IN BRIEF/E-BUSINESS/NEWS
Pump Industry Analyst
February 2004
IN BRIEF
E-BUSINESS
• Franklin Electric Co Inc plans to consolidate the submersible turbine pump operations of FE Petro Inc, currently located in the Madison, Wisconsin area, and the service station hardware and flexible piping operations of EBW Inc and Advanced Polymer Technology Inc currently located in Muskegon, Michigan into a new leased facility in Madison. Ninetyfour employees at the Muskegon facilities will be affected by the consolidation. Workforce reductions are expected to begin in May with the consolidation completed by July 2004. • Vacuum specialist BOC Edwards has opened a new vacuum equipment laboratory at its Clevedon, North Somerset site in the UK. Vacuum technologists at BOC Edwards can now test new pump designs under realistic semiconductor process conditions. • Swiss insurance group AXA SA has reduced its stake in the issued share capital of the Weir Group from 5.00% to 4.51%. • R&M Energy Systems has opened a new service centre in Bakersfield, California, USA. The facility occupies 1.31 acres of land and provides 6000 square feet of warehouse and office space. • Idex Corp has granted 20 000 shares of its common stock, in the form of restricted stock, as an inducement for employment to newly-hired vice president and chief financial officer Dominic Romeo (see Pump Industry Analyst, January 2004). • To date, more than 3000 ITT Industries people have been trained in the use of improvement tools such as Value-Based Six Sigma.
• Intelliquip, a specialist in Internet enabled sales automation software for the pump industry, has released Version 3.3 of the Intelliquip Solutions software suite. Version 3.3 is designed to allow pump companies to reduce their proposal generation times, offer sophisticated selection and configuration work to their distribution network, and do a better job in managing their inquiries and proposals. Intelliquip president Dave Brockway said that they were extremely proud of this release on a number of fronts. “The advanced vertical turbine selection capability provides sophisticated and integrated automation of many timeconsuming calculations unique to sizing these complex pumps. End-users are seeing productivity gains of 500–1400% versus manual and semi-manual selection processes. And clients are now supporting complex preorder sales activities with higher quality, more accurate, and faster cycle times, which translates into happier customers and happier investors.” Version 3.3 is the sixth major release from Intelliquip over the last three years. • Pump-Flo Solutions and BigMachines are partnering to offer their integrated front-end solution to pump manufacturers. The two companies have integrated their software applications to streamline front-end processes for pump makers including selection, configuration, quoting and ordering for new pumps and aftermarket parts and services. Crane Pumps & Systems, AR Wilfley and Teikoku Chempump have already implemented the integrated Pump-Flo/BigMachines solution.
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JOHN CRANE OPENS SEALING EXCELLENCE CENTRES
ALLDOS EXTENDS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
Sealing specialist John Crane is on an expansion programme to make its service capabilities locally accessible to its global customer base. Advanced Service Centres have already opened in Singapore and Russia and others are planned to open over the coming months. The on-site testing and repair facility available from the new Singapore Centre offers potentially reduced turnaround times of up to 70%. Dry gas seals are repaired by John Crane’s own trained and experienced engineers and then fully and dynamically tested under typical operating conditions. Stocks of genuine spare parts are available at the Centre, and these can be held as bonded stocks on behalf of customers. John Crane - ISKRA, a new Russian joint venture company formed by John Crane, OAO NPO ISKRA and ZAO TD Gaztechsnab, has recently opened a major gas seal production, testing, repair and service centre in Perm. The new company will use the centre as a base from which to supply gas seals and spares for both new and retrofit applications, to engineer and manage total turbomachinery retrofit packages, and to create a genuinely local supply and support service which is dedicated to the Russian market. The new facility will help John Crane to strengthen its current position as a major supplier of dry gas seals into Russia, and especially to Gazprom. John Crane EAA commercial director Ray Dorey said that the two new centres have drawn a very positive and encouraging response from customers.
Dosing pump and chlorination systems manufacturer Alldos has added a number of new subsidiaries and offices to service markets previously supported from Germany. The creation of the Australian subsidiary Alldos Oceania Pty Ltd in Brisbane on 1 January 2004 sees Alldos International AG establishing its own corporate site on a fifth continent. The Brisbane office will service Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australasia. Additional offices have also been opened in Moscow, Russia and Dubai to cover the Saudia Arabia/Middle East region. Last year Alldos set up Alldos (Shanghai) Water Technology Ltd to target China’s growing water market (see Pump Industry Analyst, August 2003).
WORLDWATER JV TO PURSUE IRAQ CONTRACTS Solar specialist WorldWater Corp is to form a joint venture with The Sandi Group Inc to solicit public works and water and power sector rehabilitation contracts in Iraq. The two companies intend to bid on contracts which will use WorldWater’s proprietary solar power and water management services, technology and products. The companies have already entered a bid on at least one project in Baghdad. The Sandi Group is a developer, contractor, logistical support provider and investor in Iraq. Group founder and chairman Rubar Sandi also set up the Iraq-US Business Council.