Month: February 2011

Gotta Have My Java

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Oh how we all depend on our first cup of coffee in the morning, an addiction shared the world over. Coffee is the third most popular drink in the world behind water and tea. The energizing effect of the coffee bean plant is thought to have been discovered in the northeast region of Ethiopia, and the cultivation of coffee in the Arab world  as early as the 15th century. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and then to the Americas. Today coffee is the top agricultural export for twelve countries and the world’s seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value.

Coffee is also of geo-political importance equivalent to that of gold and oil. During the 50’s some South American coffee plantations were taken over by communist rebels. The CIA sponsored coups to take back these coffee producing countries. Then in order to stem communist revolutions in South America, the United States entered into an International Coffee Agreement establishing a quota system that limits the amount countries import and export in order to keep the price stable and sustainable. But there was constant disagreement between countries on how much they should be allowed to import. In 1989 the system ended causing a dramatic drop in prices. Brazil responded by modernizing and automating its coffee production; allowing for profitability even when prices drop. Vietnam increased their coffee production dramatically which caused prices to drop further and destabilized many South American and Central American countries that had not modernized their coffee plantations.

With so many variations of coffee products it’s hard to believe that there is only two bean types, Arabica and Robusta. What differentiates them is where they are grown and how they are roasted. Most coffees are blends of grades to achieve a specific taste.

Coffee aficionados are a discriminate group each with their own taste preferences. A custom coffee blender, who caters to the discriminating taste, contacted me with a problem he was having with static electricity. The static was on the outside of the jars he was filling and attracting coffee dust and particles to the jar. Being a premium blend, appearance plays an important part in their presentation.  The fix was simple. He installed two of EXAIR’s Ion air knives opposing one another. Then as the filled jars passed between them, the hard-hitting air stream blew off any debris and all static charges neutralized. Having a static free surface also prevented packaging dust during shipment from adhering to the jars.

If you need help with you static problems give us a call 1-800-903-9245. One of our application engineers will be happy to assist you.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer

Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax   (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com 
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

User Experience vs. Customer Service

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

An article caught my eye a few days ago. The subject was about good careers for the future. Having three kids, I have interest in things about the future. But beyond that point, one of the careers sparked my interest, or rather, skepticism.

The “User Experience Manager” who should have a Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s preferred. And who would potentially make solid money according to the article.

Here is how the article describes it:
               “What’s user experience? Why, its what happened to you when you went to get your new drivers license or when you, say, read a captivating column online about professional opportunities. User experience managers were first widely seen in Web-design firms, focusing on a website in development from the viewpoint of a user who would eventually have to navigate the thing. Now, user experience is the watchword for banks, insurance companies, restaurants and virtually any company that has reason to evaluate and improve the way its customers and prospective customers encounter its people and processes”

Why am I skeptical about a user experience manager? Because it’s a new watchword as the article states, it’s a refocusing, a convergence upon the customer. And I ask; shouldn’t a focus upon the customer have already been in place for any business around before the “user experience manager” was in vogue? In fact it sounds an awful lot like a customer service manager or public relations manager – have companies lost focus on customer service so badly that traditional managers are being usurped by a user experience manager? And better yet it points to a breakdown in a whole population of employees whose job it is to treat customers properly if they need another titled manager to come in and help customer relations. It seems to be a veiled attempt to make themselves feel better for trying to improve things.

But that’s just my take, I’ll take the good old-fashioned customer service manager any day. Fortunately for EXAIR, the leadership of this company has never lost focus upon treating the customer properly. Since Roy Sweeney started the company 28 years ago, he has made it a point to make sure his employees understand the importance of the user experience when it was still called customer service. Keeping the user experience at the top of his priorities all these years has led to a population of employees who understand what is important to this company. And when we understand what is important to EXAIR we also learn…

  • To care about our customers, listen to them and help them.
  • To become knowledgable about products, service and resources available to customers.
  • To be accountable and responsible to make decisions without a necessity to refer problems up the line.
  • To solve customer problems quickly and effectively.

