Hose Master helps save Virginia plant

Fires can be catastrophic. Fires at a plant are life threatening, and when the fire is 100 feet above the ground, that's unusually difficult to handle - but not impossible with the resources of Hose Master.

In the middle of the afternoon on Thursday, May 31, 2006 in Richmond, Va., a coal bin caught fire at a local manufacturing plant, but this was not a normal fire. The temperatures generated from the burning coal made water ineffective as a method of extinguishing the fire. The other factor that made this a particularly challenging fire was its location - The coal bin was about 100 feet in the air.

Firefighters from Richmond realized the urgency of getting this potentially life-threatening and property-damaging situation under control. They also realized the most effective way to fight this type of fire would be to use liquid nitrogen. So, almost immediately a liquid nitrogen carrier truck was dispatched to the scene.

The next problem became obvious - How does the liquid nitrogen get 100 feet into the air to a position where it could be safely and effectively applied to the fire?

The fire department began exhausting all resources in locating a hose of that length capable of handling the cryogenic material. They needed an unusually long hose, quickly.

The proper product for this application needed to be a lined, corrugated metal hose assembly. A local source for this product was unavailable, so they called Specialty Hose Corporation, in North Canton, Ohio, a leading expert in the field of cryogenic transport hoses. The initial call came at 2:30 p.m.

Specialty Hose responded immediately, understanding the urgency of this situation. Unfortunately, it was an unusually long length for this type of hose and Specialty Hose did not have a long enough piece of the special liner to make the hose from stock. Specialty Hose then turned to its valued partner, Hose Master for help.

Specialty Hose contacted Hose Master and explained the urgency of the situation in Richmond. Hose Master immediately dedicated its resources to assisting Specialty Hose in putting out this customer's fire.

Hose Master had the necessary inventory to manufacture the assembly, and a crew of fabrication personnel was asked to stay after their shift while all the necessary arrangements were made. As soon as Hose Master received the final green light, the hose was completed and on the dock in less than two hours.

Specialty Hose president, Michael Helfer, chartered a plane and personally delivered the hose to the site by 7 o'clock that evening. In 4 1/2 hours from the initial call, the hose was fabricated and delivered 354 miles away to put out the fire. The fire department and Richmond plant were amazed and thoroughly grateful for the service that truly saved the plant from destruction.

Hefler added, "Our business definitely has an edge because we have a partner like Hose Master that has the ability, the resources and the willingness to do what it takes to support our business and get the job done for the customer."




Hose Master Engineering Selected to Support Nuclear Power Plant

Nuclear power plant shutdowns naturally raise concerns throughout the local community. Although leaks are rare these days, everyone in the supply chain of a nuclear plant is ever vigilant and ever cautious.

Such was the case when Florida Power & Light (FPL) prepared to shut down one of its nuclear plants for routine maintenance. An emergency cooling pipe was ready for installation, but in the process, engineers discovered that their original solution was flawed.

That's when FPL contacted Westflex Industrial, a National City, CA.-based, world-class material-handling products distributor. Westflex Industrial has been in business for more than 20 years.

"We suggested that they (FPL) consider using a flex metal bellows type joint," said Dixon LeGros, president of Westflex. "After sending them preliminary data, the race was on.

"But because these were nuclear engineers and there were nuclear standards that we needed to comply with, a very high level of engineering design standards and product knowledge was required. Flow data, turbulence info, resistance to bending moment and more were required."

That's when Westflex contacted its supplier, Hose Master.

"We conducted conference calls at 5 a.m. (California time); the data was flying back and forth," said LeGros. "Hose Master understood the urgency of the requirement and made arrangements to have people come in on Saturday and Sunday.

"Honestly, they performed for us at the highest level. Without their support and commitment to the project, we would have never gotten this order. The customer, needless to say, was delighted with everything we did for them.

"I would give Hose Master an A-plus for their commitment to their customers," said LeGros. "I can't even imagine what it costs to shutdown a nuclear facility, but I'm sure we saved Florida Power & Light a substantial amount of money - and headaches."




