On a given day, the company may be vacuuming sediment from a 55-foot well for a residential customer or dredging a sewage lagoon for a city. Recent jobs included hydroexcavation for a sewer line being replaced at a fast-food restaurant in a popular mall, and using high-pressure water to prepare a bridge for resurfacing. It’s a mixed bag: If there is a challenge, Alaska Stormwater Maintenance is there.

David Scheele and partner Richard Bollard opened the company in 2003, starting with a 1985 Vactor combination truck Scheele bought from the City of Anchorage at an auction. Both men were working for the city at the time, Bollard as a foreman and Scheele as a heavy-duty diesel mechanic.

Scheele wasn’t sure what he would do with the truck until offers came in to put it to work. For the first two years, the partners kept their day jobs, but by the third year they were earning a suitable income, and the city saw a conflict of interest. Scheele departed and Bollard retired shortly after with 25 years of service. Their business has grown significantly since then.

Scheele was captivated with hydroexcavation, and Bollard was experienced with it as well.

“What we did with our company was make the technology available to those who didn’t have the equipment but needed the capability,” Scheele says. “In the past, some of these contractors had to dig and take their chances. Now, we often partner with them on projects. We are available for companies and municipalities, big and small, and also for residential projects.”

The path to success

The owners have profited from the network they built while with the city, and they have continued to expand it. Those contacts help them locate the equipment they need.

“We have people we work with on projects looking for equipment from as far as Alabama, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington,” Scheele notes.

Scheele has picked up an array of equipment at auctions throughout the U.S. He shops a wide area for used equipment because the local market isn’t big enough to justify buying brand new. His experience and training have helped him grow adept at repair and rebuilding.

“We are extremely cautious about spending money, because six months out of the year, there is no income,” Scheele says. “Nearly all of our equipment was purchased at auction. We buy a lot of equipment, often for a specific job. At one time recently, we had 22 pieces of equipment.”

The fleet includes:

Two 1985 Vactor 1200s on GMC Brigadier chassis with 2,000 psi/80 gpm water systems and 16-cubic-yard debris tanks

A 1983 Vactor 1200 hydroexcavator on a Volvo chassis, with 1,500 psi/20 gpm water system and a 16-cubic-yard debris tank

1996 Vactor 2100 on a Ford L-8000 chassis with a 12-cubic-yard debris tank, 2,500 psi/110 gpm water system, and a positive displacement blower

RS Technical Services camera truck with Omni EYE III zoom camera and NovaSTAR camera, both on steerable tractors

The yard is on two and a half acres, and the building is made up of eight Conex containers situated to create an enclosure on the concrete floor and then roofed over. The heated space houses the four Vactor trucks during winter.

Partners in grime

A recent remodeling project at the University of Alaska in Anchorage called for Alaska Stormwater Maintenance, as prime contractor, to uncover several lines buried two feet deep. The job meant hydroexcavating down seven feet to preserve electrical, communications, natural gas, steam and other lines. The excavation was 10 feet wide and extended for 100 feet. The crew worked in tight quarters and a large volume of material had to be removed without closing walkways in the area.

On another project at Anchorage International Airport, a crew ran a hose 168 feet from the Vactor 2100 inside a building to excavate a 6-foot-square, 7-foot-deep hole for a surge protector tank.

The Vactor 2100 came into play again for hydroexcavating a 9-foot by 7-foot area 5-feet deep inside a major department store in Anchorage to house the foundation for two elevators.

Turning the screw

Scheele makes sure his equipment is well maintained so he can continue to handle these difficult jobs.

“For six months I abuse the heck out of it, and then spend the winter doing repairs,” he says. “Summer is so busy I don’t have time. If we lose a motor or transmission, we patch it up and do whatever we have to do. That’s one reason we have four trucks. If one breaks down, I can get another and not lose time.”

Scheele and Bollard have grown accustomed to difficult work, and the company is geared to go wherever there is a job.

“We will send our equipment by ferry, railroad, or any road that leads in the right direction, if the job is worth our time,” Scheele says.

There are five climate zones in Alaska, from rainforest to desert. The southeast panhandle can get up to 200 inches of rain a year, versus four inches around Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope.

“Soil conditions include everything from gravel and sand to shale and glaciated clay,” Scheele says. “The clay is dense, and a little water turns it into soup. It is tough to pick up and tough to move.”

A crew can be working in good, clean gravel and sand for a few feet and then encounter messy clay, slowing down work considerably.

“Even though Richard and I have a lot of experience with these soils, we’ll think we know what we’re doing, and the next thing we know we are fighting clay we did not anticipate. Trust me, we sometimes are greatly surprised by what we find.”

For jobs in abrasive rock, Scheele prefers an older Vactor 1200, just to protect the newer machine from the wear and tear.

“But it all depends on the projects,” he says. “The idea is to match the equipment to the soils, keep maintenance down, and keep performance efficient.”

Mysterious underground

Contractors frequently deal with high water tables in the Anchorage Bowl, and Alaska Stormwater Maintenance is often called in for water mitigation.

