by Scott Stearns | Apr 11, 2018 | Hidden from Archive
I began my professional journey in 1970, and over the past 48 years I’ve seen some changes. I’ve worked for three different companies over that time and have moved around a lot. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area. Right out of high school I began working for a century old, global company that was headquartered in Pittsburgh. They had several fabrication plants around the US and sales offices in England, Italy, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and Brazil. I thought I struck gold to work for such a large, well established company. But when they hired me they had a different plan for me. They sent me to their relatively small, Air Systems Division, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. My first “New Beginning” uprooted me from my family, friends, and everything familiar, and moved me 300 miles away. This was a daunting experience for a 19-year-old. But my first employer was very good to me. They must have seen some potential because they encouraged me to continue my education under their tuition reimbursement program. So, I enrolled at the University of Cincinnati and eventually earned a B.S. degree (that’s Bachelor of Science, not the other BS). I spent most of my time with my first employer in Cincinnati, but moved back to Pittsburgh to work a few years for them there before moving again back to the Cincinnati plant. Unfortunately, even the largest and oldest companies can fail. After 9 ½, years I was let go along with many other employees company wide. Today, even though I see their building products everywhere, the company name has become almost nonexistent and their manufacturing plants have all been sold, shut down, or demolished. Today the trade name is owned by some Pacific Rim entity and that is about all that remains of them.
In 1981, I had another “New Beginning” with a Cincinnati based family owned company. I decided that a family owned business offered more security which was the most important aspect to me at the time. I now had a wife and two small daughters to support. My second employer was also good to me. They continued paying my college tuition until I graduated. If I got A’s, they paid 100% of all my college related expenses. That may be the main reason I have a special gold seal on my diploma that is embossed Summa Cum Laude. My second employer was also a very large company with manufacturing plants in 6 different states. They had annual sales in excess 100 million dollars, and at one time they were ranked the 3rd largest specialty sheet metal contactor in the United States. Everything was going great. I was taken out of engineering and promoted into engineering sales. I was placed under the guidance of a senior sales engineer and began making sales calls with him. As that was happening I didn’t realize I was being trained as his replacement. That gentleman retired a short time later and I was thrust into the world of engineering sales and yet another “New Beginning”. My second employer believed in moving us a lot by playing musical offices every few years. I believe they thought moving us around made us more productive. I was moved from offices on the first floor, to the basement, back to the first floor, up to the second floor, and so on. I worked for them for 29 years, so we moved around a lot. Alas, even large family owned companies have major changes. They were a third-generation company and over 100 years old. It was never destined to see a 4th generation of ownership, and the family sold the company to a publicly traded corporation. The change was not immediately apparent, but I soon came to realize I was not going to like working for a company listed on the stock exchange again. The “family feel” was gone and making money for the stock holders became the driving goal of the company. Since the family no longer owned the company, all my loyalties I felt were gone.
My last “New Beginning” began in 2010. I was out on a sales call, and when I returned to the office our receptionist handed me a phone memo that said Jeremiah Wong, of Imperial Systems, wanted me to return his call. I didn’t know any Amish-Oriental guys with an Asian trading company, so I called to see what he wanted. I found out that “Jeremiah Wann” was not Amish, or Oriental, and he had an offer for me. He wanted me to work for him. At first, I was skeptical. After all, I was now 59 years old and contemplating early retirement. Things were not going in any direction I cared for with my second employer. And there were my two daughters to consider. Although they were now grown young women and both employed, they still lived with me. But Jeremiah assured me my age was not an issue, and my daughters encouraged me to go for it. So, I took the next step. I pulled a Dunn and Bradstreet report on Imperial Systems. I found them to be a small, family owned business with a good credit rating. They paid their bills. That was important to me. I agreed to meet with Jeremiah to discuss details. Shortly after that, we came to an agreement. I again relocated 300 miles back to Pennsylvania, not too far from my birth city of Pittsburgh, and I found a home with Imperial. We are a small but growing company. Much different from the previous two larger companies I’ve worked for. Over my short seven years with Imperial Systems, I’ve seen two plant expansions. Our newest “New Beginning” is the beautiful new fabrication complex we moved into in January 2018. We now have better manufacturing capabilities and lots of space for expansion. We needed it. We are growing fast. I just turned 66 and obviously no longer contemplating early retirement. I’m thinking about hanging around for a few more years. A family will do that to you. But if you think I’m ready for any more “New Beginnings”, well good luck with that!
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by Scott Stearns | Apr 11, 2018 | Hidden from Archive
This year, we hosted our National Sales Meeting and the first Imperial University. This was an opportunity for some of our representatives and dealers to come see our new facility, learn from the experts, and get a hands-on experience with our equipment. We were joined by more than thirty people, including reps from as far away as southern California. Despite a snow storm putting the schedule on a slight delay, everything went extremely well.
