Monthly Archives: April 2018
McWane Products Spotted in Washington, California and Missouri
There were three McWane product sightings recently by Paula Hoffman, Francesca Dunbar and Billy Ngiraikelau. Tyler Coupling General Manager Bill Hoffman and his wife Paula (pictured bottom left) were visiting Branson, Missouri and spotted a Clow hydrant. Clear across the county at Seascape in Aptos, California, AB&I team member Billy Ngiraikelau (pictured top left) also spotted a Clow hydrant and Francesca Dunbar (pictured bottom right) spotted an M&H hydrant when she surprised her friend for her birthday with a trip to Snoqualmie Falls Park in Snoqualmie, Washington.
Thanks for sharing these product sightings. If you spot McWane products in your travels and would like to share them with the rest of the team, simply take a picture and email it to Mickie Coggin at mcoggin@mcwane.com. Be sure to include a brief description of where the picture was taken and the names of everyone in the picture.
Anaco Hosts McWane Group Safety Manager’s Conference
Anaco recently hosted the annual McWane Group Safety Managers’ Conference at their manufacturing facility in Corona, California. Ross Boeker is the Group Safety Director (GSD) for this group which includes, AB&I, Anaco, Tyler Coupling, Bibby Ste Croix, Bibby LaPerle and Amerex. This annual meeting is a great opportunity for GSDs to get together with their entire team of safety managers to share ideas and best practices with each other and discuss current issues and challenges.
This year’s agenda included a 1st quarter safety plan review, a best practice sharing WebEx with Kennedy Valve, an HR segment led by Joe Maziarz (Group HR Director) and Kevin McCarthy (VP HR), and a group tour of the Fender Guitar factory in Corona, California. The team was treated to an in-depth tour of the facility which manufactures the famous Fender Stratocaster and Fender Telecaster guitars, as well as the Fender Precision Bass & Fender Jazz Bass. After the tour, the team met with the Fender safety team to share ideas and best practices. Anaco safety manager Larry Fuscher offered and is looking forward to hosting the Fender safety team for a reciprocal visit in the near future.
Pictured L-R: Rex Blevins (Senior GSD), Ross Boeker (GSD), Larry Fuscher (Anaco Safety Manager), Jonathan Desbiens (BBL Safety Manager), TJ Pinkston (ABI Safety Manager), Nathan Gentges (Tyler Coupling Safety Manager), Francis Dorval (Bibby Ste Croix Safety Manager), Robert Fisher (Amerex Safety Manager)
Clow Valve E-Cycling Event
On April 21, Mahaska County, Iowa residents were provided the opportunity to recycle their old electronic equipment. Clow Valve Company, in cooperation with Mahaska Communication Group (MCG) and Midwest Sanitation and Recycling, organized an event called Earth Day e-Cycling.
The residents of Mahaska County publicized how residents could drop off their outdated electronic equipment such as computers, computer monitors, video game systems, stereos, keyboards, printers, VCRs, cell phones, and laptops to be recycled free-of-charge. On Saturday, volunteers from MCG and Clow were on hand to unload electronic equipment to be recycled.
Within four hours, the recycling event accumulated approximately 25,000 pounds of electronic equipment for recycling according to Eddie Pierson, Mahaska Communication Group. The outdated electronic equipment was then entirely recycled including all plastic, paper and glass, as well as metal.
Pictured: Clow volunteers from left to right: Doug Stracke, Kyle Silvey, John Grahek, Dain Netland, Roger Horn, Brian Box, Jon Callahan
Tyler Union Helps With Relief Effort After Devastating Tornadoes
When the town of Jacksonville, Alabama and surrounding areas were hit by devastating tornadoes on the night of March 19, Tyler Union team members were quick to respond by donating supplies, working with local shelters and helping with debris clean up. The destruction left in the storm’s wake was unimaginable and cleanup and rebuilding will be ongoing for years. Tyler Union continues to raise money for the relief fund and work with the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce on the needs of the affected areas.
Lori Denton, Director of Business Development for the Calhoun County Economic Development Council said, “Local industry response has been overwhelming. The surplus donations of high demand items, financial contributions, labor, time, and meals, displays what it means to love your neighbor. We are so proud to represent the industries in Calhoun County because of the unwavering strength found in the people of this community. We are so thankful to our industrial partners that have already reached out and are continuing to work alongside the Calhoun County Economic Development Council with the relief efforts.”
Pictured: Tyler Union Assistant General Manager Steve Johnson and Lori Denton, Director of Business Development, Calhoun County Economic Development Council
Valve & Hydrant Sales Group Partners with Paralyzed Veterans of America
At the recent valve & hydrant annual sales meeting (Clow, Kennedy, Kennedy PIV and M&H), they held an inspiring teambuilding event. They partnered with Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) to build wheelchairs. Because the group was so large, they were able to build nine wheelchairs that will be donated for use by veterans in the Phoenix, Arizona community.
As a part of the event, each group created a poster expressing their gratitude to the veterans for their service to our country. It was an amazing experience since the team has quite a few veterans of their own. It was the first time they’ve done something like this and they plan to make it a tradition.