“We have plumbing contractors who call us if the drains are too big or deep for their trucks,” Scheele says. “We bid side by side with our customers. If a sewer line is plugged up, we can hydroexcavate six to seven feet to get to the sewer line and allow the contractor to proceed with the repair.”

Water and sewer lines can be 10 feet or deeper under ground, depending on the terrain. Some lines installed 25 years ago lie 25 to 27 feet deep. Every job is different, and crews have to be prepared.

“I never know what I will find when I dig, or what the contractor customer will ask me to do,” Scheele says. “He has to change what he does, and then we have to change when conditions on the job change. We work closely together. When I see something I’m worried about, I say so. In the interim, the contractor tells me how to proceed, or to stop until he can get more equipment.”

Team and truck

The laborers on the truck with Scheele are well paid for their six months of work, and they are much more than truck drivers.

“They have to know how to set up the truck and not damage it,” Scheele says. “But more important is the issue of safety. The truck can come back in pieces, and I’ll put it back together. They had better know the job, or be willing to listen to instructions to learn what we do and how we do it. We want employees to be safe, we want the customer to be safe, and we want to perform to the customer’s satisfaction. And I don’t want any underground utilities damaged. That would cost us a lot of money.”

With such extreme conditions, Scheele never quite knows what to expect when the phone rings, but he’s ready for the challenge.

“We can’t do everything people ask of us, but we try.”

What is the difference? SMART thinking results in specific goals. WISE thinking gives them heart. SMART goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Action-Oriented

Realistic

Time-Bound

WISE goals, meanwhile, are:

Written

Integrated

Synergistic

Expansive

SMART goals

SMART goals have helped many people move from vague, unattainable goals to clear, specific action. You might want to use this standard to transform your commitments into powerful goals.

Here are some examples of SMART goals that meet all of these criteria. These goals show how you might use a smart goal at work, in finding a better balance between home and work, or improving your personal life:

Schedule (an action-oriented verb) team building and strategic planning off-site (specific activities) by end of January (a time-bound date that is realistic and measurable).

Leave work (a specific, action-oriented verb) by 6 p.m. three times a week (a time-bound commitment that is realistic and measurable).

Go on a date with my wife (a specific, action-oriented verb) at least twice a month (a time-bound commitment that is realistic and measurable).

All of those goals illustrate how the SMART criteria get you to be very concrete about your goals, which makes them easier to attain. The problem with SMART thinking is that it has a tendency to limit instead of inspire. SMART goals can work against you if:

You neglect to write them and keep them fresh.

They’re isolated from other important parts of your life.

They conflict or compete.

They lack spirit and conviction.

WISE goals

To avoid the pitfalls possible with SMART thinking, make sure your goals are also WISE. The result will be goals that are both better and more powerful.

Writing your goals is a critical step – and one many people miss. Writing forces you to be clear in your thinking. It allows you to look at your plans with objectivity and instills commitment. Having your thoughts in a durable form allows you to revisit them again and again.

Integrating your ideas means bringing them together in the same place so you can look at them all at once. Allow your personal and professional lives to intermingle. It’s OK if right under “increase profit share” you have “get more rest.” They both improve your quality of life. They both contribute to your definition of success. You get to have it all. There are no rules. You make it up.

Synergistic goals go beyond integration by also making them work together. Synergy happens when one idea advances another. Keeping a vision of what you want in mind when you think about your goals will help create that synergy. You really lose something when you decouple your goals from your vision; they become just another prioritized list. The most powerful and peaceful way to think about your efforts is to see how they can coalesce into one complete vision for your life.

Expansive simply means to think big.

The difference

Your goals should inspire you to stay on the path to your dreams, not lock you into a pattern of ticking off bite-sized action items from here to retirement. This may be the biggest differentiator between SMART and WISE thinking. Spending too much time and energy boxing your objectives into a hard and fast formula can squeeze the life right out of them. Some examples:

SMART goal – Schedule team building and strategic planning off-site by end of January.

WISE goal – Transform my staff into a team of inspired, empowered partners.

SMART goal – Leave work by 6 p.m. three times a week, organize my office, and work with my assistant to find a new planning system within one month from today.

WISE goal – Feel in control of my life.

SMART goal – Go on a date with my wife at least twice a month and tell her why I appreciate her at least once a day starting Aug. 3.

WISE goal – Fall in love again.

Every good leader has goals to help them stay on track to achieve their bigger vision day after day. The SMARTer they are, the more productive you’ll be. However, make sure that your goals are also WISE enough to inspire you and move you in new and exciting ways. You will find you don’t just meet your goals; they’ll actually better you.

As owner of C.M.E. Services in Cincinnati, Ohio, Menkhaus had spent 10 years repairing and replacing pipes for local plumbers and builders, and he knew his customers were looking for alternatives to digging and replacing pipes.

Menkhaus did some research and eventually settled on the Perma-Liner Industries lining system after visiting the company’s Florida facility. Once he jumped on board, the company sent two representatives to help Menkhaus and his technicians learn the system.

