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Steel Execs See OCTG Glut Ahead

Stiff antidumping duties recently imposed on Chinese OCTG producers coupled with rising demand have led to a number of planned U.S. plant startups. The result is likely to be almost 2 million tons of new OCTG capacity by the fourth quarter of 2012. "That more than satisfies the void left by the Chinese," said TMK IPSCO Chief Commercial Officer Scott Barnes in speaking at the recent AMM Steel Tube & Pipe Conference in Houston.

Barnes noted that a drill rig count of around 2,500 would be needed to accommodate the extra tonnage being added in the U.S. The rig count in the U.S. and Canada as of April 1 stood at 1,616.

Companies with announced plans to add OCTG production facilities in the U.S. include Boomerang Tube in Liberty, TX, V&M Star in Youngstown, OH, as well as Northwest Pipe Co., Welded Tube of Canada, Mexico's Tuberia Laguna and China's Tianjin Pipe Group Corp. (see Breaking News below). 

Another conference speaker, Tubular Synergy Group Principal Byron Dunn said, "rumors abound about other U.S. capacity additions. I expect these efforts to more than cover demand, even if demand continues to grow," he said.

Separately, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland recently was reported as saying U.S. Steel is considering a $250 million expansion of its tubular plant in Lorain due to increased demand for OCTG.

OCTG Import Licenses Surge In March
March steel import licenses hit the highest level since January 2009, up 20% from February and were up more than 128% from the low in June 2009. The bulk of the increase was due to a 75% surge in oil country tubular goods, which rose to the highest level since March 2009 due to a combination of improving demand combined with a pickup in global production.

Chinese Firm Awaits $1 Billion OCTG Mill Permit
TPCO America Corp., which hopes to build an oil country tubular goods (OCTG) plant in Texas, may find out within a week whether it is allowed to do so. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will conduct a hearing April 14 to consider the tubular maker's application for a state air quality permit for the proposed pipe manufacturing mini-mill. TPCO, part of Tianjin Pipe Group Corp., China, announced on Jan. 8th that it's going to spend$1 billion in building its first U.S. production operation.

Favilla Returns To Crane
Crane Energy Flow Solutions  announced the appointment of Tony Favilla to General Manager, Industrial Valve Group. In this newly created role, he will have direct responsibility for the Flowseal, Duo-Chek, Crane, Center Line, Aloyco, Jenkins and Stockham brands.  This is a return to Crane for Favilla after two years with Conbraco Industries/Apollo Valves. Russ Chomiak continues with the new team as Director of Commercial Sales, reporting to Favilla.

NW Pipe Shuffles Top Ranks
Northwest Pipe Co. announced Brian Dunham's resignation as CEO, and appointed Richard Roman to serve in his place. Roman, who has served on the NW Pipe board since 2003, joins the company from Columbia Ventures Corp., where he has been president since 2002. Dunham will continue to serve as president and as a board. Roman has served on the Audit Committee of the Board, which is conducting an ongoing internal investigation of certain accounting matters, including revenue recognition practices. As CEO, Roman's initial primary focus will be on achieving a resolution of these issues. "I believe this change is in the best interests of the company as we continue through our investigation of accounting matters," said Chairman William Tagmyer. "As president, Brian Dunham's time and energy will be concentrated on the day-to-day operations of the company."

Valve Makers Predict Growth
The industrial valve industry appears to be have stabilized and will probably see some minor growth this year, according to an annual forecast of valve shipments in the U.S. and Canada by the Valve Manufacturers Association . While the industry declined last year for the first time in a decade, the drop was only 5%, which compared to some other industries, was not severe. For 2010, the forecast is for shipments to be $3.855 billion, which is higher than last year's $3.802 billion. Projected orders for 2010 will be about 1.4% over 2009, with the largest growth occurring in the chemical industry.

Top Brass Moves Up At Maneely
John Maneely Co. (JMC) announced that former CEO Barry Zekelman was named executive chairman and Frank Riddick III CEO, effective immediately. In addition, Frank Riddick III and Todd Newnam of The Carlyle Group were elected to the company's Board of Directors. Zekelman became CEO in 2008. Riddick joined the company as COO in August 2009 after serving as president and CEO of Formica Corp. and president and COO of Armstrong World Industries. JMC is the parent company of Atlas Tube and Wheatland Tube.

Wilfong Joins SJE-Rhombus
SJE-Rhombus has hired Brett Wilfong as Eastern regional sales manager. Wilfong has 12 years of experience in the water/wastewater industry and over 20 years of sales experience, previously serving as the principal for First Sales, a plumbing and water systems manufacturer's representative agency for eight years.

Business Book Features Waterworks Distributor
Chino Hills, CA-based Western Water Works Supply Company has been featured as a case study in the new best selling business and leadership book, Never by Chance - Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership by Joe Calloway, Chuck Feltz and Kris Young. The company was the subject of this 2006 Supply House Times cover article.

