Industry News - January 2010

Ralston, NASSCO Past-President, Dies at 71; Draincables Direct Expands Hours of Service; RIDGID Launches Redesigned Web Site ; Steel Eagle Acquires Bottom Feeder Product Line; StoneAge Offers Spanish-Version Catalog; UEMSI Adds 3T Equipment as West Coast Service Center; Mr. Rooter Named to Magazine’s Top 200 List; Northeast Trenchless Hosts Annual Meeting, January Mud School

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Ralston, NASSCO Past-President, Dies at 71

Trent H. Ralston, past-president of the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) and past-chairman of the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT) died Nov. 9. He was 71. Ralston also received the lifetime achievement award from both associations.

An insightful, innovative and dedicated entrepreneur and business leader, Ralston enjoyed creating opportunities for others and contributing to his community.

Known for his sense of humor, Ralston always had a witty, folksy or clever comment at hand. “He was a gentleman and a good friend to all of us in this industry,” said Irv Gemora, NASSCO executive director.

Ralston was founder and president of TRB Specialty Rehabilitation Inc. of Gambrills, Md. He retired in 1999 after 30 years in the pipeline construction and infrastructure rehabilitation industry and moved to Nashua, N.H.

Ralston is survived by Rita Ralston, his wife of 45 years, and daughter and son-in-law, Stephanie and Rakesh Khurana. Funeral services were held Nov. 13 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church.

Draincables Direct Expands Hours of Service

Draincables Direct has extended its customer service department hours to 7 p.m. EST. The U.S. manufacturer of drain cables for most machines also carries a full line of parts, accessories, video inspection machines and more.

RIDGID Launches Redesigned Web Site

The redesigned RIDGID Web site, www.ridgid.com, features rotating banners that highlight new products as well as links to the latest news and events. From any page, visitors can access social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The updated RIDGID Forum, called RIDGID Central, enables visitors to view new product information and request demonstrations, as well as share their views with other Forum members.

Steel Eagle Acquires Bottom Feeder Product Line

Steel Eagle has acquired No Limit Industries’ Bottom Feeder line of industrial cleaning products. Both the Bottom Feeder and Bottom Feeder V2 will be manufactured under the Steel Eagle name. The company also will sell repair parts and provide product support.

StoneAge Offers Spanish-Version Catalog

The latest version of the StoneAge Inc. product catalog is also available in Spanish. Copies can be downloaded from the company’s Web site, www.stoneagetools.com.

UEMSI Adds 3T Equipment as West Coast Service Center

UEMSI has added 3T Equipment as an authorized West Coast service center for pipeline inspection and camera systems. 3T has locations in Santa Rosa and LaVerne, Calif.

Mr. Rooter Named to Magazine’s Top 200 List

Mr. Rooter Corp. ranks No. 184 on Franchise Times magazine’s Top 200 listings for 2009. The plumbing company had $280 million in worldwide sales for 2008 with 241 U.S. franchises and 119 international locations.

Northeast Trenchless Hosts Annual Meeting, January Mud School

BAROID and the Northeast Trenchless Association will hold a horizontal directional drilling and pipebursting Mud School in conjunction with NTA’s annual meeting, Jan. 25-26, at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Boxborough, Mass. The meeting is open to all association members and employees as well as potential new members. Training seminars will focus on business management, field operations and new technologies. New products also will be on display. The day-and-a-half Mud School, Jan. 26-27, will focus on applications and practices for a variety of geologic environments, including sand and gravel, sticky and swelling clay, rock drilling, geothermal drilling and grouting, lubricating fluids and pipebursting, HDD fluids testing. Instructors are Frank Canon, Tom Tibor, Dennis Duty and Mike West of BAROID. Cost for the school is $50 per NTA member and $75 for non-members. Discounted hotel rates are available. To register or for more information, e-mail Bill King, NTA executive director, at info@northeasttrenchless.com, call 508/498-3811 or visit www.northeasttrenchless.com.



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