Appointments
Wendling Named Dosatron Regional Sales Manager
Dosatron International, Inc., with corporate offices in Clearwater, Florida, has named Curtis Wendling Regional Sales Manager. Wendling recently graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in Marketing and was active in the National Strategic Selling Institute where he was a Key Account Manager and helped create a system designed to help students succeed at University career fairs.
Flowrox Oy Introduces Jukka Koskela as CEO
Flowrox, a valve, pump, systems, and instrumentation manufacturer, has appointed Jukka Koskela as its new CEO. Koskela comes to Flowrox from the energy industry. Working at Flowrox Oy’s headquarters in Finland, Koskela brings a vision to achieve a revenue goal of 100 million Euros before the end of the decade.
Greene’s Energy Group CEO to Retire, Mathews Assumes Role of President & CEO
The Board of Directors of Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, a leading provider of integrated testing, rentals and specialty services, announced that Chief Executive Officer Robert "Bob" Vilyus has elected to retire from the company and the Board of Directors in September 2015. Effective immediately, Frank Mathews assumes the role of President and Chief Operating Officer of Greene’s Energy Group and will be added to the Board of Directors.
Grundfos Appoints Hamp-Adams as Managing Director
Grundfos Pumps Corporation has elevated Jonathan Hamp-Adams to the newly created position of Managing Director for the company’s Commercial Building Systems (CBS) unit. Hamp-Adam’s responsibilities will include leading the sales and production activities of Grundfos’ PACO brand, based in Brookshire, Texas. Hamp-Adams joined Grundfos in 2008 as General Manager for Grundfos (Pty) Ltd in South Africa and later served as the company’s Area Managing Director of Sub-Saharan Africa. This position will be based at Grundfos’ Americas headquarters in Downers Grove, Illinois.
Pentair Names Hahn Director, International Sales Ops, Flow & Filtration Solutions
Dr. Carl Hahn has been named Director of International Sales Operations focusing on Oil & Gas Separations for Pentair’s Flow & Filtration Solutions segment. Dr. Hahn formerly served as Director of Innovation and Technology for the business. As Director of International Sales Operations, Dr. Hahn is responsible for driving sales in fast growth regions across the globe, with a focus on the Middle East Region and building the sales, customer service, engineering and field service organization in Pentair’s Dubai office.
VPInstruments’ Verbeek Appointed National Sales Manager, US
VPInstruments, a manufacturer of industrial measurement instruments, has assigned its sales manager Menno Verbeek to the role of overseeing all business partners’ activities in the United States. The company’s U.S. customer base grew by some 50 percent last year, which prompted the decision to allocate a dedicated person to work with its business partners.
Acquisitions, Expansions & Partnerships
Bimba Acquires Intek Products, Expands Electric Actuator Offering
Bimba, a developer of actuation technology, announced the acquisition of Intek Products of Warrendale, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999, Intek develops mechanical automation products and solutions for both single-axis and multi-axis coordinated electric motion. Intek’s products are used for linear positioning, robotic applications, pick & place mechanisms and gantry systems.
Crane ChemPharma & Energy Expands Baton Rouge Service Center
Crane ChemPharma & Energy has recently expanded their Baton Rouge Service Center to better support customers in the Gulf Coast region. The enhanced facility, with new equipment and double the square footage of the previous building, is designed to accommodate larger products, higher capacity, and increased inventory of Xomox, Krombach, and WTA products. The expanded service center will offer: 24/7 service and technical support; same-day shipping and a clean room for cleaning CL2 and O2 valves. The Service Center hosts in-house lunch and learn events and training seminars for distributers and end-users.
GTI Acquires Aerojet Rocketdyne Energy Assets
Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has acquired the assets of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s (AR’s) energy systems portfolio. AR’s Power & Energy Solutions group has developed technology for clean fossil energy systems. Included in the transfer of assets are patents and intellectual property (IP), physical assets, and technologies across the spectrum of gas and oil production, gasification, gas-to-liquids, power generation, and hydrogen generation.
Honeywell announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Elster Division of Melrose Industries plc for approximately $5.1 billion. Elster is a provider of thermal gas solutions for commercial, industrial, and residential heating systems and gas, water, and electricity meters, including smart meters and software and data analytics solutions. Elster also manufactures flow computers and regulators for the gas industry. Elster consensus sales for 2015 are estimated to be $1.8 billion. The price translates to approximately 12.6 times Elster’s estimated 2015 consensus earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), and the acquisition is anticipated to occur in the first quarter of 2016. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review and Melrose shareowner vote.
Hurco Announces Acquisition of Two Machine Tool Companies
Kaman Launches New Operating Unit for Automation, Control & Energy
Kaman Distribution has formed a new operating unit named Kaman Automation, Control & Energy, providing industrial solutions to original equipment manufacturers, industrial production plants and infrastructure facilities throughout North America. The new organization, dubbed Kaman AC&E, has been created through the combination of some of the existing resources of Kaman Industrial Technologies along with Minarik Corporation, acquired by Kaman in 2010, and Zeller Corporation, acquired by Kaman 2012. The new organization has more than 500 employees—including more than 75 degreed engineers—who operate out of 27 strategically located facilities throughout North America and offer three separate service areas: engineering; manufacturing, and distribution.