With the showroom and meeting rooms serving as classrooms, our guests enjoyed lots of treats while they received an education in a variety of subjects. The day started out with a presentation by Jeremiah on the history and growth of the company, then moved on to highlight the CMAXX. The CMAXX’s superiority to other collectors was discussed, including its function as an in-line deflagration arrestor (IDA). Since many of our reps have left competitors to come and work with us, many of them are familiar with the competition’s weaknesses. Jeremiah highlighted the CMAXX’s strengths as a product and our strength as a company.
The morning also featured a presentation by representatives from Fike, experts in fire protection and suppression systems. This covered the various NFPA codes that apply to combustible dust. It also covered may of the types of protective and preventative features that may be part of a dust collection system. NFPA provides the most detailed and important guidelines for combustible dust safety, so NFPA recommendations are very important to everyone who works in this field.
After a delicious lunch, all of our guests enjoyed a tour of the new plant, getting to see our products all the way from cutting and welding to the finished product. The flow of our shop allows things to get built easier and faster. The new powder coating line has our finished products looking amazing, and our visitors got a chance to get hands-on with our demo CMAXX unit.
We then split into small groups for some more specialized classes. Mitch provided an education on our BRFs, including the new medium pressure baghouse and how it works. Patrick discussed the use of our abort gates, EIVs, and airlocks. Justin presented information about our Spark Trap, DeltaMAXX filters, and he also demonstrated the use of our new quote tool. Charlie gave us all a college-level course in the mathematics and design of ductwork.
Feedback from the event was excellent. We’re very proud that we were able to treat everyone to an enjoyable and educational event, and it was much more than just a sales meeting. Many of us got to meet each other face to face for the first time, and many people got to see our new facility for the first time.
We’d like to thank everyone who was able to attend, participate, ask questions, and help make this a very special event for our company. We hope all participants had a good time and learned some valuable information that will help them as they move forward representing Imperial Systems products. We can’t wait to see everyone again next year.
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by Scott Stearns | Dec 20, 2017 | Hidden from Archive
FABTECH Chicago is this year’s metal forming, welding, and fabricating convention. It has some of the biggest names in the metalworking industry from all over the world. They display their new technology and equipment for everything from robotics and welding to painting.
FABTECH Chicago: More Than Just a Tradeshow
Sure, this is our largest exhibit every year, but going to FABTECH offers us so much more. That’s because every year brings new technology, new machines, and new trends to the fabrication industry. FABTECH gives our staff not only the ability to sell but also to see, learn, and try something new. This year FABTECH is at the center of our country’s metal manufacturing industry. There were 1,700 exhibits with roughly 45,000 attendees from 120 different countries.
Much of the equipment for sale at FABTECH Chicago may be considered “glamorous.” At least they look that way in these beautiful booths. What is behind many of those booths is what allows those machines to operate: a dust or fume collector. It is hard to show what our equipment does. So we just went big for our exhibit to show the quality and craftsmanship that goes into CMAXX, the best dust collector in the industry.
FABTECH Chicago is not just about working the show. At times, we even got out to enjoy the city of Chicago. We got to dine at some world-class restaurants, taste some of what many consider to be the best pizza available anywhere in the world, and a few of us even went to the SkyDeck at the top of Willis Tower. We had an amazing show this year and hope you all can stop next year in Atlanta on November 6-8 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Did you miss the FABTECH Chicago expo? Learn more about the CMAXX Dust and Fume Collector.
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by Scott Stearns | Dec 20, 2017 | Hidden from Archive
Recently I saw a MEME on Facebook that said, “LIVED ANOTHER DAY WITHOUT NEEDING ALGEBRA!”. It made me chuckle because it reminded me of my 8th grade math class and thinking I would never, EVER, use Algebra when I got older. Why did I have to learn this stuff? It was hard for me to comprehend that 2X + Y could ever equal Z! How wrong I was. Hardly a week goes by that I’m not pulling out my battered old copy of CarrLane’s Reference tables for the solutions of right triangles. Technically this is Trigonometry, but I won’t quibble semantics; math is math.
Then I started thinking, “What an old fossil I am using all these old reference guides.” There are buttons to push on smart phones, or key strokes on computers that would get me the answer faster. But, although I’m almost sure the answer would be correct, I would still have to check it the old-school way. The trouble is, I was taught things before there were smart phones and computers. We did things “long hand” in the dark ages. I have trouble putting 100% trust in a computer. After all, a computer only knows 0’s and 1’s. How smart can it really be? My friend’s three-year-old can even count to at least 36. When I was in High School, hand held calculators were still years in the future. And even then, the first TI’s could only do the four basic math functions and square root. I learned to do math using a slide rule, and got great two decimal point accuracy. Anything more than that is just a waste of digits. If You have seen the movie “HIDDEN FIGURES”, You would have learned of Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who used a slide rule to successfully calculate the trajectories that put a man on the moon. And yet, in 1999 we depended on a Cray Super Computer and crashed a 125 million-dollar space probe on the planet Mars. Who Knew?
