Category Archives: Company Advances
McWane, Inc. Acquires Waterman Industries
McWane, Inc. acquires Waterman Industries
McWane, Inc. has purchased Exeter, California, based Waterman Industries. Waterman is a recognized leader in water control products for water treatment, wastewater, agriculture, rural water delivery, hydro-power and flood control management. Waterman is a leading domestic manufacturer of both cast iron and fabricated stainless steel water control gates. The company was founded by W.A. Waterman in 1912 and initially manufactured agricultural irrigation equipment for Central Valley farms. In 1953, the company expanded into water control infrastructure products including large and complex cast iron sluice gates, fabricated slide gates and radial gates.
“We are excited to add Waterman to the McWane family of companies,” said McWane President and CEO Ruffner Page. “Waterman’s high-quality products and veteran industry experts are an excellent complement to McWane’s Valve and Hydrant Group.”
McWane will invest in Waterman’s production facility in Exeter to modernize operations with new equipment and best-in-class manufacturing processes to improve productivity, product delivery times, and team member safety. The company will also focus on improving communication and strengthening relationships with its customers, channel partners, and suppliers.
“McWane is excited to join the Exeter community with our purchase of Waterman, a recognized local leader for more than 100 years,” said Olivier Marietta, Waterman’s new general manager. “We will strengthen Waterman’s commitment to be a cornerstone of the local community, a respected and leading employer, and a loyal long-term partner to our customers and channel partners.”
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Another McWane VPP Site!
We are pleased to announce that after almost a year of waiting, McWane Ductile located in Phillipsburg, New Jersey (MDNJ) received their official notification that they have been approved for VPP Merit status. Their extensive and comprehensive on-site evaluation by a team of five OSHA personnel and one external Special Government Employee was held June 5-9, 2017.
They have been asked to perform additional industrial hygiene monitoring for non-routine and off-shift tasks (the only issue identified by the entire OSHA team). Once that is complete, they will be able to apply for the Star designation.
McWane Vice-President of Health & Safety Barb Wisniewski said, “It is very fitting that this announcement tops off an outstanding year for MDNJ’s health and safety success, i.e., winner of the 2017 McWane Top Quartile Club Award and the 2017 McWane EHS Excellence (Screaming Eagle) Award. You should be extremely proud—very well deserved!”
MDNJ joins six other McWane facilities that had been recognized as VPP sites. In fact, all three McWane Ductile locations are now VPP sites (McWane Ductile Ohio-VPP Star, McWane Ductile-Utah-VPP Star and MDNJ-VPP Merit).
Congratulations to everyone at MDNJ!
McWane Ductile Adds New Calculator to the Pocket Engineer
McWane Ductile has added a new calculator to the Ductile Iron Pipe Industry leading Pocket Engineer. The new HDD (Horizontal Directional Drill calculator will help utilities and engineers specify McWane Ductile Iron Pipe for the HDD applications. Check it out today.
The calculator can be viewed at: http://pe.mcwane.com/groups/ductile-iron-pipe/mcwane-ductile/calculators/hdd-profile-calculator
Special thanks to Ken Rickvalsky for all his work on this project.
Tyler Union Strong
Tyler Union recently worked with a customer on a job in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania that required six 30” FLG Tees with a 16” Side Outlet. This is the first time Tyler Union had produced this size, but with the ability to do short cycle tooling at the IMF Side Floor, they were able to fill this order for West View Water Authority.
(Submitted by Pat Gleeson, Tyler Union Plant Treatment Sales)
Futurecom introduces new line of P25 tactical repeaters
We are pleased to announce that Futurecom Systems has introduced a new line of P25 tactical repeaters with a backpack option. This new product line offers portable radio coverage extension for special tactical teams including police and military personnel.
The P25 tactical Repeater with backpack option is a lightweight full duplex 10 Watt repeater available in VHF, UHF, 700 MHz, and 800 MHz bands. An internal lithium battery provides between 8-13 hours of operation and an optional backpack sling is designed for comfort and stability in the field.
Futurecom will be showcasing the P25 tactical repeater at the International Wireless Communications Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 23-24th, 2016.
Scott Willis Named New Zinwave CEO, Ian Sugarbroad to Retire
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Scott D. Willis as the new Chief Executive Officer of Zinwave, effective January 4, 2016. Ian Sugarbroad will step down from his current role on January 4, but will work closely with Scott on a full-time basis for several months to facilitate the transition of his responsibilities. During this period he will move to the role of Vice-Chairman of Zinwave and will remain a member of the Zinwave executive team. Once the transition is complete, Ian will report to Key Foster in a special advisory role where he will provide input on a wide range of strategic, technical, and operational matters that relate both to Zinwave and to McWane Technology Group. This role will enable Ian to take his first step toward his long-term plan to retire to Florida with his wife, Dominique.
Scott joins us from Goodman Networks, where he was Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. He brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and relationships developed over his 30-year career in the telecommunications industry. Scott previously worked for Ericsson, Nokia, BellSouth, Sprint, and several smaller global corporations in the communications field.
Scott has led a number of large global businesses over the course of his extensive career. He is recognized as a strong sales and marketing executive with a proven track record in market-leading sales growth. He has extensive general management experience setting strategic direction, confecting corporate alliances, and overseeing complex operations for both large and small organizations. He also has built and grown new businesses to significant scale. We are confident that Scott’s leadership capabilities and experience in our target market segments (operator, neutral host, and enterprise) will help Zinwave seize the significant growth opportunities that are within our grasp.
Scott graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in finance, received his MBA from Wake Forest University, and received continuing executive education certificates from the graduate schools of business at Stanford and Columbia. Scott will be based in Dallas, TX, where he lives with his wife (Kelley), daughter (Savannah), and son (Chance).