“I actually paid for extra help with the training,” Menkhaus says. “We spent an entire week with two days in the shop, and we completed three jobs. It was pretty brutal. I wanted to get as much done as possible to be sure everyone was properly trained and got all the hands-on experience they needed.”

He and six employees went through the training process and learned how to install the liners, despite difficult weather conditions.

“We had horrible snowstorms, but with this system, you can work in cold weather. The temperature was never above 20 degrees. We use the hot-water cure system, and the cold really didn’t affect the curing time or anything else.”

Within six months, Menkhaus had a crew of four dedicated strictly to pipe lining and was looking to hire at least three more technicians for a second crew. Demand quickly grew from three or four liners per week to five and six per week. Lining now makes up 80 percent of the company’s sewer replacement work.

All the proper tools

To support his lining services using the Perma-Liner Maverick hot-water cure system, Menkhaus includes locating, TV inspection and root removal for his customers. He chose the VuTEK GT series push camera from Insight Vision with 200 feet of cable, color self-leveling camera head, USB thumb drive recording and a 512 Hz sonde. For mainline inspections, the company can subcontract for a pan-and-tilt camera.

The locator is a Model 8872 from Rycom Instruments. Menkhaus also has a Model 1065 sewer machine and a Model 738 trailer jetter (2,500 psi/14 gpm), both from Spartan Tool.

The pride of the fleet is a 2011 Ford F-550 service truck dedicated to lining. C.M.E. also owns a 2001 Ford dump truck, a 2005 International 5-ton dump truck, a 2010 Takeuchi crawler-based mini excavator, and a Caterpillar track loader.

C.M.E. Services travels in a 25-mile radius and operates out of a 4,000-square-foot facility in an industrial park in Cincinnati. The firm also does some work across the Ohio River in Kentucky.

Because C.M.E. is always a subcontractor, there is no lettering or logo on its equipment.

“I like the niche I am in,” says Menkhaus. “I don’t have to go sell the job. I don’t have to spend money on advertising. My customer tells me where the job is and how long the liner is, and we take it pretty much from there.”

Conditions on the ground

C.M.E. deals mainly with three types of pipe – mostly vitrified clay, along with some concrete and cast iron. Pipes are often buried in 10 to 12 feet of clay soil with glaciated rock and sand that can be loose and gritty.

“The soil is considered the worst for excavation, as it is rated at a Class C,” Menkhaus says. “Sometimes the pipe can be buried as deep as 15 to 20 feet, depending on the topography. That can be dangerous when replacing a line, and we have to use trench boxes and other safety measures when a hole is opened up.”

Root intrusion is generally the issue in pipes installed prior to 1980. Concrete pipe, because of its weight, was installed in 3- to 5-foot sections, leaving multiple joints where maple and oak roots can work their way in.

“We also see cast-iron pipe rotting out on the bottom because of the constant flow of sewage,” Menkhaus says. “You run a camera and see the grooves. Sometimes the camera gets stuck and we have to pull it out because the pipe is just rotten.”

Clay pipes present two problems for C.M.E. crews. The first is root intrusion. The second is the soil in which the pipe is buried.

“When the ground dries up and shifts and then gets wet and heavy, the clay doesn’t have the strength of other pipes, and it shatters, cracks, and starts to fall apart,” Menkhaus says.

All these pipes are suitable for relining if they have not completely collapsed. Small sections frequently require spot repair, after which the entire pipe can be lined. Menkhaus likes the hot-water cure system because he finds it is easy to use, involves no downtime, and is compact and easily transported.

The game plan

Jobs for C.M.E. often arise out of emergencies: A homeowner calls a plumber after discovering a toilet backed up, a tub that won’t drain, or water in the basement.

“The plumbing company most often calls us if they think a liner would be a solution,” Menkhaus says. “They put their camera in and determine the length of the pipe and whether it can be lined. We are on the telephone with them while they are at the site. From there, we work hand in hand.”

Plumbers on a potential lining site can reach Menkhaus by cell phone for help determining the viability of lining. For example, if there is an offset or a line has collapsed and a plumber wants an immediate answer, the person doing the inspection can take a photo of the inspection camera monitor screen and send it sent to Menkhaus for a verdict.

“I am on the telephone every day with six or seven plumbers who are out selling liners, and they want an answer,” Menkhaus says. “Frequently we will get all the information one day and begin preparation on a job the next day.”

Accurately assessing pipe size is critical. Most laterals are 4-inch or 6-inch lines, but there are some 5-inch lines. Menkhaus keeps an extensive inventory of liner sizes to meet his customers’ needs.

Step by step

Crews complete jobs in a two-day process. Day one is for preparation, which can take up to four hours. The first step is at the cleanout in the basement or slab floor of the house, where workers cut out a 2- by 3-foot section of the concrete and dig down to expose the line. They remove a section of the pipe along with the cleanout, and use a jetter and cables to clean the line.

