Month: September 2010

The Most Interesting Professor in the Tri State

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

Well the long, hot summer is drawing to an end here.  I know I haven’t written much during that time, but as you will see in the new video, I’ve been quite busy.  And before anyone gets into a long Lindsay Lohan/Professor Penurious comparison, I would like to just say that I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Des Moines Police Department, and am thankful that they have decided to drop all charges.  I’ll say nothing more on the matter and thank you for respecting my (virtual) privacy. 

While it’s true that my love for energy efficiency in compressed air products drives my high-profile, danger filled life, my skills set is far more varied than that.  Although my recent ban from the American Cornhole Association, has taken one of great joys of competing out of my life, my friends here at EXAIR still allow me to practice my craft at our company cookouts as I see fit.  And no one here has complained about my coup d’etat of the maintenance department to install more efficient, green light sources throughout the building.  

The most positive thing over the summer has been successfully developing my own personal logarithm. This logarithm, after much modification and number crunching, has declared me, Professor Penurious – The Most Interesting Professor in the Tri State Area…


Stay Thrifty my Friends,
Professor Penurious
lab@exair.com

Does Heavy Duty or Professional Grade Just Mean a Nicer Sticker?

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Have you ever gone into a retail tool store to look at a new set of wrenches, an air compressor, or a new power tool, and see two different grades, the standard which we are all used to and then the “Professional” or “Industrial” grade? 
In the past year or so I have tried several different “Professional” grade power tools and other items.  However, what I have found is, it often just means the product might have a little more chrome or black on it.   Maybe it is just a different paint scheme all together with some “professional” grade vinyl decals.  Well here at EXAIR all of our product lines begin at Industrial Grade and improve from there.  We do offer different levels of the same product but you get more than just a different color or sticker.
Now the difference between one stores vacuum, and their Industrial Grade Vacuum is normally just the color of the plastic, and almost always the difference in price.  You are for the most part just getting a different color product with maybe a difference in the warranty.  Here at EXAIR if you see a difference in the name it means you are getting a different product.  Not just a different warranty or decal.  For instance, if you look at the difference between our Chip Vac and our Heavy Duty Dry Vac it is more than just a name change.  The product itself is made out of a different metal, along with the amount of vacuum flow you can achieve with this.  This doesn’t include the facts that compared to electric vacuums our Industrial Vacuums don’t have any internal moving parts to burn up or go out, such as, an electric motor, or bearings, or even the impeller veins.  This is not just on our Industrial Housekeeping Products either; it’s across the entire catalog.
Now this does not mean you are getting any difference in quality either.   Whether you order a Standard Air Knife, or a 316 Stainless Steel Super Air Knife, it is all the same outstanding quality that we put into all of our products. 
Not to mention, we have our 5 Year “Built to Last” Warranty against any defects in workmanship and materials on all of our compressed air products.  Along side of the 1 Year Warranty that applies to all accessories and electrically powered products. 
So the next time you are thinking about buying a new “Professional” Grade vacuum from a store to use in your industrial application or even your home garage why not take a look into some of our products which all carry the same high quality industrial grade products along with if it says Heavy Duty it doesn’t mean you just got a different sticker.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
http://twitter.com/exair_bf

EXAIR – Another Busy Week

Published on by Bryan PetersLeave a comment

Whew! Short holiday weeks are nice, but there always seems to be more work than time available to do it.  Around EXAIR, we have a saying for holiday weeks like this one.  There’s still five days of work, but only four days to finish it.

Needless to say, it’s been another busy week here.

Yesterday, we introduced three new products. EXAIR now offers 110-gallon versions of our Reversible Drum Vac, Chip Vac, and Heavy Duty Dry Vac. These new “super sized” products join the larger version of our award-winning Chip Trapper that we introduced in August. You can see some information about them on our Facebook page. Full information will be available on our website in the coming days.

Even though the “official” date was over the weekend, we also helped Dave in accounting celebrate his 40th birthday yesterday. I’m sure he was saying to himself “with friends like these…”

Today we had a company-wide cookout to help show our appreciation to all EXAIR employees. It was a great time, and the weather could not have been better. I ended up eating lunch alongside Desmond from our assembly department and Randy from our quality group. Both of these guys were part of our EXAIR team that ran in the Redlegs 5K earlier this summer. Randy is an avid runner. He has a 10K race this weekend. Good luck to him this weekend!

Tomorrow we welcome our distributor from the Netherlands for training and business meetings over the next couple of days. We are glad that they made the trip to see us again.

And on Friday, we’ll début the next video featuring our own Professor Penurious. Will Des Moines ever be the same after his visit? Will any more engineering co-ops be set on fire? Stay tuned.

Since this week only has four working days (yeah, right I know I’ll be here on Saturday!), I will include Monday in this post. We’ll send out our latest press release on Monday, and as usual, it is another product available only from EXAIR.

And don’t forget that next week, several members of our team will be in Chicago for IMTS 2010. If you are going to be there and would like to arrange a meeting, please e-mail us.

You might think that would be enough for September, but we’ll only be halfway through by the middle of next week. There is still plenty more to come from EXAIR in September and beyond.

Bryan Peters
President
bryanpeters@exair.com

Another School Year, Another Kid in Braces

Published on by Kirk Edwards1 Comment

Just a couple of weeks ago the “last day of summer” was upon my kids and the first day of school loomed. I am happy to report they have successfully made the transition, excluding any whining about homework. They have quickly adjusted to a new routine and we have all begun ramping up for new obligations which replace the more flexible summertime choices.

This morning was our first real test, or should I say my first real test? I am generally out of the house while a kid, maybe two, is leisurely eating breakfast. Today we needed to get two kids to the orthodontist before school. Yep, another kid on the ortho’s invoice. And among the madness of preparing coffee for one and breakfast for four others, I recalled my experiences with having braces…none of them good.

Even upon having my braces removed at the age of 13 my happiness of getting this hardware off for good was quelled. Because along with the leftover bracket cement on my teeth, the large scraping tool the unfeeling hygienist used to remove the cement can apparently also scrape away happiness.  

And the beginning of the process was just as bad. The first thing they did was make a mold of my teeth consisting of pouring pink rubber into my mouth. But I couldn’t swallow it or choke on it or decide for myself when it was over. I remember breaking into a sweat trying not to throw up all over the same hygienist who would eventually scrape cement from my newly straightened teeth. Looking back at it now – I should have let it fly.

But the worst of all was the actual gluing of the brackets on to the teeth, and an occasional replacement bracket. This process insists upon removing all traces of the natural state of ones mouth by introducing a constant blast of hot, dry air which pillages any moisture. I never realized braces could actually prepare you for being stranded in the Sahara. Chinese water torture has nothing on Orthodontic torture – empires could be toppled with the tools of the orthodontic trade.

And they look so good don’t they? Nothing compares to the bright smile of a kid. But smack some glue, brackets and wire on their teeth and they all look like this…
    

I chose to keep those wonderful memories and opinion to myself upon sending them off to the orthodontist. Things like this are best kept between you and me, I think. And after making it through the Jaws from Moonraker stage, the result of a good smile is worth it. Even I will agree to that.

Not much changes at EXAIR during this new school year transition. Because we continuously make minor adjustments and improvements to our obligation of providing quality product, great customer service, and excellent delivery.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
KirkEdwards@EXAIR.com
http://twitter.com/exair_ke