NMRWA names Clow Valve Associate Member of the Year
We are pleased to announce that Clow Valve was named Associate Member of the Year by the New Mexico Rural Water Association (NMRWA) at the 40th Annual Conference which was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 16-18. New Mexico and West Texas Territory Manager Danny Fourr accepted the award on behalf of Clow.
Congratulations to entire Clow Valve team!
Clow Valve Participates in Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce Event
Clow Valve partnered with the schools in Oskaloosa, Iowa on April 18 at the Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce (ITW) event sponsored by IowaWORKS. Local business professionals in 13 different career industries were on hand to share their knowledge and insight with over 900 students in grades 8-12. Prior to the event, students completed a survey to select the top 4 industries they would like to learn more about. Among those 13 industries was advanced manufacturing.
Breonna Nimtz (Human Resources Coordinator) represented Clow Valve Company in the advanced manufacturing industry sessions. In these sessions, companies talked about their industries, the types of jobs available and the education and skills required for those jobs. Many students in these sessions expressed an interest in careers in skilled trades and manufacturing including welding, robotics, machining and maintenance.
The goal of the ITW event was to show high school and middle school students (our future workforce) the great career opportunities that are not only available locally but provide a sustainable living wage for their families in the future. This was also a great opportunity for students to start thinking about how they can utilize their interests and skills and turn them into a long-lasting career.
Announcing the Winners of the 2018 McWane Scholarship!
McWane awards ten scholarships ($2,000 x 4 years) annually to children of McWane team members to assist them as they pursue a college education. The scholarship program is administrated by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and students can apply online. We are pleased to report that there were 60 eligible applicants this year.
The winners of the 2018 McWane Scholarship are:
Hannah Frank (Duane Frank, Sales Manager McWane Ductile, Coshocton, Ohio)
Tianna Voelkert (Camilla Voelkert, Sales Coordinator Amerex, Trussville, Alabama)
Isabella Zornes (Rodney Zornes, Electrical Engineer McWane Ductile. Coshocton, Ohio)
Taylor Thorington (John Thorington, Chief Technology Officer Synapse, Huntsville, Alabama)
Alyssa Tedrow (William Tedrow, Supervisor Manchester Tank, Bedford, Indiana)
Dolores Ortiz-Rodriguez (Delores Martinez, Labor Tyler Union, Anniston, Alabama)
Danica Butler (Brett Butler, Maintenance Electrician McWane Ductile, Provo, Utah)
Juliana Ortega (Juan Ortega, Pipe Processor Tyler Pipe Company, Tyler, Texas)
Calee Cameron (Joshua Cameron, Master Electrician Tyler Pipe Company. Tyler, Texas)
Adriana Rabearivelo (Reddy Rabearivelo, Bibby Ste. Croix, Ste. Croix, Quebec, Canada)
Congratulations to this year’s winners! We wish you the best of luck as you continue your education.
Cool Product Sighting at Waterwork Specialties
From time to time we get an unusual McWane product sighting. CJ Fowler, the McWane Ductile sales representative for Southern Illinois, East Iowa and some parts of Missouri had one of those sightings last week while making sales calls.
CJ came across something a little different but really cool at one of our distributors, Waterwork Specialties in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Waterwork used McWane Ductile iron pipe as pillars, on the front of their shop.
We must say those are the best-looking pillars we’ve ever seen!
Tyler Union Holds Disa and Melt Department Team Appreciation Luncheon
In recognition and appreciation of their accomplishments in February, Tyler Union held a luncheon for the Disa and Melt Department team members on March 9.
The Disa Department was recognized for no safety recordables and over six GTPH (good tons per hour) with less than 5% downtime during the month of February!
The Melt Department was recognized for meeting all production goals and scoring the highest grade on the Environmental Scorecard for the month.
Pictured bottom left Disa Crew: Rafael Alvarez, William Averitte, Michael Blakely, Jayc Brisker, Roger Camp, Carl Daniel, Dilion Davis. Kenneth Dixon, Dustin Doss, Anthony Dudley, Carrall East, Brandell Elston, Juan Flores, LaRay Fomby, Torey Gamble, Alex Garcia, Wesley Gibbs, Timmy Graham, Joe Harbin, Anthony Harden, Arsenio Hayes, Chris Hovenden, Fred Hughley, John McNair, Calvin Merkerson, Reggie Miller, Chad Norton, Matthew Phillips, Tiki Roberts, Jeremy Shell, Tyler Smith, Dakota Strickland, Greg Thomas, Sammy Thomas, Steven Vinyard, Hank Vree, Chris Wagner and David Wagnon. Not pictured: Tommy Ardis, Shannon Bates, Roger Bell, Mondrecco Bush, Josh Gerhart, Ed Grinfield, Wesley Hartness, Larry Huey and Jeremy Jackson. Pictured top right Melting Crew: Tracy Bates, Chad Biggers, Justin Busby, Everett Clayborn, Adrian Eady, Juvenal Estrada, Matthew Gowens, Phillip Haynes, Justin Holcomb, Brandon Leath, Mark Marable, Tim McCain, Justin McGatha, Elijah McRath, James Morris, Billy Pressley and Mark Terry.
McWane, Inc. 