They inspect the line with a push camera and take the necessary measurements, then replace the missing section of pipe using flexible pipe connectors by Fernco. A piece of plywood is placed over the opening for safety and to allow the customer to use the facilities overnight.

Workers return the next day to do the lining. They remove the flexible connector, inspect the line again and cap the house side of the sewer. Then they deploy the Perma-Verter inverter, which is made of aluminum and is easily transported. Working in the dedicated liner truck, they take final measurements, mix the resins, prepare the liner and shoot it into the line.

Prepared for any task

Typically, the pipe under the house transitions from 4 to 6 inches in diameter about three to 10 feet from the house. Perma-Liner makes a transitional liner that takes care of both diameters, creating a tapered transition that leaves no sharp edges.

Menkhaus keeps liners for this purpose in inventory, but if need be, he can order the custom product from Perma-Liner and get fast turnaround. The liner must be carefully measured and cut from each end to achieve a proper fit. Before the installation, technicians use a permanent marker to record the date and the address on the liner.

Offering CIPP and related services has opened a new avenue for C.M.E. Services. Menkhaus’ top priority is to respect owners’ property and make sure they are happy with the final product.

“It’s not how fast we do the job,” he says, “but that it’s done correctly.”

Extensively renovated starting in 1993, the building houses entertainment and events in the Fountain Square Theatre, art galleries and studios, two restaurants, seasonal rooftop dining, a cocktail bar, and duckpin bowling in either of two vintage alleys.

Duckpin bowling was born in Baltimore in 1900 and was a favorite of Babe Ruth. It uses smaller balls and pins and has different rules. The Action Duckpin Bowl has been restored with authentic 1930s vintage bowling equipment and eight lanes. A café area seats up to 120 guests, and surrounding windows give a great view of downtown.

The Atomic Bowl Duckpin, in the building’s basement, has seven lanes with authentic 1950s and 1960s bowling equipment, along with displays of mid-century bowling collectibles. A café seats up to 90 guests. Visit www.fountainsquareindy.com.

Bar and lounge

The ball & biscuit, two minutes from downtown at 331 Massachusetts Ave., is a bar and lounge set in the cultural corridor of the Mass Ave neighborhood. True to its eclectic surroundings, it has the laid-back atmosphere of a Prohibition-era speakeasy.

From the 150-year-old quarter-sawn wood floor, to the distressed leather chairs, the exposed brick walls and the tin ceiling, the place is a neighborhood bar at heart. The menu includes craft beers, boutique wines and unique cocktails that range from pre-Prohibition classics to modern concoctions. Unique bar foods are served in an atmosphere of background music conducive to good conversation. Visit www.ballandbiscuit.com.

Casual dining

Black Market is a new gastro pub at 922 Massachusetts Ave., four minutes from the Convention Center. It serves up “comfort food” with an Indiana flavor along with local beers and wines. Foods made with old-fashioned pickling and preservation methods often appear in the restaurant’s dishes. Entrees like ale steamed mussels, rainbow trout, mushroom dumplings and the Black Market burger are served in a casual atmosphere where diners in a suit or jeans are equally welcome. Entree prices range from $12 to $22. Visit www.blackmarketindy.net.

Historic site

Dominating the five-block picturesque setting of War Memorial Plaza in downtown Indianapolis, the Indiana World War Memorial sits 210 feet above street level. This mausoleum-style limestone and marble memorial honors Hoosiers killed during World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The memorial, at 431 N. Meridian St., includes multiple standing figures that symbolize courage, memory, peace, victory, liberty and patriotism. The Shrine Room, with 24 stained glass windows, provides the setting for a 17- by 30-foot American flag suspended from the ceiling. A military museum in the basement follows the history of Indiana soldiers from the Battle of Tippecanoe through the most recent conflicts. Visit www.in.gov/iwm.

Shopping

Midland Arts & Antiques in downtown Indy can keep you occupied for hours with four floors full of art and antiques from more than 200 dealers from around the Midwest. Located at 907 E. Michigan St., four minutes from the Convention Center, the market has been a destination for more than 15 years. Merchandise includes decorative items, works by local artists, furniture, pottery, vintage jewelry, 1950s collectibles, china and a great deal more. Visit www.midlandathome.com.

Like it is the other 51 weeks of the year, social media is a source of news and information during the Expo. But, during Expo week when so much is happening in one place at one time, social media can be even more crucial to your business communications. While attending the Expo you can use social media both to keep track of what is happening at the show and to share information with others at the show and back home.

SOCIAL MEDIA AT THE EXPO

If you are on Twitter, search for comments about the Expo using hashtags and also use them in your own tweets so other people interested in the show can find them. The hashtag symbol (#) used before relevant keywords in a tweet categorizes the tweet to show more easily in Twitter search. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other tweets in that category.

Similarly on Facebook and LinkedIn, you can announce your company’s attendance at the Expo as well as any related news and events. You’ll also want to keep an eye on Facebook to see what’s being posted at www.facebook.com/CleanerMag and www.facebook.com/pumpershow, and share thoughts and impressions about the show.