I’m glad to say I haven’t heard of any plans for a customer experience manager at EXAIR. We will leave it to the banks and insurance companies and restaurants to hire them, we all know they lost focus a long time ago anyway. In fact I will even be so bold to say – if you are considering hiring a customer experience manager yourself, expose them to EXAIR to learn a thing or two. I can imagine they would all be prepared with their Blackberries, and laptops and all the new technology tools they think will be helpful – only to find out it’s not the tools that will help the customer, it is the people behind them. Kind of like this…

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com
@EXAIR_KE

The Learning Curve

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

In early February, 2010, we got some snow in Cincinnati. This is not unusual. What was remarkable about it, though, was that it was the perfect consistency for snow construction, and it fell on a Saturday morning when I had nothing of consequence planned. And there was a LOT of it.

My boys (ages 10 and 7 at the time) and I went out to play and clear the driveway, respectively. We saw snowmen and crude little snow forts going up all over the neighborhood, which begged the question: “What can we make?” My eldest suggested an igloo. I suggested it might be a lot of work, but he assured me that he was in it for the long haul, so we started.

As luck would have it, I’m a Scout Leader, and had recently seen some really cool igloo-making instructions. For the record, I’m currently a Cub Scout Leader, which means I have way more experience with teaching silly songs and running the Pinewood Derby than I do with basic outdoor survival skills. Nonetheless, the three of us dove in and started making a giant snow quarry from which to harvest our snow bricks.

I swear the plans looked fairly cut-and-dry, but somehow, the second row of bricks just didn’t pan out for us. This meant that, after a couple of hours of hard labor in the cold, wet snow, we found ourselves a lot closer to the drawing board than we wanted to be. My eldest and I regrouped, and plowed on. His brother has some wonderful qualities, but perseverance isn’t yet among them, unfortunately.

By mid-afternoon (OK; it was mid-afternoon on Sunday), we found ourselves installing the capstone and marveling at the warmth inside a great big snowball. We would have camped out in it, had it not been a school night. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. But seriously, it was pretty cozy in there.

Here’s what we learned:
*Plans are great, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. “It looked good on paper” is the mantra of many an engineer, carpenter, and igloo builder.
*Plans are great, but perseverance is key to success. When the second row didn’t work, we could have settled for an open-top snow fort. That wasn’t what we wanted, though. We kept our eyes on the prize, and walked away with it.

Plans are great. Data is essential to proper design. Even with education and experience, unforeseen variables can come into play, and to unexpected degrees. That’s why I really like EXAIR’s 30-day unconditional guarantee. We can help you get as “good on paper” as possible, but if it turns out to be a bit too much, too little, too high, too low, etc…well, we can step back towards the drawing board with you and continue stepping towards the solution. And it costs you nothing, except the time invested, which is repaid in knowledge, and job satisfaction. I think that’s a pretty fair deal.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll-free
(513)671-3363 fax
Web: www.exair.com
Blog: http://blog.exair.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/exair_rb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

Why Doesn’t My Air Knife Work?

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I received a technical assistance call about performance of one of our air knives. The customer complained that the air coming out was “wimpy” and there were dead spots in the air flow. I asked him to take a picture of the air knife and indicate where the dead spots were.

He did not have to mark them as it was apparent what his problem was, Teflon tape used as pipe dope. He insisted that he did not use any in the installation of the air knife. Since there is no teflon used in the manufacture of the air knife, it had to come from somewhere in his compressed air system.

Upon further investigation, he discovered a new line had been added to their system. The plumber got carried away with wrapping pipe threads with the teflon tape. Not only did it find its way into our air knife, it also found its way into their air tools and cylinders.

Contrary to popular myth, PTFE tape does not seal, it only acts as a lubricant for better pipe thread engagement. Never try to repair a poorly fitting joint by applying more than the recommended amount of tape. Applying an excessive amount of tape can cause loose fragments.

The proper application of PTFE tape should start with two wraps taken about two or three threads from the end of the pipe.  This will avoid tape fragments breaking loose and entering the plumbing system. Wrapping should be done in the direction of the threads. Each wrap should cover half the width of the previous wrap. This would give consistent two-layer coverage. Two layers are all you want. Wrapping should continue the entire length of the threads.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer

Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax   (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com 
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair