Valcon changed operations from a sales and service organization to designer and manufacturer of its own automatic irrigation equipment in 1967.  During the process, many forms of manufacturing materials were considered. The far-reaching industry experience of the Valcon founders determined that the irrigation industry had been moving towards non-corrosive and adaptive PVC for pipe and fittings therefore Valcon was the first heavy duty, commercial quality, and molded PVC valve designed and manufactured for the irrigation industry. Valcon was developed to perform equal to the traditional metal valves as to pressure and physical strengths plus the advantage of corrosion free material.  The internal and external of the valve are corrosion free; the use of material allows long lasting products.

This concept was new and tremendously expensive to develop as compared to traditional manufacturing methods.  The initial valves produced and marketed by VALCON were more than satisfactory for average use and maintenance; unfortunately, average conditions are a rarity and it soon became evident that innovations would be necessary to make the product fail-safe and fool-proof for all the parameters of possible use.  To achieve this, here is an accounting of changes made in the VALCON valve since its inception:

These changes in the VALCON valve were not made because of the proven failures but to safeguard that the valve would be superior for all of the environmental factors affronted in the irrigation industry.

The Valcon transformation has proven that a heavy duty, commercial quality automatic irrigation valve can be molded from plastic. Proving the plastic weaknesses are compensated for by using stainless steel in critical design areas of the product. Without these additions the product may have failed under the stress and damage of the heavy strenuous use prevalent in the commercial irrigation industry.