COLE Publishing, which creates this magazine and organizes the Expo, will have a mobile site for attendees to use at the event. The site will feature a searchable list of exhibitors and booths, a general schedule, and a more detailed educational schedule. Check out the mobile site at http://m.pumpershow.com.

One thing you don’t want to do is waste time at the Expo, so make sure your team has Internet-ready smartphones or tablets set up with the right applications for social media use. Be sure to bring chargers to power up devices at night and have a large enough memory card if you are going to take a lot of pictures or video.

In general, using social media at a trade show is easiest on a mobile device. A laptop computer can be inconvenient and cumbersome to carry around on the floor, but handy when you want to download photos off your phone at the end of the day.

While at the Expo, you can send out real-time updates of what’s going on all around you using Facebook or Twitter. You can also use YouTube to stream videos and Flickr to upload photos.

Another use for technology on the Expo floor could guarantee you get the “show discount” on a purchase. Suppose you see a product you like, but need authorization to buy it. Now you don’t have to wait to discuss it after you get home. Simply snap some photos and email them to the boss. If he or she doesn’t understand how the item works, make a video of the sales representative demonstrating it.

I SPY … QR CODES

While walking around the Expo, you may see QR codes on printed materials in some exhibitors’ booths. QR stands for “Quick Response” and refers to those black and white squares that are really a two-dimensional barcode readable by a variety of devices including smartphones.

The amount of information that can be contained in a QR code is about 4,300 characters. That’s enough for a business professional to include contact information and some personal background or product information, which is more than will fit on a standard business card.

Newer smartphones come with QR code readers installed. If your phone doesn’t have one installed, try Google Goggles or on an iPhone, the App Store to download a free reader.

Once you have the QR code reader installed, simply activate the application and take a quick snapshot of the data label with your camera.

If you’d like to use a QR code on your own company materials, the technology for creating them is usually free. There are also dozens of Web services that will create them for you.

There are plenty of places a QR code can be used, especially at a trade show. Try putting a code that contains all your contact information on your business card and then attach it to your show badge so people you meet can simply scan your card. If you want to be more memorable, have the QR code put on a baseball cap and ask people to scan you!

You can also put a QR code on flyers, brochures and other print collateral. That way, people have the option of scanning or taking these items with them. Those who are more technology oriented will appreciate you lightening their load. You may find after the show you’ve distributed fewer business cards, but made more contacts. And having your contact information scanned to someone’s phone makes it much less likely to get lost.

THE PARTY ISN’T OVER

When the show is over and you’re back at the office, don’t assume your Expo social media efforts are over. Follow up with the leads you generated by connecting with them on LinkedIn or sending follow-up notes via email. Upload more media and recap the event for those who couldn’t make it this year.

And then … begin planning your social media strategy for next year’s Expo. Did you observe other attendees using technology and social media applications in ways you hadn’t thought of but would like to try? Could some of the things you tried have been done more effectively or efficiently? You’ve got a year to gear up for next year’s Expo!

Positive displacement

The positive displacement machine was invented around 1860 as a “more efficient” water wheel. Made of wood, it was put into the millstream and as water flowed through it, the rotors turned and power was generated from the output shaft. Over time, wood components swelled and ruined the clearances, causing the mill to stop. The unit would then have to be taken out of service and dried out, shrinking the components to their original dimensions. As soon as the rotors would turn, a power source was connected to the output shaft to speed up the drying process. Someone noticed that this arrangement could move a significant quantity of air, and the use as air blowers began.

Cupola blowers became the first application for this newfound technology. Each rotation of the rotors represented a specific amount of air being forced into the furnace, thus allowing the furnace master to develop the theory that the more rpm the blower turned the hotter the fire became. The positive displacement (PD) machine was originally intended for pressure applications, which led to the original nickname, “blower.” Only in the last 30 years has the machine been adapted to provide negative pressure in truck-mounted vacuum applications.

The PD machine is constructed with two lobes that rotate in a cast steel housing in opposite directions of each other. The design of the PD is such that each lobe traps a specified amount of air – depending on the size of the PD – for each rotation. PD machines rely on close tolerances – as small as .009 of an inch – to trap the air. Unless the PD is designed to run fully blanked off, relief valves are necessary to protect the unit from building too much vacuum, which creates too much heat and subsequently causes the internal components to expand and collide with each other. Generally, the input speed of a PD blower is approximately 2,200 rpm, which produces 16 to18 inches Hg while creating 2,400 to 4,200 cfm.

One common misconception of PDs is that no matter how deep, no matter how far, a PD can “pump” the water or material. This is untrue. A PD machine has a finite lifting capability; once a PD reaches its lift capacity an operator must fluidize (add air) to continue conveying material to the holding vessel. PD machines work well in liquids, sludge or thick materials and vacuuming over a long distance horizontally.

