Always Looking to Innovate with Our Customer's in Focus

Hitting the road with account manager Mike Taylor to experience Swagelok products in an unique environment

An exterior view of Alberta Newsprint Co. on a warm and sunny day (in January!) in Whitecourt, Alberta. To find out more about our Energy Surveys click below.

Two years ago around this time of year, we did a feature on Alberta Newsprint  Co. (ANC) and how the company benefits from using our VIP program.  So what better timing than for me to hit the road with account manager Mike Taylor and see our Swagelok products in action.

Mike and I drove out to Alberta Newsprint in Whitecourt, Alberta to meet with one of their Reliability Engineers, Elliott MacLean. And it didn't take long to realize the importance of this position at ANC.

Driving up to Alberta Newsprint, I couldn’t believe the size of the facility that sat just inside the tree line off of the highway, unsuspecting to drivers on the other side. But once inside I saw that it was nothing compared to what was in the facility and then learning about their intense and powerful manufacturing process.

ANC has had a working relationship with Swagelok for over 20 years and going on over 4 years with Mike Taylor. Not only was it evident that they use Swagelok product's, but also that Taylor spends a lot of quality time there – we were even paged to our meeting as we toured the facility!

The environment that the hundreds of Swagelok hoses are exposed to in the mill is hot and humid; therefore using a premium hose that can handle the conditions and prolong the life of the hose is paramount in order to extend the mean time between failure (MTBF) of the hoses. The wear and tear of the hoses has to be closely monitored in order to avoid unexpected shut-downs to replace worn or damaged hoses.  As in any industry, turn-around time is extremely costly, so there needed to be a better process in place to quickly identify and purchase fully prepared hoses prior to turn-around time.

Working together, MacLean and Taylor came up with a hose database that helps with the ordering process and decreases the effort required if/when a hose needed to be replaced. But first, they needed to document every hose in service.

 “Having Mike come up and help with the survey was a big help and it got us started,” says MacLean. “Before we had this database, we would have to go out to measure the hose, and then have it built and installed. And many times due to accessibility, this would have to happen during a turn-around time when the equipment is locked out.” But since they implemented this trial form of record-keeping in the spring of 2014, MacLean is now looking forward to finally being able to see the efficiency of having it in place.

By having implemented this process, the increased effectiveness of communication between the two organizations is obvious. Taylor states, “Elliott and I communicate via email in regards to the database and this allows us to be able to put items on reorder prior to turn-around time.  Previously we would have to wait for a shutdown to gather the details required to build the hose and we would exhaust the limited resources due to the team having to re-measure the hoses before replacements can be built.”

Going out to see our Swagelok products in action, especially in such unique environment, was such a great experience. And what made it even better is that I got to meet a handful of ANC’s associates who are just as passionate about working with Swagelok (and Mike Taylor) as we are back at Edmonton Valve. By collaborating together we have been able to develop an innovative work process and everyone is looking forward to seeing the benefits in the very near future. 

Additional resources:

• The Customer's View: How VIP Services Make Business Better
• Edmonton Valve Merchandisers Don’t Just Deliver Product
• Meet Edmonton Valve and Fitting’s Warehouse Manager, Dan Constantin

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