What is National Get to Know Your Customer Day? This day is observed annually on the third Thursday of each quarter (January, April, July, October). With so much business being conducted electronically, personal attention to customers can go by the wayside. Get to Know Your Customer Day is a fitting opportunity to turn that around, making a point of learning a little more about your customers. The better you know and understand your customer, the better you can serve them and their needs.
How do you go to market? This isn’t a question we get often, but it comes up from time to time. Sometimes we're asked by a vendor we work with who is trying to understand McWane Ductile better. Sometimes a candidate asks the question during an interview or a new sales representative asks while we’re onboarding. Other times we have a hard-working team member at one of our manufacturing facilities trying to understand further what and where the product they make goes and how it gets there. In this blog, we will look at the different bidding processes we encounter on a day-to-day basis that allow us to take Ductile iron pipe to market.
So, the site plans say, "… connect to existing iron pipe." Now that we’ve dug down to it, I can’t tell if it is gray iron or Ductile iron pipe. Are there ways to reliably distinguish between the two without some physical testing on a sample? In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the characteristics and differences between the two types of pipe.
There is a national effort to deny engineers, utilities, municipalities, public entities, and other waterworks professionals the ability to design water, wastewater, and stormwater projects in the manner that best serves the needs of their community. This effort focuses on water system piping but could be expanded to other infrastructure materials, as well. This blog contains a Q&A session conducted with a civil engineer, John Simpson, and a former utility manager, Roy Mundy, regarding Open Procurement.
June 5 is World Environment Day sponsored by the United Nations. This observance is celebrated every year and aims to engage governments, businesses, and citizens to address pressing environmental issues. So, I felt it timely to discuss how McWane Inc. and its family of companies worldwide are committed to protecting the environment through proactive efforts and challenging employees to think outside the box.
Cast iron pipe was introduced to the United States in 1816. Since then, numerous other piping materials have been offered and utilized. None were able to supplant cast iron as the leading performer until Ductile iron pipe became available. The introduction of Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) to the marketplace in 1955 remains among the most significant advancements in the history of the pressure pipe industry. It was quickly recognized as a pipe material with all the established durability of gray cast iron, yet with added strength and resiliency from its innate and lasting flexibility. It was first used for special and severe conditions of high pressure, such as where water hammer and excessive external loads might have existed.
As the name suggests, Ball & Socket River Crossing Pipe manufactured by McWane Ductile is a severe application Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) product manufactured to meet the demanding requirements associated with crossing rivers, streams, and lakes. In this blog, we will discuss the various installation methods associated with Ball & Socket pipe and basic assembly instructions.
In recent years, an increasing number of locales and authorities have adopted greater controls of the water used in hydrostatic testing, flushing, and disinfection of utility pipelines, post-installation. Whether from a feeder hydrant to be metered, or when there might be a fee applied on the volume of water used, how does an engineer, contractor, or inspector compute the amount of water needed for these tasks? Sometimes it is required to demonstrate during flushing operations that the water inside a pipeline section has been “exchanged” a designated number of times during the specified flushing. So, just how much water does it take to fill or flush 1,500 feet of 12-inch class 52 DI pipe?
During the decades in which I have managed large and small water utilities throughout the country, I have experienced several challenging scenarios. Whether it was a major oil spill in the river that provided our raw water supply, a winter with sub-zero temperatures and no snow cover where small water mains were frozen solid in the ground, or the total transitioning from a groundwater source to a surface water source with all the different treatment methodology involved, I had never considered the terminology “the new normal.”
Celebrating Earth Day reminds us of the glorious surroundings we are provided with, bringing joy and happiness to our everyday lives. A variety of topographies span from rivers and streams to mountains and valleys. Even deserts and dry climate regions provide some of the most picturesque landscapes known to man. Earth Day is conveniently celebrated in the spring when flowers and trees burst with bountiful flowers and blooms. New life abounds as animals give birth to a new generation. A simple family picnic on a manicured lawn or trip down a mountain on a bike are just a couple of examples of pleasures we can enjoy.
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