Centrifugal fan

The centrifugal fan was designed in or around the 1960s for conveying grain. The conveyor’s original design had a centrifugal fan powered by a diesel engine, piping in which the material was conveyed, a cyclone, and an airlock. The technology was aimed at offloading grain from ocean-going cargo ships more efficiently than the shovel and bucket method. This machine could vacuum material from the berths of a cargo ship and lift it into a cyclone. Grain would drop out of the cyclone via an airlock and the exhaust or pressure side of the blower would then push the material to the storage vessel on shore. The unloading process, which previously took several days, could now be completed in hours.

The centrifugal fan uses rotating “fan” blades compressing air in compound stages. This device in its most powerful configurations is capable of lifting a column of water 200 feet, the equivalent of approximately 14 inches Hg (vacuum). It is fully capable of vacuuming material under water up to its rated lift performance, either without air induction, or with air induction. The closest tolerance in a fan is roughly 1/4 of an inch. The air is drawn to the inlet of the fan blade, and as the blade spins, it moves and compresses the air.

One common misconception of the centrifugal fan is that it cannot vacuum under water. That is absolutely untrue. A fan can vacuum to its rated lifting performance whether it’s under water or not. If a fan is rated at 200 inches, it can lift an 8-inch column of water to 16.67 feet. If the level of the water is less than 16.67 feet from the top of the boom, the fan can vacuum under the level of the water with no attachments. If the water level is greater than 16.67 feet, a fluidizing nozzle is used to add air into the air stream. Centrifugal fans work well in moving liquids and solids at over 100 feet vertically or horizontally.

This timeless topic has been and will continue to be the single most argued point in the combination machine industry. The fan vs. positive displacement argument rivals the Ford vs. Chevy debate. Books have been written regarding the benefits of fan over PD and vice versa. Each of these vacuum generators has applications where it outperforms the other. The single most important thing to consider is the application for which the machine is going to be used the most. If you are still unsure of which machine to purchase, be sure to contact your local sales engineer who is trained in the operation of both of these machines.

The 2012 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo kicks off Feb. 27 in Indianapolis. The four-day show provides a unique opportunity for the contractors of this industry to come together, share their experiences and learn from one another, in addition to getting a first-hand look at the latest and greatest products and technology. Of course, there’s also a full slate of educational seminars presented by top industry experts, so you’re sure to come away with fresh perspectives and insights that will help your business grow and prosper.

And while Indianapolis may not rank with Cabo or St. Thomas as an ideal winter getaway, it is far more inviting than those unfamiliar with the Midwestern city might assume. For starters, the Indianapolis Convention Center is a world-class facility. Skywalks connect it to more than 4,700 hotel rooms, so even if it’s cold outside, you’ll be able to leave your jacket at home. In addition to hotels, skywalks connect the Convention Center to a variety of dining, shopping and entertainment options, including the four-story Circle Center Mall. In fact, downtown Indianapolis, voted the Most Walkable Downtown in America by Sports Illustrated, boasts over 200 restaurants and entertainment options.

The amenities and attractions make Indianapolis well worth the trip, but the real reason to make your way to the heart of Hoosier country is the Expo itself. The 2012 Expo will feature three full days of demos and new technology in addition to more than 500 exhibitors representing all aspects of the industry, but Education Day may be the most valuable aspect of the Expo. More than 60 seminars taught by top industry experts promise a positive return on your investment and opportunities to keep improving your business well into the future.

All of these aspects of the Expo provide great benefits for attendees, but what makes it the industry’s most valuable learning opportunity is the attendees themselves. The opportunities to network and learn from peers are unparalleled. As people comment every year, there’s no better opportunity to meet and learn from your peers than the Expo. Because these people share your vocation and your experiences, but aren’t necessarily your direct competitors, the flow of perspectives and information is free and open. You can talk to people who have added services you’re considering. You can pick up strategies for growth from people who have already built strong businesses. You can learn about other people’s business practices – what has worked for them and what hasn’t – and that can only help your business.

The 2012 Expo will be exciting for me, too. It’ll be my first time attending the event, and I’m looking forward to it for several reasons. First, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to quite a few people in the industry, but I haven’t met many of you in person. The chance to meet more of the people who are pushing the industry forward is a great opportunity. Building relationships with contractors and manufacturers helps make this magazine a better resource for our readers, just as building those relationships yourselves makes your businesses better.

Second, I have read, written and edited countless stories over the past several months. I’ve put great effort into understanding this industry, including the equipment and processes that are a part of every cleaning industry professional’s repertoire. I’ve watched videos online and I’ve watched a CIPP project in action, but the Expo will be my first opportunity to see it all up close. It’s not unlike when you’re looking to buy a new truck or add a new service: You can do all the research, but until you get a chance to kick the tires on that truck or see a manufacturer’s new line of nozzles, it’s difficult to really get a handle on it.

The Expo will be an opportunity for me to get a better handle on the industry and the people who propel it forward. Likewise, it’s an opportunity for you to meet your peers and get a handle on how to propel your business forward.

Finally, the 2012 Expo is going to be fun. While the business opportunities will be virtually unlimited, there will also be plenty of opportunities to relax and enjoy your time in Indy. In addition to easy access to a wide variety of dining and entertainment options, the Industry Appreciation Party on Tuesday, Feb. 28, promises to be a great time. Country music star Rodney Atkins, with six number one singles to his credit, headlines the evening, which is free with full admission. And don’t forget the 25-cent tap beers, another of the evening’s popular attractions.

