In a coincidence of convenience, Eaves was able to simply go across Highway 65 to the Road Show.
Wayne Holden and Company is putting in 19,000 feet of 12- and 16-inch natural gas pipeline work near Damascus for Southwestern Energy. With an early April deadline, Eaves ordered the company’s third PolyHorse and another TracStar 618 at the Road Show.
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| Wayne Holden and Company’s father and son team of Morris and Gary Evans check the melt bead on a fusion joint of 16-inch HDPE pipe in the natural gas fields near Quitman, Arkansas. |
Having just sold the last PolyHorse in their inventory, Consolidated couldn’t fulfill the rush order for the unit but worked with Houston-based distributor SECOR to make sure their customer was satisfied. The PolyHorse from SECOR arrived within the week. Consolidated Pipe and Supply supplied the TracStar 618 in the same time period.
With help from Consolidated’s Larry Gamble, McElroy scheduled the Damascus stop before the daylight savings time change. Near the Fayetteville Shale natural gas field, “springing” forward on clocks also means jumping to longer work days and less ability to go to events during work hours. Thankfully, Eaves and others were able to attend.
“I saw what machines McElroy was bringing and I thought the Road Show could be a waste because I thought some of the machines weren’t applicable to this region,” said Gamble. “By the end, I was amazed to see my customers’ fascination with the full line of products. I wish we could have run the show all day long.”
Last year, McElroy set out on a 13,000-mile-plus journey across the United States and Canada. Personnel from sales, marketing, engineering, and technical service teams manned the shows, answering many questions and fielding suggestions along the way.
In 2010, McElroy has set up approximately 30 more stops than the 40 stops last year. The goal, of course, is to have a Road Show stop in every customer’s back yard. With the case of Consolidated Pipe and Supply’s proximity to Wayne Holden and Company, the Road Show stop was almost literally in Holden’s back yard.
Of the 20 visitors, Gamble remembered having a landfill interested in new vertical fusion machines, some gas pipeline contractors gravitated toward the DynaMc HP (hand pump) machines for in-ditch tie-ins, and there was buzz around what seems to be the answer for the Arkansas natural gas fields – the PolyHorse with PowerAssist.
“The new hydraulic assist attachment (PowerAssist) for the PolyHorse is the cat’s meow,” said Gamble. Gamble claimed the PolyHorse is gaining acceptance in the Arkansas natural gas fields because it is perfect for the range of pipes used most often, from 12 inch up to 20 inch.
Contractors against stringent deadlines naturally look for the most efficient ways to do their work. For Wayne Holden and Company, efficiency often comes in the form of a PolyHorse paired with a TracStar machine.
“Having a PolyHorse where I can load it up with pipe sure helps us out,” said Joe Charton, supervisor at a fusion site near Quitman, Ark. “I wouldn’t know what to do without our PolyHorses. We wouldn’t meet deadlines without them.”
The TracStars are preferred in the gas fields for moving around the job site. The TracStars prove easier to manuever when making minor positioning adjustments to get the pipe properly in the machine.
The Wayne Holden crew features 14 trained fusion technicians with plans to fuse 500 miles of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe in 2010. In March alone, the crew was split among four job sites all fusing 16-inch pipe.
Larry Gamble’s attention to his customer’s needs is apparent in his view on the Damascus locations’ business, claiming “their problems are our problems.”
Thankfully, McElroy and distributors like Consolidated Pipe and Supply are working to get more solution-bringing Road Show stops to more customers’ back yards.
Sincerely,
Tyler Henning
P.S. – Do you have an interesting job site that you would like to share? McElroy is always looking for fusion job sites where HDPE is being used and fused to solve an infrastructure problem. Contact Tyler Henning, public relations specialist at (918) 831-9286 or by email at thenning@mcelroy.com
