In this episode of the Dusty Jobs Podcast, Donovan talks to the Owner and CEO of Imperial Systems, Jeremiah Wann. Jeremiah mentions what is new in the booth this year for Fabtech and also what the forecast of industry looks like. Donovan and Jeremiah also discuss new marketing videos being released and the amazing people featured in them.
Narrator: Welcome to the Dusty Jobs podcast from Imperial Systems. Industry knowledge to make your job easier and safer.
Donovan: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dusty Job podcast. We’re still at Fabtech and today we’re talking with Jeremiah Wann, the owner of Imperial Systems. How you doing Jeremiah?
Jeremiah: I’m doing well. It is still Fabtech.
Donovan: Still Fabtech. We’re still here.
Jeremiah: Day two.
Donovan: How are you holding up?
Jeremiah: Doing good. You know you get a little tired but it’s good you know. Just nonstop talking the whole time.
Donovan: It is. But that’s good. There’s been a lot of people here. Seems like a very popular show this year. It’s great to see a lot of people coming back after kind of the years we had with with COVID and now it’s really a lot of people are showing up and it’s exciting.
Jeremiah: Yeah I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve talked to several companies in industry. Some of the kind of the leading you know larger laser companies and just seeing how things are going. You know, kind of gauging their you know their attendance and their sales and they’ve all had good things to say. So they’re all saying they’re still selling lasers. Customers are positive. They’re still buying stuff so we’re pretty hopeful things look good.
Donovan: Yeah so with that you know we’re here. We got a couple new things in our booth. A couple cool things we got going on and yeah I mean tell us about that tell us about where you’re gonna see what’s that’s new here when you come to the Imperial booth.
Jeremiah: Well well first thing when you come to our booth you may or may not see an alien in our booth.
Donovan: That’s true.
Jeremiah: That’s kind of a big deal. You know, this year we decided to do something a little different. We started a video series called Sparks of Creation. It’s a four-part video series but what we’re trying to do really is you know not so much try to promote our product which I know is a strange concept but just really try to highlight people that are passionate about the the welding industry in general and just just to kind of say you know kind of a little nod to people that are out there actually in the trenches doing welding day-to-day and you know kind of really getting down and getting dirty with like you know the the kind of the heart and soul of this industry which is welding right right? So, you know Jen Phillips was the one that we selected to do our first video with and she’s from Canada. I, Saskatchatoon I think is how you say it. Kind of up there in northern Canada and it’s just been fun. We visited with her for two days her and her husband now they’ve been here and she’s showcasing her work. She’s got an alien here that’s really a cool piece and then we commissioned her to make an eagle for us.
Donovan: It’s awesome. It’s beautiful. Yeah.
Jeremiah: It’s cool. It’s like a baby eagle so like it’s smaller. It’s not like a full-size eagle but I think they’re called what do they call it? Eaglets?
Donovan: Sure. Yeah.
Jeremiah: So it’s like an eaglet. It’s very beautiful.
Donovan: Yeah it is. It’s cool. If you got a big one there wouldn’t be a lot of space to put it so.
Jeremiah: Yeah a big eagle would probably be as big as me. Yeah I don’t want that.
Donovan: Yeah so it’s perfect for displaying.
Jeremiah:Yeah but anyway so we’re doing that. That’s in the booth. Our newest product is the you know the Air-Port edition. We’ve had the Air-Port for a few years now and I’ve got a lot of attention at Fabtech with it. The Air-Port is a modular weld hood with an integrated duct into it. So it’s the first ever of its kind to have that feature where the ducting is in there. You got a built-in spark trap in there. Adjustable dampers. Arched top to it. Just a beautiful hood. I mean aesthetically it’s amazing. It fits in and over robot very easily. The one thing that you know kind of customers were saying is you know we need it to fit to the safety screen with the weld curtain and that. We can never match that up perfectly you know so there’s always like a little transition piece or whatever and didn’t look neat. So we’re like –
Donovan: Now the original Air-Port, it came with curtains. You could get curtains on it. But people are asking for more than that.
Jeremiah: Well yeah I mean the curtains are nice but they kind of look messy and you know and you know you know me I mean I want things nice and neat.
Donovan: That’s true.
Jeremiah: And orderly and so we said why don’t we just build our own screen. So the new the new screen I’m going to call it a screen. It’s more of a panel system. But it’s cool man.
Donovan: I mean I know it definitely has a higher safety factor on it.
Jeremiah: Oh way more. Yeah.
Donovan: Like looking at here as opposed to a curtain where you could just walk through it. This has a very high safety factor on it. You’re not – you have to be very intentional about entering the same space as the robot.