There’s plenty of reasons to attend the Expo, and regardless of what motivates you, it’s worth the trip. I’m looking forward to four days in Indy and the opportunity to meet, talk and get to know you. Maybe we can even enjoy a couple of those 25-cent tappers together.

See you there.

Radiodetection is a Diamond Sponsor of the 10th Annual International Locate Rodeo. The event recognizes the competitive skills of locate technicians in the United States and Canada. Each competitor must perform three locates in a division of their choice (gas, water, power, telcom). A bonus three-minute event tests the skills of competitors on a complex locate involving at least three different lines.

Vacon to Deliver Drives for Winches in Norway

AC drive manufacturer Vacon will deliver liquid-cooled AC drives for active heave-compensated winches onboard a Norwegian-built inspection, maintenance and repair ship. Delivery of the 17 drives is scheduled for March.

High Pressure Equipment Launches Website

High Pressure Equipment Co., manufacturer of high-pressure valves, fittings and tubing, launched a customer-focused website, www.highpressure.com, enabling visitors to search and browse company products.

Vermeer Makes McLaughlin Investment

Vermeer Corp., along with Jeff Wage, a veteran professional in the underground construction industry, has made a minority equity investment in the McLaughlin Group Inc. Dave Gasmovic, president of McLaughlin and primary shareholder, will continue to lead operations. Wage joins McLaughlin as vice president and an equity partner. The new ownership will not affect current branding or distribution of McLaughlin products.

TRIC Tools Moves to New Headquarters

TRIC Tools Inc. has moved from Alameda, Calif., to its new headquarters near the Oakland International Airport. The building enables the company to consolidate operations, including a new research and development facility.

Insituform Completes Internal Reorganization

Insituform Technologies Inc. completed an internal reorganization where Delaware parent holding company, Aegion Corp., was created to provide corporate and administrative services for its operating subsidiaries (Insituform Technologies, The Bayou Companies, Corrpro Companies, United Pipeline Systems, CRTS, Fibrwrap Construction Services and Fyfe). In the new structure, Aegion replaces Insituform as the public company. Insituform and its former direct subsidiaries are now direct subsidiaries of Aegion.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company bought the Cyclones about three years ago to enhance its parking deck cleaning operations. Before, the company used either surface scrubbers or pressure washers, or a combination of both, says Gerry Kesselring, president of the company.

“Parking garages usually have rough-troweled surfaces, which make it difficult for our old scrubbers to achieve the cleanliness our customers demanded without using pressure washers, too,” Kesselring says.

“But the Cyclones give us a better result than the scrubbing and pressure washing combined,” he continues. “They provide more scrubbing consistency. In one case, one of our customers thought they’d have to pay someone to restripe their parking lot. But the Cyclone did such a good job of cleaning that the parking lines were a bright yellow again.”

Eco-friendly equipment

Just as importantly, the Cyclones made Contract Sweepers more eco-friendly because they use dramatically less water than conventional surface-cleaning equipment. They also eliminate the time-consuming and sometimes expensive task of collecting dirty water before it can enter storm sewer drains, he notes.

The Cyclone, which can carry 240 gallons of water, delivers the cleaning power of 4,000 psi at a flow of 6 gpm, and can heat water to 160 degrees for tougher cleaning jobs. Moreover, the unit sucks up water and debris as its 34-inch, patented cyclonic head works, eliminating dirty-water runoff. The unit separates larger debris from the recovered water, then filters the dirty water for reuse. This allows more cleaning cycles per day because it eliminates stops for dumping water and refilling water tanks.

Contract Sweepers crews used to connect to either fire hydrants or sprinkler systems to use scrubbers and pressure washers, but the city began to restrict hydrant use to only fire fighting. The Cyclones made that a moot point.

“In about 99 percent of the cases, we now use significantly less water than before,” Kesselring says. “Moreover, with scrubbers and pressure washers, we’d have to set up a scrubber by a (stormwater) drain to suck up the dirty water, or set up a vac hose and pump the water into a holding tank or, in some cases, a frac tank. But the Cyclones suck the water right back up and leave dry pavement behind.”

In some cases, environmentally conscious customers are starting to require contractors to use water-recapture technology when bidding on job contracts.

“That’s becoming more and more prevalent,” he says. “The ‘green’ angle certainly has value.”

Less labor required

Kesselring says that on average, the machines reduce project man-hours by about 30 to 40 percent because they require just one operator instead of a crew of five. This allows Contract Sweepers to more flexibly and efficiently allocate manpower and reduce the cost of labor per job.

“Plus, a lot of our parking lot jobs occur on weekends, and the Cyclones allow us to do those jobs with less overtime pay,” he adds.

In addition, using new technology allows Contract Sweepers to charge a premium for its services. At the same time, the units cost enough to provide a barrier to market entry for potential competitors.

