Producer
Reliance Worldwide Corporation (SharkBite)
Australian plumbing products manufacturer (ASX: RWC, HQ Docklands Victoria; ~A$1.2B revenue); owner of the SharkBite brand — the dominant push-to-connect fitting system in the US residential plumbing market. SharkBite fittings connect to PEX, copper, CPVC, and PE-RT pipe without soldering or crimping, dramatically accelerating plumbing installation. Reliance Worldwide acquired the SharkBite business (then part of Cash Acme, which RWC purchased from Watts Water Technologies in 2017) and has made SharkBite the #1 recognizable PEX fitting brand at US home improvement retailers (Home Depot, Lowe's). RWC also manufactures PEX-b tubing sold alongside SharkBite fittings. RWC is headquartered in Melbourne but the SharkBite brand dominates US plumbing retail — an Australian company controlling the most widely sold PEX fitting system in American homes. Estimated US PEX market share: ~12-15% (tubing + fitting system revenue).
1
Inputs supplied
1
Goods downstream
1
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
1 input Reliance Worldwide Corporation (SharkBite) supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Reliance Worldwide Corporation (SharkBite) makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
SharkBite Push-to-Connect Fittings
55%PEX-b Tubing
20%Flow Control & Valves
15%International Products
10%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Concentration2023
SharkBite push-to-connect fittings (owned by Reliance Worldwide Corporation, ASX: RWC) have achieved a near-monopoly position in the US residential DIY plumbing fitting segment: Home Depot and Lowe's each stock SharkBite as their primary or exclusive push-to-connect fitting brand. SharkBite's market position means that for the tens of millions of US homeowners doing their own plumbing repairs (a core DIY home improvement activity), SharkBite is effectively the only choice at retail for connecting PEX tubing without specialized tools. This retail dominance by an Australian company (Reliance Worldwide acquired the SharkBite brand through the 2017 purchase of Cash Acme from Watts Water) means that the most consumer-facing brand in US PEX distribution is controlled from Melbourne, Australia — and that a single brand, distributed through two retailers, controls the DIY end of the US PEX fitting market.
Reliance Worldwide Corporation ↗Origin2023
Reliance Worldwide Corporation was founded in 1949 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia as a plumbing products manufacturer serving the Australian construction market. The company grew to be a significant Australian plumbing and flow control supplier before acquiring the SharkBite brand through its 2017 purchase of Cash Acme from Watts Water Technologies for approximately A$1.2 billion — the transaction that transformed an Australian plumbing products company into the controller of the #1 push-to-connect fitting brand in the US residential market. SharkBite fittings, which allow pipes to be connected by simply pushing them into a fitting without soldering, crimping, or specialty tools, had been the dominant DIY-friendly plumbing fitting at US home improvement retailers since the mid-2000s. The SharkBite brand is so well established in US home improvement stores that homeowners often ask for "SharkBite fittings" as a generic term for push-to-connect plumbing — like asking for "Band-Aid" rather than "adhesive bandage." An Australian company owns the brand that most American homeowners recognize as synonymous with DIY plumbing repair, without most US consumers being aware that the brand is not American. Australia's relatively small home improvement market provided no particular preparation for this US retail dominance — the SharkBite position came entirely through acquisition rather than organic development.
Reliance Worldwide Corporation ↗