We are excited for Scott to join the Zinwave and the McWane family of companies. We are confident he will lead the organization to achieve the ambitious goals that we have outlined for the business.
Please join us in welcoming Scott to the team.
Tyler Xianxian Showcases New Greensand Molding Line (M1)
Zhengwei (Joe) Zhou, Tyler XianXian foundry manager, speaks to approximately 20 Chinese dignitaries about recent improvements through a new greensand molding line, baghouses, and building air supply system and new M1 greensand molding line and electric furnaces.
Tyler XianXian was asked by the local mayor to showcase the new greensand molding line (M1) and building air supply system to a group of Chinese dignitaries. Approximately 20 officials, including local and area mayors, vice-mayors, the Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau, stopped by Tyler XianXian to see the new M1 molding line, baghouses, and electric furnaces.
The M1 molding line is the first phase of a two-phased project with the second line, M2, currently under construction. M2 has a completion date scheduled for mid-December 2015. The total capital for the M1, M2, and air supply system is approximately $5 million or 30 million RMB.
The building air supply system will distribute approximately 700,000 cubic feet per minute of fresh air throughout the main foundry building. The M1 molding line has a production rate of 8 tons per day at 15 molds per hour, while the M2 molding line will have a production rate of 30 tons per day at 50 molds per hour.
McWane, Inc. makes $28 million investment in the future of water in the Middle East; Opening new valve, fittings and plumbing manufacturing plant in Abu Dhabi
McWane, Inc. makes $28 million investment in the future of water in the Middle East
Opening new valve, fittings and plumbing manufacturing plant in Abu Dhabi
Birmingham, Alabama-based McWane, Inc. is opening its newest valve, fitting and plumbing manufacturing plant in Abu Dhabi on October 26, 2015. The opening of the $28 million Abu Dhabi facility, McWane’s fifth valve manufacturing plant and 27th manufacturing facility worldwide, establishes McWane’s local position in the Middle East. McWane, Inc. is one of the largest privately owned companies in the USA, with more than 6,000 employees world-wide.
McWane’s global footprint is making a positive impact around the world, and its growing global operations are expanding its effort to bring water to the world. “We recognize a significant opportunity to manufacture and supply water, sewer and plumbing products for the Middle East and North African regions,” said Ruffner Page, CEO of McWane, Inc. “It is our next step toward bringing quality McWane products to even more of the world with our new facility in Abu Dhabi, and it’s just another milestone along McWane’s long-term commitment to water distribution infrastructure development across the region.”
McWane established its new Gulf division to serve the growing demand for McWane brands like Kennedy Valve, Tyler Pipe, and Wade Drains in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. McWane Gulf will produce water, plumbing and sewer products to international specifications, including ductile iron fittings, valves and hydrants, drainage products, and soil pipe fittings and couplings. The McWane Gulf operation will employ around 70 skilled workers once the plant is in full production.
“The McWane team is working on innovative ways to deliver our most valuable resource-water. For almost a century McWane has built durable, sustainable and efficient water infrastructure products that meet these needs,” says Page. “McWane Gulf will use the technology and experience acquired by McWane over the years to produce these products. That includes safeguarding the health and safety of every team member and protecting the environment in the communities where we operate. Everyone at McWane understands and supports the three principles of our Environmental, Health and Safety policy; compliance, protection and improvement.”
Meet McWane: Chet Johnson, Tyler Couplings
At McWane, we encourage our team members to constantly evaluate their jobs to determine if they can be done more efficiently or safer. At Tyler Couplings in Marshfield, Missouri, they also have an incentive program to reward team members that do just that. Chet Johnson in the Tool & Die Department was recently awarded a $50 gift card for inventing a way to more easily replace the eyeletter needles. Eyeletter needles would break and the Tool & Die guys would have to spend time removing them from the machine by torching the broken needles off and then silver soldering in new ones.
Chet created and built a threaded design that can be taken apart while in the machine and replaced with a new needle. The result is a 30 minute time savings with no hot work required!
Great job, Chet! We thank you so much for your innovative thinking!
M&H Valve Makes Changes for Safety and Efficiency
Team members at M&H Valve are happy to report that they finally received a new Box Car Special Forklift. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford it or couldn’t get approval to purchase the equipment, but the main reason for the delay is that they didn’t know what would work best in their day-to-day operations and special functions such as set-ups.
After several conversations, surfing the internet, and trying out different things, they came up with a Box Car Special Forklift with an 8,000 pound capacity, a short wheel base for maneuvering and extended forks to complete set ups. Most importantly, this forklift eliminates some safety concerns they had.
Not all things purchased cost an arm and a leg, but they can very well save those critical limbs. The safety stands were purchased and put in place to be used as blocks with lock-out/tag-out procedures to ensure the mold can’t come down while the operator is cleaning the machine. The forklifts are very easy to use by simply screwing out the jack to the desired length and are lightweight for easy handling. They also eliminate the need to use several 4” x 4” pieces of wood for different size molds.
Another change that was recently made in the Wedge Coat area at M&H was the addition of a vending machine. It’s not the normal vending machine you may be thinking about, either. This vending machinedispenses operating supplies and safety equipment such as gloves, knives, batteries, markers, and tape – just to name a few of the 23 items it holds. The machine eliminates the need to buy cards and inventory these items in bulk. Fastenal monitors it via the Internet and automatically fills the machine back up when levels reach the minimum. Operators have a four digit code that they can enter and can get basically anything they need without having to wait for someone it issue it out.
Weekly and monthly reports are automatically generated so they know exactly who, when, where, and how many of each item they are using. This makes for a much more efficient and productive operation.
McWane, Inc. 