COMPANY

The roots of Condux International are deep and stretch back over 100 years. A century of experience and knowledge has helped make Condux the premier manufacturer of underground and overhead cable installation tools and equipment. That same experience and knowledge provides the basis for the development of new, innovative products, as well as a service standard that is unmatched in the industry.

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CONTACT INFORMATION HISTORY

WHAT'S HAPPENING

ASSOCIATED SITES

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mailing Address

Condux International, Inc.
PO Box 247
145 Kingswood Drive
Mankato, MN 56001
USA 1-800-533-2077 Toll Free Phone (US & Canada)
1-507-387-6576 Phone
1-507-387-1442 Sales Fax
cndxinfo@condux.com

CONDUX EMPLOYEE EXTENSIONS
       
Ernie Neilsen

Ernie Neilsen
507-387-8046
Cell: 612-812-6965
ernien@condux.com

National Accounts Manager

John Hone John Hone
507-387-8068
johnh@condux.com

Distribution &
Marketing Manager
Chris Butzer

Chris Butzer
507-387-8049
Cell: 612-803-9424
chrisbz@condux.com

Regional Sales Manager

  Clay Harris
Cell: 262-237-4480
charris@condux.com

Regional Sales Manager
Tom Ortolano Tom Ortolano
Cell: 617-470-2448
tomor@condux.com

National Sales Manager
Eric Cope Eric Cope
507-387-8050

Cell: 612-803-9412
ericc@condux.com

Product Manager
  Chris Beck
507-387-8094

Cell: 507-304-5236
cbeck@condux.com

Marketing Coordinator
Joel Westphall Joel Westphal
507-387-8093
Cell: 507-779-1340
joelw@condux.com

Product Specialist
  Jon Lundholm
507-387-8092
Cell: 507-779-8727
jonl@condux.com

Product Service Manager
brian baynes Brian Baynes
507-387-8060
brianba@condux.com

Bridge Hanger Support
roger hintz Roger Hintz
507-387-8054
rogerh@condux.com

Engineering Manager
dale bjorklund Dale Bjorklund
507-387-8072
daleb@condux.com

Operations Manager &
Quality System Manager
marybeth khwice MaryBeth Khwice
507-387-8091
maryb@condux.com

Customer Service
Representative
jeanne tolzman Jeanne Tolzman
507-387-8052
jeannet@condux.com


Controller/ HR Manager
  Sherman Kranz
507-387-8066
shermank@condux.com

Customer Service
Representative
 

 

 

 


HISTORY

Condux International, Inc. carries on a tradition of customer service that began over 100 years ago.

The origin of Condux International started well over a century ago when founder D.W. Radichel relocated his family from Wisconsin to the Mankato, Minnesota area. He purchased a harness shop in 1883, but soon focused his business on the land drainage needs of area farmers.

At the turn of the 20th Century, much of southern Minnesota was marshland-unsuitable for row crops. To prepare these lands for farming, an extensive network of ditches drained surface water. These ditches soon proved themselves to be both a blessing and a burden, for along with the excess water, valuable topsoil was also washing away.

Sensing a need for a cure to this problem, D.W. Radichel sold his harness shop in 1888 and built a concrete drain tile plant 15 miles south of Mankato, which he named North Star Concrete. These innovative drain tiles allowed for surface water removal with little or no erosion. In 1908, the plant was relocated to its present location in Mankato-along the Minnesota River-because of the discovery of high quality aggregates in the area.

1883 Harness Shop

Much expansion and diversification occurred over the next half-century as subsidiary companies were created in other industries: Spancrete Midwest Company (prestressed building materials), Rochester Materials Company (reinforced concrete pipe, concrete block, brick and building materials), Condux Pipe Systems (plastic pipe), Venstar (real estate), and Condux International, Inc. In 1998, the Condux Corporation was broken-up and the concrete divisions of the company were sold to Hanson PLC. During that time, Condux International, Inc. became a separate company when Brad Radichel, a great-grandson of the company founder, D.W. Radichel, acquired the company. The history of Condux International, Inc. spans over one hundred years and four generations.
 
Multicell Concrete
Ducts - 1966
The Evolution of Condux

What is known today as Condux International, Inc. was originally conceived in Naperville, IL by an innovator who developed a patented process for manufacturing Multiple Concrete Duct (MCD).

