MEPS: Stainless Prices Heading Down

The British metals tracking firm MEPS sees North American stainless steel prices heading downward after a short-term surge in early June due to alloy surcharges for grades 304 and 316. According to MEPS,  "Sales volumes plummeted as buyers were aware that stainless steel prices would be lower in July due to a drop in raw material costs. Sellers were forced to make an early move to implement July surcharges in order to counteract the downturn in shipments."

Read MEPS' full assessment here.

Click here for more information.

Wind Energy Conference For Suppliers
A two-day Wind Energy Conference, Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 in Cedar Rapids, IA, is designed to help manufacturers identify and capitalize on the wind energy supply chain. Sponsored in part by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA), the conference will include an overview of the wind industry and procurement procedures. Registration is available online at www.fmanet.org or via phone by calling 888-394-4362.

Sheehy Joins Embassy
PVF distributor Charles D. Sheehy, Inc., Avon, MA, joined the Embassy Group, effective July 1. Started in 1951, Sheehy is a family-owned distributor now owned by the children of co-founder Arthur Sheehy, Kevin Sheehy and Kathleen Camuso.

ValvTechnologies Prepares For Future Expansion
ValvTechnologies recently closed on the purchase of a warehouse on adjacent property for a future expansion that's not yet determined. The space, formally owned by a printing and supply company, includes offices and over 20,000 square feet of warehouse and manufacturing space. With this new addition, the total Houston manufacturing facilities now owned by ValvTechnologies exceeds 125,000 square feet on more than 20 acres of land.

Evraz Creates Tubular Products Group
Evraz Inc. NA has announced an internal reorganization of its operations into three major product groups -- flat, tubular, and long products. The Tubular Products Group produces steel pipe used in energy applications. It includes Canadian pipe mills in Regina, Calgary, Red Deer and Camrose, and the seamless pipe mill in Pueblo, CO. Evraz has promoted Rob Simon, who most recently managed Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel, to Executive Vice President, Tubular Products Group.

PVF Roundtable Slates Caffee Memorial Golf Tourney
The PVF Roundtable has announced that the second annual Don Caffee Memorial Golf Tournament, named after its late secretary-treasurer, will be held Sept. 10 at Longwood Golf Course, Cypress, TX. For more information, contact Tom Pettit, tpettit@pipingequipment.com.

Stritt & Priebe Announces 3 New Hires
Buffalo, NY-based Stritt & Priebe, Inc., a PVF supply & repair company, announced that Richard Schneider has joined the company as  Quality Assurance/Control & Safety Manager. He brings over 22 years of management and process experience to the organization. Also, Stritt & Priebe's Valve Repair Team recently hired Vince Sidoni as a Control Valve and Instrumentation Technician. Sidoni recently retired after 32 years at E.I. DuPont's Niagara Falls, NY facility as an Instrumentation Technician. Stephen Harling has also joined Stritt & Priebe's Valve Repair Team as a Journeyman Machinist/Valve Technician. Harling served five years in the Navy and 10 years in the Air Force Reserves as a Machinist Repairman.

Free Pipe Clamp Webinar July 22
Piping Technology & Products, Inc. offers a free Webinar session on Pipe Clamps, including hold-down clamps, riser clamps and structural supports. Learn how the appropriate type of pipe support is chosen based on the different design conditions. Find out how Finite Element Analysis is used in the design process and view the custom pipe supports designed for extreme applications. Get more information and register here.

VMA To Host Valve Basics Seminar & Expo
The Valve Manufacturers Association will sponsor a one-day Valve Basics Seminar & Exhibition on Oct. 28 in Baton Rouge, LA. It was created especially for industry newcomers and the one-day program will appeal to individuals working in the many industries that use valves and actuators and the distributors who sell these products. The program consists of 6 full hours of education, and all attendees who complete the course will receive a certificate and 0.6 continuing education units from VMA.

Grinnell Revamps Website
Tyco Fire Suppression & Building Products announced the launch of its newly re-designed Grinnell products website (www.grinnell.com ). It includes new features such as a My Submittals section and a cross reference tool.  The new My Submittal feature can be used to quote, and install a grooved project using  Grinnell products.  The cross reference tool is used to search for Grinnell products by entering a competitor figure or model number.

Long Hours Reap Diminishing Returns

The medical profession finally has gotten around to reducing the insanely long hours put in by residents in training, though they still will be on duty longer than most of us would like if in their care during life-or-death situations.

And here's another article worth pondering that speaks of diminishing return from working long hours. Productivity can be deceiving.

Tech Tip #50 by Gregg Marshall

To help you make the most of the Digital Age.

