Recently, I sat down with Kenzie Moss for a conversation about Georgia manufacturing, my family’s history with Pye-Barker, and what we actually do to help plants run efficiently. The questions were simple, but they opened the door to a story that goes a lot deeper than pumps and compressors.
I thought I’d share my perspective here for those who prefer reading over listening.
On the podcast, Kenzie asked about our origin story and it’s one I’ve told many times, but it never gets old.
Pye-Barker began in 1936 as a simple mill supply store. Back then, they sold “ropes, soap, and dope,” as the old-timers would say, the everyday essentials plants around Atlanta needed to keep running.
But something important happened as Georgia manufacturing grew: Customers started asking for more technical, engineered products, not just consumables.
By the late 1960s, the company created a dedicated engineered products division. One of the first hires in that new division was a young mechanical engineer from Georgia Tech… my dad.
That decision changed everything for the company and for our family.Over the years, that engineered division took off, and by the 1980s my dad bought the company outright and transitioned us away from mill supplies entirely. Today, we’re known for engineered solutions. Pumps, compressors, blowers, and vacuum systems and we still operate from the same core belief:
Sell the customer what they need, not what’s easiest to sell.
Kenzie asked me if I always planned to follow in my dad’s footsteps. The truth is…No.Not at first.
I started working in the warehouse at 13, sweeping floors and unloading trucks. As soon as I got my first car, I went out and got “my own job,” thinking I was proving something.
At 16, I thought I had all the answers. (If you’ve ever met a teenager, you know how that goes.) But I kept finding my way back.
While attending Georgia Southern, I worked at our Savannah office doing shipping, receiving, and deliveries. I’d go to class in the morning, then drive an hour to Savannah to work until 5:30. I kept that up until gas prices skyrocketed during the Gulf War and wiped out my entire paycheck.
After college, my dad said,
“Help me out until you figure out what you’re going to do.”
Well… it’s been over 30 years, and I’m still here. Still figuring it out. And still loving the people and the work. I’ve worked in almost every department. Inside sales, outside sales, purchasing, collections, IT, the shop, even going on service calls. That experience shaped the way I run this company today.
Because when you’ve done the job, you understand the people doing it.
Kenzie asked which manufacturers we work with. The list is long because we’ve been serving this region since 1936.
Here are a few names that most folks will recognize:
We work with aerospace, food processing, chemicals, building materials, ports, and pretty much every major sector in Georgia manufacturing. But here’s what I told her, and what matters most: They don’t choose us because we’re the biggest. They choose us because we help them stay efficient.
That’s the job. And we take it seriously.
Kenzie asked a great question: “What do you do that saves manufacturers time and money?”
My answer was simple: We make their air and fluid systems as efficient as possible.
That’s it.That’s the mission. When a plant buys a pump or compressor, what they’re really buying is:
The tricky part is that manufacturing doesn’t stand still.
Processes change. Fluids change. Flow rates change.But the equipment stays the same. And that’s where problems start.
One of the most common issues we see is a plant taking a pump that was sized perfectly for one application… and using it for something completely different a year later.
It will move the product, sure, but not efficiently. And not reliably.Our job is to get plants back to spec, back to efficiency, and back to lower operating costs.
One thing I said on the podcast (and say often) is this: If your equipment is efficient, your plant will be efficient.
If it’s not, your costs go up, quickly. Pumps, compressors, blowers, and vacuum systems are the heartbeat of manufacturing.And when they’re not performing the way they should, everything downstream suffers. What I love about our team is that we don’t just sell equipment, we help customers understand why something is happening and how to fix it.That’s the benefit of being around this long.You learn what works. But more importantly, you learn what doesn’t.
A lot of people see industrial equipment as “mechanical.”For me, this business is personal.I’ve grown up in these plants.I know the people, the problems, and the pressures.And after all these years, I still believe what my dad taught me:
Take care of people and the business takes care of itself.
That’s what the podcast conversation reminded me of.
Our history matters.
Our experience matters.
But what matters most is the trust we’ve earned and continue to earn serving manufacturers across Georgia and beyond.
Make sure to listen to the full conversation here for more insights.
📞 Call us at 404-738-5810
📧 Email: sales@pyebarker.com
🔧 Or visit: www.pyebarker.com
