| Turboexpanders.com News Blog
| | | |
April 2010
TurboTax and Turboexpanders
There was a time when only two things were certain in life, with taxes being the more desirable of the two. Two certainties remain today, with the most desirable being Turboexpanders.com.
April 2010 marks 35 years of continuous operations for our team of turboexpander experts. Since our beginnings in 1975, our team has successfully delivered turboexpander systems to every region of the world and into every market where turboexpanders are found. On more than 1000 occasions, we have also provided OEM-quality support to users of turboexpanders originally supplied by Airco, ACD, Cryostar,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Rotoflow, Sulzer, and Texas Turbines.
Just say “NO” to TurboTax and instead take comfort in the certainty of Turboexpanders.com
| | |
February 2010
Houston Rules!
Houston remains the key hub of activity for servicing turboexpanders in North America. Turbines supplied by Texas Turbines, Mafi-Trench, Rotoflow, GPS, and Airco all eventually find thier way to Houston for servicing. When the servicing criterion includes turboexpander competence, and honest experience, then the turbines will find their way to our Houston workshop. Not only do we service the rotating and IGV assemblies in our Houston shop, we also carry out full refurbishment and upgrading services on the skid and controls. There are three such skid refurbishment projects currently under way in our Houston shop, and we confirm there’s still room for more.
Jerry Williams runs our Houston shop, and what a great man he is! Jerry built it from the ground up and is responsible for the huge growth we have seen in the Houston shop. Jerry is proud to be a Texan and we are very proud to have him running the shop. Our Houston team is backed up by more than one hundred factory staff with a collective turboexpander experience greater than 1000 years. When you need good honest support for your turboexpander, give Jerry a call at 281-687-4337.
In the words of Sam Houston “Transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man……”
| | | | | | | | | | |
April 2009
The industrial gas segment of our business continues to grow rapidly. Currently we have expander refurbishments under way for many of the largest companies with applications for air and nitrogen service. In addition to expander MCS refurbishments, we have recently been retained to perform field service, skid rebuilds, and supply spare parts including replacement circuit boards. This work involves plants in Trinidad, Mexico, Venezuela, Thailand, Abu Dhabi as well as North America.
If the first three months of 2009 are any indication, it would seem the service business will be unusually strong this year. We have added many new customers already this year and we have added new staff to match the requirement. Our regional workshops are off to a very strong start; we will increase our Dubai workshop area by fivefold before year end and staff will double. During the first quarter, we undertook major projects for Rotoflow expander users in Malaysia, Thailand, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Argentina, and many projects in North America. Based on early April indicators, we expect the pace to increase significantly. The infrastructure and staffing required to effectively manage this activity is already in place, perfectly trained, and prepared for continued rapid growth. We look forward to supporting your requirements.
| |
March 2009
While Rotoflow turbines do indeed represent the largest area of activity for us at any given time, it is important to mention that we also devote considerable resources to turboexpanders originally supplied by companies other than Rotoflow. We are currenly working aftermarket contracts on expansion turbines originally supplied by Airco, GPS, Turbodyne, Geliymash, and Texas Turbines. Hydrocarbon applications are most common for us, however, since we recently opened our doors to industrial gas users, this has rapidly become one of our fastest growing market segments. We also remain, by a wide margin, the most experienced and capable supplier to the geothermal turboexpander market. Please call one of our application engineers to discuss your project.
| |
February 2009
Employee turnover rates are one of the best metrics regarding the health of a company. When one observes that their primary contacts keep changing within a key supplier, this normally raises a red flag. As was the case in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, we have received many comments (and job applications) already in 2009 related to the unusually high employee turnover rates of LA based Turbine companies. Prudent buyers do their homework, and in many cases, this includes checking the pulse of critical suppliers on a regular basis. Our employee turnover rate remains the lowest in our industry.
Trust, but verify. Having developed a trusting relationship with our customers over the course of many years, there remains still the need to verify and certify the quality of the turboexpander products and services we provide. Perhaps the only universally accepted method to verify the quality of a turboexpander refurbishment is to spin test the completed mechanical center section (MCS). Most operating companies find little benefit to having a warranty on a refurbished MCS when it will sit in storage well beyond the warranty duration; these companies know that the true confirmation of quality only comes when the MCS is put into operation at full speed–often years after the warranty has expired. To mitigate these risks, we now offer fully instrumented mechanical testing on all Rotoflow MCS refurbishment projects. Customer witness of our full-speed mechanical testing is always welcomed and encouraged. No other turboexpander supplier offers this capability. Trust, but verify.
We were the first turboexpander supplier to employ co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) laser scanning and our inspection inventory now includes 5 precision CMM devices. Industry experts agree that laser scanning is ideal for large data collection projects and less suitable where extreme precision is required. Current CMM technology requires that point-probe collection methods be used for precision measurements and CAD-to-part inspection. We continue as the world leader of precision industrial metrology as applied to turboexpanders. When every micron counts, choose wisely those who measure your kit.
| |
January 2009
As we now enter our 35th year, we wish to thank again our loyal repeat customers as well as the many new customers who joined with us in 2008. As always, we promise to meet every commitment and to continue expanding our services to ensure every turboexpander user has access to the professional, timely, and guaranteed support we offer.
Our year-over-year business volume doubled in 2008, and January 2009 is already guaranteed to be the largest volume month in our history. Our service centers experienced phenomenal growth in 2008 and enter 2009 with a solid backlog; new staff joined each of our service centers in December including several with many years of turboexpander experience. We are pleased to report that our turn-around times on refurbishments continues to improve even though we already offer the shortest and most reliable delivery schedules in our industry. Our field service technical staff has continued to grow to keep pace with the high demand and we now confirm our field staff is larger and more capable than all other competitors combined.
Training has always been an important and necessary part of our culture. Retaining the skills required to successfully carry out the many processes within our organization, while also maintaining our quality “beyond-ISO”, requires regular structured training. Every employee, regardless of tenure or specialty, follows an individually designed training program that is monitored and audited. Certified results confirm over 11,500 training hours were logged by our staff in 2008 alone. Some may comment that our training seems excessive; our obsession to remain the preferred supplier and the many written testimonials from our customers tell us we are following the proper path. You can expect the innovations to continue in 2009 and beyond. We welcome your Rotoflow, GPS, Airco and Cryostar support requests.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
|