The rights to the patent, the machinery manufacturing, and the Naperville plant were acquired by North Star Concrete Co. from Archie Gagne's Gagne Enterprises in 1966. Condux (concrete ducts...spelled DUX) was the name used for the product and the new company's name. North Star had numerous licenses of this process at the product's peak, until plastic pipe began replacing the MCD conduit with less weight and a better joint.

Along with the Naperville plant came a small line of cable installation machines. The "Rod King" for cleaning and rodding MCD was developed and launched in 1967. This product was also made on the Naperville site.

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In 1969, North Star Concrete acquired the rights to manufacture another Gagne Enterprise product, an oscillating underground cable plow retrofit package including a plow blade and cable reel which were mounted on a John Deere hydrostatic crawler and sold to long-distance telephone, direct-buried cable contractors.

In 1973, the plow, which was now being sold under the name Vibra King, was merged with the manufacturing operations of Condux MC machinery manufacturing in a new 30,000 sq. foot facility located at the present site of Condux International, Inc. in Mankato, MN.


The Vibra King Cable Plow
 


Condux MCD- 1973


As plastic pipe took over the MCD market, Condux management began to expand the tool line to include new rodding and cable installation products for use in plastic duct.

In the early 1970's, exclusive distribution rights were gained from Tracto Technik Gmb. in West Germany to sell their pneumatic piercing tools (the Grundomat) for trenchless installation of pipe and cable in the United States. The sales, receiving, inventory, and service and repair of this product was handled out of the same Mankato building.

Condux entered the telephone accessory supply business in 1981. A distribution / warehouse location was purchased in Marietta, GA in the early 1980's to distribute pipe and fittings, along with other bought and resold cable installation tools and product lines in an effort to become a national distributor.

North Star's Winnebago Plastic Pipe
Manufacturing Plant

Manufacturing Plastic Pipe

In 1988, the plastic pipe manufacturing division of North Star Concrete expanded their product offering into electrical and telephone duct, and was renamed Condux Pipe Systems (CPS) to capitalize on the market awareness of the Condux name. After the plant and office were expanded in 1987, the top management of CPS was moved into the upstairs portion of this facility and sales of electrical and telephone duct were handled by the Condux International staff.


The "commodity" mentality of pipe (large revenues, low margins), detracted from the core business of Condux tools, and distribution proved to be location sensitive and foreign to Condux International's core competencies and manufacturing expertise. Vibra King and the US distribution of the Grundomat was sold back to Tracto Technik in 1991, CPS was sold to a Taiwanese company in 1991, and the focus of Condux International was directed solely toward the development of Cable Installation Tools and Equipment. More recent growth has been achieved through the addition of product lines through internal R&D efforts, focused on the cable installer end-user. Overall, the company has been focused, in some capacity, on sales to the telephone industry for most of its 30-year history.

Product Catalogs
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Condux International has greatly expanded its product line over the last three decades; most recently with its venture into the aerial cable installation line with the acquisition of Jackson Tool Systems of Clayton, Ohio. As underground and aerial cable technology changes, new tools are required to efficiently get the job done. Condux International works with utilities and contractors to continue development of innovative aerial and underground cable installation equipment and tools.

Condux International manufactures 90% of the products that are sold in-house, starting the process with the raw materials and ending at the packaging and shipping of the finished product to the customer.
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Cable Lasher

Fiber Optic Cable Blower
Over the last few years, Condux International's focus has been on fiber optic cable installation equipment and now on a complete line of aerial cable installation tools and equipment. Among the products designed for these lines are the Fiber Optic Cable Blower, Fiber Optic Cable Puller Trailer, the Condux Lasher, Cable Benders, and Cable Blocks.

With Condux International's roots stretching back to the 1800's, no other company is as well prepared to supply the aerial and underground cable installation needs of the 21st Century.

WHAT'S HAPPENING


Here are a few of the things that are going on at Condux:

2008 National Sales Meeting

Job Opportunities


ASSOCIATED SITES

Manufacturer's Representatives
Authorized Condux Distributors
Trade Associations
Trade Publications
Other Related Sites

 

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