Hose Master’s Weekend Warriors Slay Downtime

We all jump when the phone rings at midnight. This call was no different.

The President of Hose Master grabbed his home phone late one Friday night to hear the bad news from John Wagner, General Manager at Lewis-Goetz Cleveland, OH: A steel mill had suffered a catastrophic failure in an exhaust system on a furnace along the continuous galvanizing line, halting production. The customer’s shutdown was costing the company thousands of dollars in lost production time every hour.

To get back up and running, the plant needed a 34-inch-diameter by 22-inch-long metal expansion joint. Fast.

That kind of expansion joint isn’t exactly an item kept in stock, so the President made a late-night decision: A crew would be assembled by early morning to develop a solution.

The President brought in an Engineer, Welder, and Bellows Foreman, and by 11 a.m., Hose Master had designed, fabricated, tested and packaged a solution that was delivered and installed that afternoon.

At 6 p.m., John called Hose Master’s President again . . . after the area cooled down and Hose Master’s expansion joint was installed, the customer discovered three more 8-inch expansion joints were damaged and needed immediate replacing. The President then arranged to bring a crew of employees in at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, and three expansion joints were fabricated, delivered and installed by that afternoon.

John said “I never thought that anyone would be able to design and fabricate a solution in such a short time frame. It is indicative of the high level of experience, dedication, professionalism and sense of urgency that is part of the Hose Master culture. My involvement was minimal. Hose Master created a workable solution and completed the fabrications in an extremely short time frame. Considering the damage that was done, our customer was able to bring production up very quickly. My field salesman gained a tremendous amount of respect and credibility with our customer and the goodwill that was established at a time when we were trying to become the sole supplier of hose products was immeasurable.”




What’s better than being on time? Being ahead of schedule!

When your plant suffers a fire and shuts down, it’s nice to have a team that can provide the materials to make the repairs on time.

It’s even better if you have a team that delivers earlier than expected.

That’s what the Virginia Paving Company discovered when it needed special hoses after a fire destroyed a boiler at its Sterling, Virginia, asphalt plant. To get operations up and running again, the company needed some specialized metal jacketed assemblies with both an inside and an outside flow path. Virginia Paving turned to Tipco Technologies, Inc., a distributor that quickly placed the order with Hose Master.

Knowing they were ordering hoses not found on a shelf, Virginia Paving was satisfied when it heard the order placed Thursday morning would be delivered Monday morning. That would give Virginia Paving time to remove the damaged equipment, but waiting any longer for the new products would result in unnecessary downtime that comes with a six-figure-a-day price tag.

“Upon our follow-up on the order the day it was placed, Hose Master informed us that the hoses had already been completed and they were finishing the pressure tests,” said David Ault, Territory Manager for Tipco Technologies. The fast turnaround would mean the hoses could reach the customer ahead of schedule if shipping could be arranged.

Truck freight could not pick up until Friday late afternoon, wasting all the time gained by Hose Master’s tremendous responsiveness.  “Hose Master offered to have an employee actually drive the hoses down to us and hand deliver them to allow us to hit our deadline,” David said.

Instead, Hose Master stayed open late on Thursday and made other shipping arrangements for the hoses to arrive quickly from Ohio.  “Hose Master was able to beat the deadline, making Tipco an un-sung hero, with full credit going to Hose Master for their efforts.” Those special jacketed assemblies with both an inside and an outside flow path were built by Hose Master technicians, tested, and delivered within 24 hours.  “OUTSTANDING!” is David’s analysis of how it all worked.

Being ahead of schedule is nice, especially when those inevitable setbacks occur. When Virginia Paving started testing the new equipment at the plant, Tipco Technologies was approached for some "last minute" assemblies that had been forgotten and products accommodating some unanticipated specifications of the new equipment. Again, Tipco Technologies turned to Hose Master.

“Too often vendors take on the stance of ‘we only ship on Fridays,’ or ‘I'm sorry we are doing the best we can do’, but Hose Master certainly goes above and beyond the norm,” David said. “I would certainly say that this order showed Tipco Technologies that Hose Master is exactly the type of vendor that distribution needs in the trenches.”