas contractors and directly for PNG through high school/college and, following college, for three Fortune 500 companies – Weyerhaeuser, Ingersoll Rand and Textron – in Manufacturing and/or Sales positions, as well as managing Distribution/Rep sales channel networks. With basic natural gas experience and understanding of Manufacturers-Reps-Distributors, Ed Jr. partnered with Ed Sr. to form ED YOUNG SALES in 1985, with one Manufacturer – Kerotest. Over 30 years Ed (Jr.) has established a considerable network and significant influence in the natural gas industry, regionally and nationally.
EYSCO Today
Today, EYSCO is the exclusive Representative for thirteen (13) premier Manufacturers serving the energy industry in nine (9) states – Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri. With EYSCO’s support, our Manufacturers provide quality and industry-leading products to nine (9) investor-owned natural gas utilities and over four-hundred (400) municipal gas systems. Most of our Manufacturers and EYSCO have partnered for an average of twenty plus years. Our “oldest” incorporated Manufacturer – American Meter (now Honeywell) was founded in 1836 while our “youngest” Spectrum Catalyst started in 1976. Just as the natural gas utility market is changing with acquisitions, mergers and growing influence of the electric generation, so too are our Manufacturing Principals. Honeywell’s acquisition of not only Elster (American Meter) but the iconic Mercury Instruments is a similar change. The historic Cameron is now part of Schlumberger. The growing importance of regulatory compliance has vaulted fabrication Manufacturers such as Pipeline Equipment and Gas Tech Engineering to ever expanding prominence in the natural gas market. Sixty year old Kuhlman Instruments has significant impact on new tracking and traceability compliance. Sealweld/Val-Tex and Handley are well-known connections supporting the installation and maintenance of industry valves. Although some of our Manufacturers are “household” (industry) names, others are new or late entering the Southeast market (for reason) and these Manufacturers have appreciated and enjoyed the growth realized with EYSCO as their Representative. An example of these is GPL Odorizers with the revolutionary approach to adapting and simplifying gas odorization technology to meet future demands.
In addition to natural gas, EYSCO also has product and sales experience with both the industrial and nuclear power markets. However, with the unparalleled growth of the natural gas industry, several of the Manufacturers have shifted focus to natural gas and EYSCO returned to our roots, where today natural gas is our primary focus.
As a Manufacturer’s Representative for a limited number of Manufacturers, EYSCO is able to provide qualified expertise and in-depth technical knowledge of all their products, advanced sales/marketing skills and significant administrative process systems to provide consummate customer service for the Customer and Manufacturer, as we understand the equal importance of each to a successful business. Our business philosophy is not to “collect” numerous Manufacturers and, by virtue of quantity (of Manufacturers), attempt to accumulate business by percentage odds. Rather, EYSCO aims to seen as a qualified, valued, respected, knowledgeable resource and asset for both the Manufacturer and Customer.
With EYSCO, many of our Manufacturers have enjoyed long-term supply relationships, multiple year and evergreen supply agreements with numerous investor owned and Municipal gas utilities. Although the natural gas market has always been competitive, it is constantly changing and recently viewed as America’s Energy Source. We believe EYSCO’s consistency, relationships and quality premier Manufacturers have enabled us to maintain and grow business. With the expanded and continuing expansion of natural gas, some of these changes are seen in various acquisitions or mergers. This is particularly the case involving the electric power industry, where natural gas is the preferred fuel source for power generation, which expands the need for natural gas and in turn benefits EYSCO and our Principals.
While EYSCO is primarily structured as Manufacturer’s Representative, with our facilities and background, we have experience and capabilities on “buy-resale”/Distribution. EYSCO looks to adapting and acclimating to potential new requirements and expectations of our Customers and Principals by understanding our market and product base/mix while honoring our historic and extensive Distributor network. Whether enhancing our historical model with our Distributors to create unique alliances or addressing historically preferred market systems of some of our Principals, EYSCO is able to flexibly evolve to meet market changes.
Although change is constant and inevitable in all businesses, for EYSCO, we believe one aspect of our business will never change. Businesses can either treat their personnel as assets or liabilities. At EYSCO, our success is underscored by the fact that our Team (personnel) is and will always be recognized as assets!