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Survey Documents Dropoff In PVF Sales
A recent Supply House Times survey of purchasing habits by 157 PVF distributors found 73% of respondents reporting decreased sales during the first half of 2009, compared with only 10% who said sales had increased. The remaining 17% of respondents said their sales stayed about the same.
Click here to read detailed survey results. |
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"Critical Circumstances" Cited For China Duties
United States Steel Corp.,
along with other petitioning parties in ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations relating to seamless standard, line and pressure pipe from China, announced last week that it was making an allegation of "critical circumstances" in the proceeding. In response to a surge of imports entering the market after the filing of these cases in September 2009, the petitioners are seeking to have remedial duties assessed on certain imports that entered the United States after the filing of petitions, but prior to the time in which duties are normally assessed. In the present case, Chinese imports of seamless standard, line and pressure pipe increased by more than 290% in the three
months after the filing of petitions, as compared to the three months prior to the filing. The Department of Commerce is currently scheduled to make its preliminary determination on Feb. 16, 2010.
MEPS Forecasts Record Global Steel Production
The British steel tracking and analysis firm MEPS is forecasting a new record high output in 2010 for the global steel industry. The biggest reason for the bullish prediction is that "Chinese steel production and demand is likely to continue its inexorable rise."
J&J Alloys Gets ISO Recertified
J&J Alloys'
manufacturing facility has recently obtained ISO 9001:2008 recertification, according to the Houston-based company. The latest revision of ISO certification applies to all J&J Alloys' locations with the scope of activities covering both manufacturing and distribution facilities. J&J Alloys claims to be one of the oldest nickel alloy fitting manufacturers in the United States to maintain concurrent ISO re-certification since 1994.
Green Piping Gets A Boost
Engineered Software announced their support of Houston Community College System's (HCCS) and Society of Piping Engineers and Designers' (SPED) new Green Piping Design training program, providing a grant worth $25,000 for use of their flagship
PIPE-FLO® software program. "Green Piping" refers to the designing of pipe networks to minimize, in part, their energy costs. In this new training program, Engineered Software's PIPE FLO software will be used by piping designers to assess various design alternatives to select pipe sizes and routes that save energy and operational costs.
PVF Roundtable To Meet Feb. 16
The PVF Roundtable has set Feb. 16, 2010 as the date of its next General Assembly Meeting. Keynote speaker for the evening has yet to be announced.
SPX To Buy European Food Processing Firm
SPX Corp. announced
that its Flow Technology segment has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gerstenberg Schröder A/S, a leading designer, manufacturer, installer and servicer of processing systems and components serving the global food industry. Privately-held Gerstenberg Schröder had annual revenues of approximately $65 million in 2008. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
QTRCO Gets New President
QTRCO CEO Ed Holtgraver announced today that Gary Grauerholz has joined the company as president for all non-nuclear activities. Grauerholz's career has included operational, sales, and senior executive positions with Keystone, Groth and Curtiss Wright. Also, the valve actuator company announced that Shawn Hughes has been promoted to chief operating officer.
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| AEC Store Corner
 BEST SELLERS for 2009
Piping Databook - $112.95
Whether it's the thermal conductivity of insulation materials or a conversion factor for viscosity, sizes and types of metallic or nonmetallic pipe or fitting dimensions, manufacturers' names or that elusive bit of terminology, the Piping Databook will spare you hours of frustrating fact-hunting.
Follow this link for a complete description.
Pocket Guide to Flanges, Fittings, and Piping Data - $60.95
Packed with pictures, definitions, and descriptions of ANSI and API piping materials, such as flanges, fittings, bolts, gaskets, and required wrench sizes. It contains basic information and data to answer common questions that arise in materials handling, pipe fitting, and engineering.
Follow this link for a complete description.
College of Product Knowledge CD - NOW $89.85
The Best-Read, most highly acclaimed product training series ever published in the plumbing industry has been made available to fill the gaping hole in the plumbing industry's knowledge training. The College of Product Knowledge
is ideal for wholesalers, manufacturers, agents, designers, contractors, technicians, engineers, architects and other pros that need to understand a variety of plumbing systems and components. Follow this link for a complete description.
History of Plumbing CD -- Sponsored by American Standard - $35.00
PM magazine's wildly popular History of Plumbing Series is available on CD-ROM. History articles cover informative topics such as ancient plumbing, water-borne diseases, early-American innovation, the history of hydronic heating, and more!
Follow this link for a complete description.
Visit AECStore.com to view all of our technical resources, CDs and DVDs. |
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Tech Tip #38 by Gregg Marshall
To help you make the most of the Digital Age.