New Pump Efficiency Course Offered
Pump Systems Matter (PSM) and the Hydraulic Institute (HI) are offering a new one-day course designed to help pump users learn how to identify and reduce hidden operating and energy costs in their pumping systems. PSM Pump Systems Matter and HI will host the course in five regional areas in 2010: Parsippany, NJ - May 11; Chicago - May 18; Ft. Worth - June 8; Wilmington, DE - June 23; and Charleston, SC - August 10.  Classes are limited to 25 attendees.  Additional details and registration are at www.PumpSystemsMatter.org.

Jomar Group Appoints Rep Firms
The Jomar Group announced the addition of the following reps:

• Bradford Sales  -  Georgia
• Damar Sales - Metro New York, Long Island Northern New Jersey
• Elmco Duddy - Southern California
• Elmco & Associates -  Northern California
• Mission Sales - Missouri & Southern Illinios
• Stamberger Sender Associates  - Upstate New York
• Stephens & Stephenson  - Houston, TX
• Jm Martin Sales - Rio Grand Valley, TX
• Chad Hamilton Sales - Louisiana.

DDI To Host Next Inform Demo May 13
DDI System offers Inform software as a hosted service providing many benefits to wholesale distributors who don't have the capital for hardware and IT personnel. DDI's next live online demo is Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 1:00 pm EST.  Distributors can sign up by calling DDI System at 877-599-4334 or registering online at www.seeinform.com.

Taming Turbulence
Inside Pipes

It's good to know that scientists are tackling an issue that could make life easier for manufacturers, engineers and everyone else involved with industrial piping systems.

Read more about it in this New York Times article.

AEC Store Corner 

New to AECStore.com

Pump Characteristics and Applications,
Second Edition // $117.95

This hands-on reference offers a practical introduction to pumps and provides the tools necessary to select, size, operate, and maintain pumps properly. It highlights the interrelationship of pump engineering from system and piping design to installation and startup.  This updated second edition expands on many subjects introduced in the first edition and also provides new in-depth discussion of pump couplings, o-rings, motors, variable frequency drives, pump life-cycle cost, corrosion, and pump minimum flow.

Follow this link for a complete description. or to purchase this item.

Visit AECStore.com to view all of our technical resources, CDs and DVDs.

Tech Tip #44 by Gregg Marshall
To help you make the most of the Digital Age.

Converting Memos to Speech

A study by the Berman Institute of Selling found the average salesperson spends 17 hours a week in a car. Last Tech Bit, I suggested using Podcasts to take advantage of that time for product training or other useful information.

There's another way to use audio to make your sales force more productive. Most salespeople are buried in paperwork, especially if they are multiple line sales (e.g. distributor or manufacturers' representative). There are memos to be read, manuals, emails-a huge amount of reading that keep salespeople from doing what they are hired to do-sell your products!

How about having your paperwork read into an audio file? Don't freak out about the time and expense -- there is a technology solution (what else would you expect from me?). That is inexpensive (less than $50) text-to-speech software, even a free service on the Internet (http://beta.blindspeak.com/).

The software I use is TextAloud by Nextup Technologies (www.nextup.com). This $29.95  software takes text files and converts them to speech, either using your audio card, or saving them as an MP3 file that can be played through a MP3 player (like this inexpensive player for a car, www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14378).

I would also suggest getting one of the option voices from AT&T or Acapela ($35.00). I found that the voices that have a British accent seem to hide the mechanical sound of the text-to-speech best. My personal favorites are AT&T's Rich16 and Acapela's Peter22. You can adjust the speed and pitch of the speech. I only wish you could shorten the inter-word gaps, which is what appears to be the biggest component of the mechanical sound to the converted speech. Otherwise the voice quality is amazingly clear and easy to understand.

Text Aloud will convert batches of text files, allowing you to take a whole directory of memos (or saved emails) and convert them to MP3 files. Those files could be transferred to a website, perhaps in a hidden directory, to make them available to your salespeople.

Anything you do to minimize paperwork increases the amount of selling time for your salespeople, which increases sales. Converting memos to speech using TextAloud and letting them listen to those memos in their car is a good use of otherwise down time.

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.

What's The Industry Buzzing About?

• PVF Survey Documents Plunge In Business
• Construction Spending Drops To 2002 Levels 
• American Standard Attempts Guinness World Record

New Tank Level Monitor
SJE-Rhombus has introduced C-Level™ FLOATLESS technology. The C-Level sensor converts water pressure in a tank into a low-voltage electrical signal and sends it to the IFS control panel.  This innovative technology provides for constant level monitoring of tank applications.  The compact design works well in tight spaces.  Another time saving feature includes the ability to make adjustments at the control panel, not in the tank.

Booster Pump Controller
Best Controls introduces its new PC 4000 Controller. The Model PC 4000 is a dedicated Controller for pressure control applications using variable frequency drives (VFDs). Typical applications include municipal, industrial and commercial booster pump controls. Best Controls is a certified UL 508 control panel manufacturer with a 10,000 sq. ft. facility located in Clearwater, FL.