Viega and the Relentless Quest for Quality

Marki Huston, the new CEO of Viega North America, is the latest chapter in that success story. Appointed in January of this year, Houston had served as interim CEO since October of 2024. Her previous roles included Chief Operating Officer for Viega North America and Vice President of Global Quality in the aerospace industry. Her strategic vision and focus on fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration made her a natural fit for the top job.

We spoke with Houston about her background, the current state of the market and her vision for the future.

CONTRACTOR: Thanks for speaking with us today. I'd like to learn a little bit about how your work in aerospace informs your decision making as a manufacturer of plumbing and HVAC solutions.

Huston: In the aerospace industry I spent 20-plus years doing lots of different jobs, including chemical processing, machining, assembly work, and delivery to our customers. Earlier in my career I even spent a stint in the flight training at flight safety as well. Lots of different avenues and opportunities.

That experience has helped me in a couple ways in my time here at Viega. First, the aerospace industry is super global from a supply chain standpoint. As Viega continues to grow, something that becomes more important to our growth strategy is leveraging the global supply chain and all the different opportunities, workforces, markets that are available.

Another piece of it is, Viega has high standards for quality— that is who we are. In aerospace, it's super important to have quality products, safe products. Having a good understanding of the importance what we build has for our customers is very helpful. As demand rises, as market opportunities rise, we need to be efficient and continually improving ourselves and our processes so that we can grow to meet those demands.

CONTRACTOR: Can you tell me a bit about some near-term and mid-term opportunities you see for Vega and also about any possible roadblocks or obstacles?

Huston: Near term, even with today's landscape, there are so many opportunities. The construction industry will continue to grow, and there will always be a demand for good products that help create a value proposition for our customers, and our line definitely fits into that.

To that end, we're relentlessly working to expand our capacities and our portfolio. Last year we brought valves into the market, and we will continue to bring more valves to the portfolio this year. We brought in new transition fittings that debuted at AHR. We're working hard to continue to meet the many different demands that our customers are needing from our products as fast as possible.

We are expanding our footprint with our Ohio manufacturing facility. We are looking to have production out of this new factory and off this new line by late summer, with our grand opening scheduled for fall.

At the same time, we are driving for sustainability. We are looking for LEED Gold certification at the new Ohio plant, which is not something many manufacturers in North America can claim. We are leading the way and trying to create opportunities while positively impacting the environment.

Now, with these great opportunities, there definitely come challenges, but this team is 100% committed to growing, and to serving our customers in the way they have come to expect.

CONTRACTOR: The big news in the last few weeks has been tariffs, and their potential impact on supply chains and the wider construction market. I’m wondering what your reaction is, and how Viega is responding?

Huston: That is a super relevant topic. It's in the news almost every day. We are in very tight conversations with our entire supply base. We have a dedicated team that meets nearly every day to look at how the landscape is changing, to see what's coming and look at look at our different opportunities.

At this point in time, we are we are continuing to evaluate what our strategy will be moving forward. What's important is to be sure we make the right decisions for our customers and for the industry. To really take into consideration all the different levers that we can employ to support not only our customers but our business.

CONTRACTOR: A lot of Viega’s products depend on well-trained installers for proper performance. Can you talk about some of Viega’s initiatives in training?

Huston: You know, I talked a little bit about the quality of our product being who we are, but one of the things that makes Vega support our customers in a better way is our service. And that service is partly through the training of our installers and all the people who use our products.

We are continuing to develop our training programs and evolve them as we bring new products to market. We have total training packages that support our launches so that our installers can be successful when they have these new products in their hands. And we not only have product-specific training, but custom training as well. We partner with our customers to make sure the training that we provide is in the right areas at the right time.

I mentioned the Ohio facility in terms of manufacturing, but it’s also one of our geographic centers—that is a big market for us with a lot of customers in the area, lots of installers. So part of our Ohio facility is a complete training center to make it easier for them to come and see how our products work and receive hand-on training.

We are continuing to ask the question of where else we should provide service to our customers and installers that's most convenient to them. I look forward to the next handful of years, because I'm sure there will be additional opportunities in this area. In Nashua, New Hampshire, we have plenty of additional [training] services that we're partnering with our installers and customers on.

CONTRACTOR: Any news or new developments coming from Viega you’d like to share?

Huston: We have additional valves coming to market very shortly. I would welcome folks to explore that portfolio and ask any questions they need to so they can be successful using this next wave of products.

CONTRACTOR: Thanks so much for speaking with us today.

Huston: My pleasure.