Portable Scanning
Being able to print on the road is really handy. Being able to scan on the road is amazingly useful.
I've been to trade shows and brought home 40 or 50 pounds of literature. With the changes in most airline travel policies, that literature could cost $50!
Recently I've brought home just a few random pieces of literature.
Everything else I scan and bring home as a PDF or JPG file, either on my computer hard drive or a USB flash drive (or both as backups).
You can also use the scanner and portable printer as an in-room copier, pretty handy if you don't want to change out of your pajamas to go make a quick copy.
I have two scanners I take, depending on how much scanning I think I'll do.
On almost every trip I take a Plustek OptiSlim M12 (www.plustek.com/product/m12.asp). It is very small, about 9" wide and about 2" in diameter. It is powered by the computer via the USB port that it connects with and can scan 300 dots per inch (dpi). Two disadvantages are that its moderately slow (about 45 to 60 seconds per page) and it can only scan one side of one sheet at a time.
When I think I'll be doing a bunch of scanning I take my Fujitsu S300 duplex scanner (www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/scansnap/s300.html). It works best using its power brick (doubling its scanning speed). Its big advantage is that it can scan 3 to 6 sheets a minute, scanning both
sides of the sheet at once. And it has a sheet feeder, so I can stack 25-30 sheets, start scanning and watch TV. Interestingly, I noticed my new Atom powered netbook slows the scanner down because it can't keep up.
For those rare occasions I need to "scan" something that isn't loose sheets (such as a book), I take a picture of it with my 10 megapixel digital camera. It doesn't do as well as a real scanner (usually because of lighting), but is good enough.
Why haul that paper home when you can just scan it and bring home the images. And they take less physical storage space!
If you travel much, eventually you'll need to print while on the road. There are lots of options. One is go to the hotel business center, where they likely will charge you $1.00 to $2.00 per page. Another is to find a local Kinko's or office supply superstore. Cheaper, but still a lot more than it costs to print at home or at the office.
That's why I've been carrying a portable printer for the past two years.
My first was an HP 460 (www.hp.com).Its advantage was that it used the same ink cartridges as a printer at home. But it was relatively bulky, taking more space in my carry-on than I really wanted to give up.
About 18 months ago I switched to a Canon ip90v (www.usa.canon.com
). It's about half as thick as the HP (although a bit deeper). When I really want to save space/weight, I can power it off my iGo universal power brick instead of taking its already small brick. About my only complaint is the printer cartridges are relatively small, so I carry a spare black and color cartridge. Both are relatively light, weighing in at about 2 to 3 pounds.
Both printers do great for normal printing. For instance, I frequently check in online and can print my boarding passes in the comfort of my hotel room.
They can also print on other media, such as labels, light card stock, etc. That makes them really useful for associations and companies that need a printer at a show.
There are times when having it on paper is really an advantage. Having a portable printer makes it easy and affordable. I may not use it every trip, but having it along is great.
My Canon now has about 150,000 miles of traveling on it and is looking forward to my next overseas trip.
Gregg Marshall, CPMR, CSP, is president of Rep Connection Inc. He can be reached by e-mail at gmarshall@repconnection.com, or visit his LinkedIn profile at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/greggmarshall. |
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What's The Industry Buzzing About?
One way to tell is to visit the website of Supply House Times
. If you scroll to the bottom of the lead page, you will find lists of the "Most E-Mailed" and "Most Popular Articles" (as measured by visitations). This gives a pretty good feel for what industry citizens regard as important.
For example, as of Tuesday, Jan. 12, these were some of the "Most E-mailed" articles from the Supply House Times website.
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Low-Cost Flowmeter 
Shenitech has announced availability of their new third generation STUF-300F1B Wall-Mount Transit-Time Flowmeter. Designed for nonintrusive pipe flow measurement, the STUF-300F1B utilizes a pair of clamp-on, ultrasonic transducers to measure flow from outside the pipe. The flowmeter's +1% accuracy (
+0.5% with on-site calibration), nonintrusive design eliminates contact with process liquids and requires no maintenance. The STUF-300F1B is low-cost, easy to install, set up and use, and accommodates a pipe range from 1" to 240" diameter. |
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BNP Media
2401 W. Big Beaver Road, Ste. 700
Troy, Michigan, 48084-3333
U.S.A. |
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Contact The Editor
PVF e-News is a twice-monthly newsletter edited by Supply House Times Editor Jim Olsztynski. Contact him with any requests, complaints, compliments or information you think worth reporting in this e-newsletter.
1050 IL Rte. 83, Suite 200
Bensenville, IL 60106
630/694-4006
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