BROKEN BOW—Stemming from agriculture roots, Sargent Pipe has grown to serve customers all over the world for 50 years. A public open house was hosted on Wednesday to showcase the pipe manufacturing facility and custom machine shop. Head of Perforation Sales/Equipment Design Loren Taylor has been with the company through the decades and has seen multiple facility expansions and Sargent Pipe’s ability keep up with technology.
“[We’re] Investing a tremendous amount of money in equipment so we can make precision equipment for our customers in the agriculture and municipal sector,” Taylor said.
Sargent Irrigation began dabbling in pipe perforation in the 1960s and with increased demands for turbine pipes, Larry Whitesel and Wayne Kaps began Sargent Pipe Company in 1969. The company focused on drilling rigs, deep-well turbine pumps, and pipe peroration.
Manager Luke Wassom says it is an honor to be celebrating this 50-year milestone. He attributes a large portion of Sargent Pipe’s success to its ability to keep up with the times and maintain one of Nebraska’s most advanced machine shops.
In addition to deep water well turbine pumps and drilling rigs, Sargent Pipe houses a full line of custom machining capabilities such as CNC bar feeders, lathes and horizontal mills to make products such as flow meters and fire hydrant parts, turbine pump parts, and other custom equipment.
“We want to stay American-made, we’ve always been that way and we want to remain [that way]. We’re one of the few companies yet in the pump market that is American-made castings and I think that’s what makes us great,” Manager Luke Wassom said.
Loren Taylor said it takes a tremendous staff, inventory, and knowledge to do what they do and to successfully serve customers in the agriculture and municipal sectors.
“Some of the stuff that we do comes here from a long ways because nobody can fix it–but we can. We got the equipment, we got the know-how, we got the engineering ability, we’ve got the ‘we-can-do-attitude’ here and that’s the main thing. We can do it–we will do it to take care of our customers and the people in Nebraska” Taylor said.
Through the years Sargent Pipe has continued selling turbine pumps and building products for other well-drilling companies all over the world including Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, and an entire pivot and well project in Algeria in 1986.
Among the 38 employees at Sargent Pipe, mechanical engineer Levi French aims to continue the legacy of serving local farmers, ranchers, businesses, and individuals as efficiently as possible.
“The manufacturing equipment has changed with the times. As technology improves, anything we can do to make pumps more efficient, make parts more efficiently. I think that will go a long way,” French said. “I don’t think there’s anything we can’t do.
Moving forward from the golden anniversary celebration, the Broken Bow-based company plans to continue using its state-of-the-art capabilities to efficiently maneuver water resources and contribute to the financial impact of Nebraska.