So, I keep my trusty old friends near-by. Probably my oldest friend is my copy of CRC Standard Math Formulas and Tables. This book is chock-full or good stuff and it got me through Standard Deviation in my collage statistics classes, as well as my Trig and Calculus courses. About all that I remember or calculus today is fx (pronounced F of X). But I still use Algebra, Trig, and Geometry a good bit at work.
The CARR LANE Reference Tables was a freebie from the Carr Lane company. I reference the little chart for right triangle solutions more than any other source I have.
Then I have my dear friend Smoley’s Four Combined Tables. I purchased this book on June 27, 1978 and it has been a math bible sitting on the corner of my desk for many years. It looks a little like a bible too. This is a wonderful reference for logarithms and squares, slopes and rises, Trig tables, and Segmental functions (who needs calculus?).
My final friend is the Pocket Reference compiled by Thomas J. Grover. I purchased the 2nd edition for $8.00 in 1997. This book has everything you could ever want a reference for, and it will fit in your pocket. The latest issue is the 4th edition and has even more references and information than mine. They are available from various sources. I even picked up one for a friend not long ago that was a freebee give-a-way at a trade show.
Some of today’s Millennials may think they have no use for Algebra or Trig, but the fact is they use it every day; they just don’t realize it. Whenever they use their computers or electronic games and devices they are using hundreds and thousands of calculations behind the scene with each one of those key strokes. I also use my computer and cell phone to perform various math functions. But if you are going to ask me to depend solely on electronic devices and give up on my old friends, good luck with that!
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by Scott Stearns | Dec 20, 2017 | Hidden from Archive
The Imperial Systems Annual Chili Cook-Off has proved that we have many unexpectedly talented chefs among us (and a few whose wives are talented chefs and let them take the credit). The event also brings out our inner food critic as we walk around the tables, tasting each chili like it’s a fine wine and debating the merits of each. From old-fashioned traditional chili to more unusual offerings, there is always something to satisfy every taste.
This year, for the second year in a row, Carl took home the trophy with his ever-popular (wife’s) recipe. And for the side dishes, Chad claimed the prize with a pretzel salad dessert. We eagerly anticipate next year’s Cook-Off, which will be in our new building. Perhaps next year someone will overthrow him, but for now Carl remains the reigning king of chili.
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by Scott Stearns | Dec 20, 2017 | Hidden from Archive
In the aftermarket department, we often get calls from someone who has had a problem. We’ve heard some interesting ones. In fact, the “our filters burned up” is pretty routine, coming from companies without good fire protection systems. But even the best safety systems can fail, and although you may be shocked to hear it, human error often plays a part.
We very rarely get calls about a problem with a spark trap. After all, this is a very mechanically simple device. It doesn’t have any parts to break down. All it does is create turbulence in the air flow to extinguish sparks.
When we sell someone a spark trap, we do always talk to them about the type of dust they’re dealing with. Spark traps aren’t good for large or sticky particles, because in that situation they’re not spark traps; they’re fire hazards. Large particles can fall out of the airflow and accumulate.
The company in this example, fortunately, had exactly the right situation for a spark trap. They needed it for the very fine metal fumes coming from their plasma table. These particles are much too small to accumulate in the spark trap, so everyone had every reason to expect it would work properly.
On a downdraft table, dust and fumes from cutting are pulled downward and into the dust collection system. Fine dust from metal cutting should easily travel through the spark trap and cause no problems.
This did not, however, explain why this spark trap burst into flames. What did explain this, after some investigation, was that sunflower seed shells do not travel easily through the spark trap.
Apparently, folks had been eating sunflower seeds and spitting the shells into the slats of the plasma table for easy disposal. Sunflower seed shells are exactly the type of material we warn against using a spark trap for: they are bulky and, having been chewed on, probably also rather sticky.
The sunflower seeds predictably accumulated in the spark trap, and when an actual spark made its way in, it found a generous supply of fuel waiting for it.
No one was injured in this incident, unless the sunflower shell spitter received capital punishment. But it does illustrate how the human factor can be a problem not just for dust control and air quality, but for all safety measures.
Do you have a sign next to your plasma cutting table warning people not to spit or toss combustible snack foods into it? I’m pretty sure we don’t have one. Besides, every gasoline pump has a warning on it that gasoline and fire are bad together, and that didn’t stop the kid at the pump next to mine from lighting up a cigarette while filling his tank this morning.
Dust and fume collection is one part of the broader industrial safety picture, but the human error factor can never be discounted. Small mistakes can have catastrophic consequences. Fatal accidents have been caused by things as simple as poking at the insulation around a pipe with a pole to see where it was leaking, pressurizing a tank and forgetting to open the emergency relief valve, or leaving material in a mixer overnight and trying to start it again in the morning.
Lessons to be learned from this incident: do not spit sunflower seed shells into your downdraft table. In fact, don’t throw anything in your downdraft table. Do not allow flammable materials to end up where they don’t belong (you’d be amazed at the damage a flaming pastry can do in a dust collector, but that’s another story). Don’t eat yellow snow. And stay safe: combustible dust is an often unrecognized hazard, but a dust explosion can kill.
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