“I like to say that where there’s mystery, there’s margin,” Kesselring explains. “If the technology is complicated or appears new and special … customers are willing to pay more for it.”

Safer operation, better morale

Kesselring also points out that the Cyclones improve on-the-job safety by minimizing the use of high-pressure washers and reducing the potential for back strains and other injuries associated with lugging and pulling heavy hoses.

For an employee-owned company like Contract Sweepers, the Cyclones offer another less-tangible but equally important benefit: better employee morale and pride.

“Investing in newer, high-tech equipment helps us attract and retain customers,” Kesselring says. “But it also tells our employees that we’re not stale – that we’re investing in new technology and looking for new ways to serve the marketplace. When our employees see us being innovative, they become innovative … they look for new solutions instead of solving problems the same old way.

“Machines like these also help us attract and retain good employees,” he adds. “When we invest in new equipment, they see we’re investing in the organization. Every employee likes to get in a new truck or operate a new piece of equipment … and they figure we must be OK if we’re still investing in new equipment, particularly in a tough economy.”

While noting it’s difficult to quantify the Cyclones’ financial affect on the company’s bottom line, Kesselring says there’s no doubt they’ve had a positive impact.

“We’re almost at the point where they’ve paid for themselves,” he says. “They’ve provided a good return on our investment.”

But what happens when your credit report has a mistake – especially one that makes you look less creditworthy than you are?

Credit report mistakes do happen, although there’s some disagreement about how frequent they are. The big credit bureaus – TransUnion for consumers, Equifax and Experian for both consumers and businesses, and Dun & Bradstreet for businesses only – insist their error rate is low, with just one half of 1 percent of customers getting dinged for a higher interest rate because of an error. Yet even that small percentage could affect as many as 1 million people, as a USA Today editorial recently noted. And errors have led to thousands of lawsuits in the last five years and tens of thousands of complaints each year to the Federal Trade Commission.

Getting the bad news

So how do you even learn of a mistake in your report?

The obvious way is to check your report periodically – more on that in a moment. But the sad truth is, you probably won’t learn of it otherwise unless and until something bad happens – you get a higher interest rate than you planned on for an equipment loan, or you get a call from your credit card company telling you they’re dropping your credit limit because of an alleged delinquency.

If you experience a denial or reduction in credit in this way, it will be because of a report from one of the credit bureaus to the creditor. Ask the creditor in question which bureau supplied the damaging information. You are then entitled to a free copy of your report from that bureau.

In addition, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the credit bureaus to give you a free copy of your credit report once a year. Log on to www.annualcreditreport.com, call 877/322-8228, or download an Annual Credit Report Request Form from www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/order. Fill out the form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Business reports aren’t covered by the FCRA.

Making things right

Whether you get the report in response to a bad event, or simply from your annual request, look it over carefully. If you see an error, act right way.

One type of error results from outright identity theft – someone has opened a new account in your name and, in all likelihood, run up a mass of bills on it. Overcoming a case of identity theft requires immediate action and will probably involve filing a report with the appropriate law enforcement agency. (See the “Money Manager” column from the October 2011 issue for more information.)

The other, though, is probably from some sort of error made by one of your actual creditors – a bill mistakenly reported paid late, for example, or not paid at all, when in fact it was.

To correct it, immediately report it in writing to the credit bureau, along with copies of verifying documentation. Credit reporting companies have 30 days to investigate, and must forward data you provide to the original creditors who reported the information that led to the downgrade.

You might find that the lender who received the negative report will actually help you through the process of getting connected to the credit bureau it came from. That’s what happened to a business owner I know whose business credit card suddenly dropped his line of credit due to a negative report, even though he’d always paid that lender on time and without dispute. A customer service representative from the credit card helpfully guided him through the process of filing the dispute with the credit bureau.

But remember, the wrong information in the report originally came from a creditor, too – and you’ll need to deal directly with that source, as well.

If that creditor’s own records show you’re clean, and that there was some mistake in their reporting to the credit bureau, get a written statement to that effect. On the other hand, if the creditor’s records also are mistaken, you’ll need to submit a dispute in writing.

Following up

Once the investigation is finished, the credit reporting company must give you the results in writing, along with a new, free copy of your report if the dispute has led to a change.

“If you ask, the credit reporting company must send notices of any corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months,” says the FTC in a helpful, step-by-step guide to fixing credit bureau errors. “You can have a corrected copy of your report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.” (You can see the rest of the FTC’s advice here: www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm.)

Sometimes the investigation still won’t end the dispute. In those cases, have a statement of the dispute included in your credit file and in future reports. Also, the credit bureau will send a statement to anyone whom it has sent your credit report recently – but you’ll probably have to pay a fee for that.

No one wants to have to deal with the headache of a credit report black mark – especially if it’s a mistake. But the reality is that they happen. So if you have to fix it, the most important thing is, don’t dither.

Make the call, write the complaint, get the information to back you up, and get moving. That will be the quickest way back to a clean report that gives you all the credit you’re due. C