Background

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    Almost 100 years ago, our company started with a focus on our customers’ needs, and that focus continues to provide a winning formula for our company as well as our customers.  In 1921, our tradition started when William C. Meredith invented a process to make wooden conduit upon Southern Bell’s request to find an alternative to the clay conduit that they were having trouble obtaining.  The "Mereduc" (short for Meredith ductwork) underground wooden conduit solution started a supply relationship with Southern Bell and the rest of the Western Electric companies that continues today after over 95 years.  In 1927, W.C. Meredith Co., Inc. (WCM) began pressure treating wooden conduit, as well as utility poles with Creosote for telephone and electric utilities throughout the United States.  In 1950, WCM worked directly with Western Electric to develop a manufacturing process for an experimental Creo/Penta preservative.  In 1952, Western Electric decided to use Pentachlorophenol exclusively and switched the entire Bell system to that preservative.  Over the next few years the majority of our customer base saw the benefits of Pentachlorophenol vs. Creosote and switched to Penta.  In 2005, A Meredith Schneider Co. (AMS) began operations to supply Penta, CCA, and CCA-ET treated Southern Pine poles throughout the United States.  In 2020, we worked directly with Viance to introduce their DCOI UltraPole NXT preservative system to the SYP market.  Combining the environmental benefits of our steam conditioning process with the complimentary benefits attributable to their DCOI based preservative system brings our customers a pole system geared toward the future.  We take pride that the duck featured on our Mereduc trademark has evolved to appropriately represent the most eco-friendly and valuable pole on the market.  Our history started with a customer focus which continues to drive our business decisions today.