Jeremiah: Oh yeah. I mean you’re definitely not going to walk through it. This one has clear acrylic panels on it. We did it for the show. The ones you would buy and put in your place you know would be a UV rated either a blue or a red panel. But yeah it’s pretty amazing. It’s got our signature crowns on it. It’s very easy to install. Yeah. So I mean it’s pretty cool. So yeah I’m pretty happy about it.
Donovan: Yeah. And we have it here actually working with our Shadow unit.
Jeremiah: Yeah with the smoke with the smoke machine.
Donovan: Yeah. And it’s it’s what’s what’s crazy is we’re sitting three feet, four feet away from the Shadow. I can barely even hear it where we’re at.
Jeremiah: It’s quiet. It purrs. The smoke machine that we added to it’s kind of cool. It you know it’s a good just a visual to see like how well it evacuates the smoke. And you can put a ton of smoke out of the machine. So like you know it really shows you know it shows it’s doing a good job.
Donovan: So if there’s a person in there working with a robot or a person that’s in there welding it’s going to it’s going to do a great job doing what our company’s about. And that’s you know making a healthier safer work environment for people so they can go home better every day to their families.
Jeremiah: Yeah for sure. Yeah. So no it’s it’s been good. A huge amount of response from it already. Everybody’s kind of taking pictures of it looking at it. I mean we’ve we’ve already quoted several of them and I think it’s going to be I think it’s going to be a winner. So anything new? What else did I miss?
Donovan: Well it’s it’s nothing nothing new but we still have a lot of our good products. CMAXX is here. Rhino Drum is here.
Jeremiah: Spark Trap.
Donovan: Spark Traps here.
Jeremiah: All the Filtration line. That’s kind of new because you know this year we brought the filtration booth back to this hall. We had them in the fabrication hall last year and it was good but the main reason we wanted to bring them back was because you know we’re kind of like we wanted our whole crew together. So I think that’s been better. You know so I don’t know it’s pretty exciting. And the filtration line is going really well.
Donovan: It’s doing great. Yeah. It’s great. So it’s it’s really great for us to be able to have that in-house. We have that quality and assurance over our own filters so we can make sure we’re just we’re just putting the best product out there like we do with everything else that that we have here at Imperial.
Jeremiah: Yeah for sure.
Donovan: So when we’re talking about the Sparks of Creation, are we going to have more videos coming out on that?
Jeremiah: Yeah we have another one in the pipeline right now that we’re about ready to release. You know a little little teaser on that. That’s Steve Bunyard from ReIgnite Hope and I think I think some people have seen some of the initial videos on that and you know he he basically started a mission called ReIgnite Hope on Skid Row. You know essentially what he was doing was he is a pastor you know trying to minister to those people on Skid Row and what he was doing is they were they would you know give them money give them food give them clothes you know try to help them but they would notice that like no matter what they did they would just end up back on the streets again. So you know his thing was is like you know after praying about it and trying to figure out what the best thing to do was you know he for whatever reason welding came to his mind he’s like what if we taught these people how to weld. Well he didn’t know how to weld but he found people that did. He cast the vision. They started to train people off Skid Row how to weld and now they’re certifying them within several weeks helping them get jobs and transforming their life. So he says I’m teaching them about Jesus and jobs. So like I mean Steve’s an awesome guy and you’re gonna see a new video coming from him here pretty soon.
Donovan: If you’re really interested in hearing more about Steve and what they’re doing over at Reignite Hope we did podcasts with him about a year ago so if you go back to last season yeah you can listen to that and Steve really gets into the details of how right they got started and where they’re at. They’re just continuing to grow and help and bless people with not just helping them with today but helping them change their life so that they can continue to be you know live a good life right not just not just giving you a meal but giving them – what do they say – teach a man to fish yeah he eats forever. So that’s that’s kind of that mantra.
Jeremiah: No he’s great and so and how Imperial Systems is involved with him is what we’ve decided to do is every mobile weld semi-trailer that they build we will supply a Shadow for every single one – the Shadow the ductwork the whole thing we take care of that as a donation to him and we’re going to continue to support his ministry for as long as he does it. I teased him yesterday I said I hope you’re not too successful because this could get expensive but you know no and in reality I hope they’re really successful and transform a lot of lives.
Donovan: Yeah that’s great so that those people can learn and learn in a healthy and safe environment where they’re doing that. That’s great. Well thanks for coming on. Thanks for giving us a minute Jeremiah. We appreciate it and if you guys are around this year at Fabtech, next year at Fabtech stop in. Say hi to us.
Jeremiah: Yeah come see us.
Donovan: See our artwork. See our new products.
Jeremiah: Yeah, it’s a fun booth this year I really like it it’s one of my favorites.
Donovan: It’s been a good time. Well until next time stay healthy and stay safe. Thanks for listening.
Jeremiah: Thank you Donovan.
Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Dusty Jobs podcast. Breathe better, work safer.