Schneider Electric and Applied Instrument Technologies Form Alliance
Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management and automation, has formed a strategic alliance with Applied Instrument Technologies, Inc. (AIT), a provider of process analyzers for online and real-time process analysis in hydrocarbon, chemical, pharmaceutical and steel-making industries. The new partnership extends the capabilities of both companies to provide process automation solutions to their respective global customer bases. The combination of Schneider Electric’s Process Automation portfolio together with AIT’s portfolio of spectroscopy and chromatography products, will offer customers more comprehensive process analysis, control and advanced operations management solutions in one integrated automation solution from a single vendor.
Saint-Gobain Seals Opens New Houston, Texas Technical and Sales Office
Saint-Gobain Seals announced the opening of its new technical and sales office located at 12941 North Fwy., Suite 226, Houston, Texas 77060, with a District Sales Manager and Application Engineer on staff, to support local oil and gas customers. Opening a dedicated office in Houston is one of Saint-Gobain Seals’ business decisions to strategically expand their sealing solutions presence in North America. The main contacts at the Houston office are Anthony Stefanik, District Sales Manager responsible for Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas: [email protected], Cell: 832-284-5715; and Jacob Lester, Applications Engineer, [email protected], Cell: 832-985-9309.
Awards & Milestones
Crane Celebrates 160 Years of Innovation at Valve World Americas Expo
Commemorating a heritage of leadership and innovation, Crane ChemPharma & Energy celebrated the 160-year anniversary of Crane Co. during the Valve World Americas Expo, July 15-16. During the conference, Crane showcased new products, participated in a panel discussion on valve design, and commemorated their heritage with a presentation on the history of valves by United Valve President, Greg Johnson, along with cake and a champagne toast.
EPA Honors Winners of the 20th Annual Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing landmark green chemistry technologies developed by industrial pioneers and leading scientists that turn climate risk and other environmental problems into business opportunities, spurring innovation and economic development. The winners and their innovative technologies are:
Algenol in Fort Myers, Florida, is being recognized for developing a blue-green algae to produce ethanol and other fuels. The algae uses CO2from air or industrial emitters with sunlight and saltwater to create fuel while dramatically reducing the carbon footprint, costs and water usage, with no reliance on food crops as feedstocks.
Hybrid Coating Technologies/Nanotech Industries of Daly City, California, is being recognized for developing a safer, plant-based polyurethane for use on floors, furniture and in foam insulation. The technology eliminates the use of isocyanates, the No. 1 cause of workplace asthma. This is already in production, is reducing VOCs and costs, and is safer for people and the environment, the EPA says.
LanzaTech in Skokie, Illinois, is being recognized for the development of a process that uses waste gas to produce fuels and chemicals, reducing companies’ carbon footprint. LanzaTech has partnered with Global Fortune 500 Companies and others to use this technology, including facilities that can each produce 100,000 gallons per year of ethanol, and a number of chemical ingredients for the manufacture of plastics.
SOLTEX (Synthetic Oils and Lubricants of Texas) in Houston, Texas, is being recognized for developing a new chemical reaction process that eliminates the use of water and reduces hazardous chemicals in the production of additives for lubricants and gasoline. If widely used, this technology has the potential to eliminate millions of gallons of wastewater per year and reduce the use of a hazardous chemical by 50 percent.
Renmatix in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is being recognized for developing a process using supercritical water to more cost-effectively break down plant material into sugars used as building blocks for renewable chemicals and fuels. This innovative low-cost process could result in a sizeable increase in the production of plant-based chemicals and fuels, and reduce the dependence on petroleum fuels.
Professor Eugene Chen of Colorado State University is being recognized for developing a process that uses plant-based materials in the production of renewable chemicals and liquid fuels. This new technology is waste-free and metal-free. It offers significant potential for the production of renewable chemicals, fuels, and bioplastics that can be used in a wide range of safer industrial and consumer products.
GE & Statoil Collaboration Honor Winners of Inaugural Open Innovation Challenge
GE and Statoil’s Sustainability Collaboration announced five winners of its inaugural Open Innovation Challenge that focused on addressing the use of sand in unconventional operations. Sand plays a critical role in shale development and the hydraulic fracturing process. The proppant is mixed with water and injected into a formation to "stimulate" or "prop open" the tiny fractures, enabling oil and natural gas to flow freely. The five winners are:
Bioastra Technologies, Montréal, Quebec. Solution: Lightweight, Expandable Polymer Proppant. Composite particles that swell up to 10 times their initial size in liquid. They are also pliable and able to conform to small cracks in the formation. Similar to material used for artificial cartilage and occlusion agents for surgery.
Biopolynet, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Solution: Coiled Biopolymer Fluid Additive. Makes fluid more viscous, better suspending proppants and enables proppants to adhere to the surface of fissures in the formation.
Hoowaki, Pendleton, South Carolina. Solution: Alumina Ceramic Proppant in the Shape of an "X". Developed with Shell, the unique X shape creates a drag, reducing settling by up to 50 percent and wedges itself into fractures helping them stay open and prevent the proppant from flowing back.
Semplastics, Oviedo, Florida. Solution: Lightweight Polymer Proppant. Polymer-Derived Ceramic-based proppant is half the density of sand, resilient to corrosion, as well as extreme heat and crush resistant.
University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota. Solution: Lightweight, Locally Sourced Ceramic Proppant. Made from local widely available non-premium ore is approximately 40 percent less dense than current ceramic proppants.
The second Open Innovation Challenge – focusing on water in unconventional energy development – was just announced and remains open for submissions until September 24, 2015. That challenge seeks to find innovative solutions for reducing water usage in the development of onshore unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. or more information on both Challenges please visit poweringcollaboration.com for updates, submission forms, and winner profiles.
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