Lower Phone Bills

You would think everyone has heard about VoIP, Voice Over Internet Protocol. It is advertised on TV by a number of companies, especially Vonage.

But apparently not. If your long distance bill is more than $30, it might be worthwhile to investigate VoIP as a cost saving opportunity. One option in VoIP is a service like Vonage, Broadvoice, etc. Most cable companies also offer "digital phone service" that is VoIP. And many regular phone services are coming up with VoIP options.

These services are typically in the $20-30 per month range. They all include unlimited calls within the U.S., usually Canada, and some offer Europe (Broadvoice offers most of Western Europe and China in their package). Unlike Skype, which requires your computer to operate, these services come with an adapter box (or they sell it to you for under $100). That adapter box plugs into your cable or DSL modem and you plug your computer or wireless router into them. You plug a regular telephone into the jack and you are ready to start calling.

By putting the box between the modem and computer/router, they can ensure a better quality telephone connection despite your kids downloading the latest movies. Vonage also has the slick V-Phone for traveling. It looks like a USB flash drive, which it is. But on one side is a small jack for a special cell phone headset. All the Vonage software is preinstalled. Just plug your V-Phone into a computer and start making and receiving calls. When you unplug the V-Phone, it and all your call history/phone book go with you. That makes the V-Phone a great way to make calls using a hotel workstation or a computer at an Internet café.

Load Migo's software (www.migosoftware.com) on the flash drive and you can even take your desktop settings with you. Many of these services can now transfer your existing telephone number to the service so no one will notice your switch to VoIP.

Another plus is if you travel a lot, or have a summer cottage you stay at, you can take your adapter with you and your phone number stays the same no matter where you are in the world. You can even get a second telephone number in another area code (when my daughter was in Nova Scotia we got her Yak service that had a Nova Scotia number for friends at school and a 303 number for her friends in Colorado).

Most of these services have voice mail and caller ID as standard options included in the monthly fee. Watch ViaTalk's web sites. About every 60-90 days they'll do a buy one year, get one year free promotion. Sign up under that promotion and your average monthly bill drops below $10 per month ($199 for 2 years), although ViaTalk bills you an additional $2.50 per month for regulatory fees recovery.

I recently switched my VoIP service to Ooma (http://www.ooma.com/ ).  They have a different business model than similar services such as Vonage. With Ooma you pay about $250 for the adapter, which includes unlimited U.S. calling for life. For less than $10 per month you can upgrade to Ooma Premier, which adds a second line and additional features. Calls outside the U.S. are comparable to other VoIP services and Skype.

My experience with my VoIP service has been generally good and certainly less expensive than maintaining a regular telephone line and paying for long distance. I have, however, had instances of dropped calls or occasional drop outs (where the connection goes quiet for a few seconds before coming back).

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.

AEC Store Corner

Must-Have, Tried and True Product Training Series! Order this CD for you or your staff. 

College of Product Knowledge CD
by Don Arnold - $89.85

The best-read, most highly acclaimed product training series ever published in the plumbing /PVF industry has been made available to fill the gaping hole in the industry's knowledge training.The College of Product Knowledge is ideal for wholesalers, manufacturers, agents, designers, contractors, technicians, engineers, architects and other pros who need to understand a variety of systems and components.

The College of Product Knowledge CD is simple to navigate and provides:

• More than 100 products into 27 sections in 300 pages;
• 4-color diagrams showing product cut-aways and flow direction;
• New section on tankless water heaters and more;
• Overview, Glossary and Section Quizzes (and answers);
• Clickable Table of Contents;
• Expert compilation by top industry consultant and writer, Don Arnold
• Expanded content includes: Residential Faucets, Supply Piping, General Application Valves, Water Heating, Fixtures, DWV Pipe Fittings, Water Treatment Products, Disposer Dispensers, Shower Valves, Tubular Goods, Chemicals & Compounds, Drains, Sump Pumps and More!

Follow this link to purchase this item.   Quantity discounts apply to bulk orders. Call 248/244-1275 for bulk orders.

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

What's The Industry Buzzing About?

• DOE Sheds Light On Showerhead Redefinition 
• Apollo Valves Sold To Aalberts 
• 10 Ways To Cut Fuel Costs

Extended Sizes For Fisher Control-Disk Valves
Emerson Process Management announces extended line sizes for the Fisher® Control-Disk™ valve. The Control-Disk valve offers excellent throttling performance and is ideal for applications that involve fast processes and varying pressure drops, such as in hydrocarbon, refining, chemical, pulp and paper, and metals and mining industries. The new Control-Disk Valve sizes are designed for installation between ASME Class 150 or Class 300 raised-face flanges with flangeless (wafer) or single flange (lugged) body designs.