Category: Sustainability

Happy To Be Here

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Well, I have officially passed another milestone on my journey to becoming an old-timer (or “curmudgeon,” as my wife would say) – our youngest child is now a teenager. Like I needed two teenagers in my house, but I digress. It’s been a wild trip so far; starting with his arrival, some seven weeks early. They had him hooked up to a LOT of instrumentation and monitoring devices for those first two week, because the rule is, “you never trust a preemie.” He’s still proving that to be good advice, to this day. But he gets it honest. And no, I’m not blaming his mother. Not completely.

I also celebrated another “trip around the sun” recently: I’ve been an Application Engineer at EXAIR Corporation for four years now. While not exactly a “milestone” – it’s not one of the anniversaries that comes with more vacation time or a nice watch or anything – I’m still very happy to be here. Let me tell you a few reasons why:

*EXAIR means performance. We make the most efficient and quietest engineered compressed air products on the market. We can…and have…proved it against any competitors’ products, in side-by-side testing in our Efficiency Lab.

*EXAIR means quality. Our Intelligent Compressed Air Products are the result of 31 years of determination to provide solutions for a variety of compressed air applications. We know of more than a few users who have had our products in place for 20+ years, and they’re still operating the same as when they were new.

*EXAIR means growth. To be an aggressive solutions provider, you have to look for more problems to solve…and we do. We’re constantly developing new products, adding wider selections of size, performance, and materials of construction to current products, and discovering new types of applications where our products can be successfully employed.

All of this comes together to make for an exciting place to work, and an easy company to do business with. Yeah…I’m still very happy to be here.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Why Trust EXAIR?

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Bryan Peters, the President of EXAIR Corporation blogged on January 6, 2011 about trust.   Trust is a critical element to any relationship, business or personal.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of historic quotes based around trust. Two of my favorites are below:

“Whoever is careless with truth in small matters can not be trusted in important affairs.” – Albert Einstein

And,

We firmly believe any company that operates, or tries to operate, without trustworthiness, ethics and honesty will not be around for long.  I agree this is why EXAIR has been able to thrive for 31 years and counting and shows no signs of slowing down.  There is no better part in a conversation with a customer than when you can explain to them they can trust us to help them.  If they don’t like our options then they can return any stock items within 30 days from the date of purchase with no questions asked.

In 2014 we exceeded 100,000 customers who have seen the level of honesty, ethics, and trustworthiness EXAIR provides.

This level of service is given to each and every individual that contacts us here at EXAIR, whether it is a Production Manager, an Engineer, a Maintenance Professional, a student working on a project or a do-it-yourselfer working in their garage.   Then to show just how much we trust our customers, we offer any domestic customer to call in and place an order of up to $1,500 on a purchase order without a need of credit references or a formal account setup form.  All we need is a bill to and ship to addresses, along with a contact name and phone number.   We will then honor the PO and ship the product to you like you have been one of our longest standing customers.

Through a great deal of hard work, we remain unmatched in our level of:

  • Customer service
  • Product quality
  • Product availability
  • Technical data
  • Technical support
  • International standards compliance
  • Product line expansions
  • Distributor training and support
  • Testing capabilities and services
  • Instructional videos
  • Environmental and social responsibility

EXAIR continues to grow and accepts nothing less than our customers receiving the highest level of service, product quality, and product availability.  Even if you haven’t bought anything from us – ever.

I trust EXAIR fully with my career, my personal goals, and even the well-being of my family.  I am proud to be part of something that is much more than an 8 to 5 job and will confirm this as a company concerned with much more than the bottom dollar.

One final quote for the history books:  “EXAIR is here to help, period.” – Bryan Peters, President of EXAIR Corporation.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

Image courtesy of BK, Creative Commons

Never Think Your Idea Will Not Be Heard

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

The above title proved very true in a work experience of my father’s. After working in the mill for several years, he drew up a new piece of process equipment which would eventually turn in to something that they put in place on the production line.   This was all done from his idea that he was able to place on a scrap piece of paper as a drawing.   While he wasn’t the decision maker in the process, he was the person who saw what kind of impact this device could have and knew the people he had to get the information to.

That brings me to the topic of this blog, don’t ever think an idea is too small to warrant a reward.  This can ring true throughout any type of application, including compressed air.  There have been instances where a maintenance worker, or even a new operator, have called in to speak to me here asking what can they do to lower the noise in the work area when they are using the hand held blow gun the company supplies.   After talking to them about what they are trying to achieve with the blow gun and how much air they are currently using, we generally find that they can save a good amount of compressed air, lower the noise level, and become OSHA compliant, all by changing this one simple tool.   Once they have all the benefits that their company will see from implementing our engineered solution, they can then propose this to the decision makers.

For the most part, companies will at the very least entertain ideas like this.  When you back that idea up with some relevant data on how much money the company will save, or the fact that is will make the work environment safer and more enjoyable, then you will more than likely get a little more attention.  The main point is to ensure that you are getting that information to the correct person and that you have the correct information.   That is one of the many reasons that EXAIR has a full team of Application Engineers who can help you identify how much air you might be using, what products will fit the need, and what kind of benefits your company will see.   On top of all the information that we have available for free, we even offer the chance to get compensation for sharing application data with us.

EXAIR Efficiency Lab
EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab will test your product for force, flow, and noise.

That’s right, we will compensate you for sharing your cost savings, sound level reductions or application improvements, with us.  This is all possible through our Case Study program.  All you have to do to find out more is contact any Application Engineer.  We simply need some photographs of the application and some quantitative data for the benefits you have gained.  Don’t know what your current device is using, take advantage of our EXAIR Efficiency Lab, that will give us a good amount of information we need to then, help you solve a problem as well as produce a Case Study.

If you would like to discuss your compressed air systems or how we can help you, please contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

It’s The End Of The Year As We Know It

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

That’s right, I think I can successfully use the great R.E.M. song,(as long as you switch world with year) which has been used several times throughout this blog’s life.

The fact of the matter is, 2014 captured us in its vortex and carried us right into 2015.  It was a wild ride both at the office and home.   To start the year off right we continued releasing new products and kept it up for every month of the year.   2014 product additions are listed below with a link to their Press Release:

January – Long Ionizing Bars started off the year with lengths up to 96″ long, now available up to 108″ long!
February – 1″ High Power Flat Super Air Nozzle blew away the competition.
March – The 110 Gallon Heavy Duty HEPA Vac made a clean sweep and left the air clean and breathable.
April – Small NEMA 12 Cabinet Cooler Systems resisted the heat and dirt that pester electrical enclosures.
May – PEEK 3/8″ NPT Super Air Nozzles kept solar panels nice and clean during production.
June – Longer length Super Air Knives cover up to 108″ in a continuous length of laminar blow off.
June – Expanded sizes of our Digital Flowmeter product line
July – Catalog #27 hit the streets as our best catalog yet.
August – PEEK Pico Super Air Nozzles assured precise non-marring blowoff for delicate surfaces.
September – High Power Stainless Steel 1″ Flat Super Air Nozzles saved space and money in hot corrosive environments.
October – No Drip Internal Mix Atomizing Spray Nozzles positively stop the flow of liquid.
November – Mini Swivel Fittings for our Precision Super Air Nozzles made precise blow offs easy.
December – Reversible Drum Vacs now sweep up fluids with CE Compliance.

Keep your eyes open for continued new products throughout 2015.

On top of all the new product releases, we had quite a bit of change in our offices as well.   In February, I was appointed as the new Application Engineer Manager, this was made possible by Kirk Edwards becoming the Director of Sales and Marketing.  In March we welcomed Justin Nicholl as a new Application Engineer to the team.  In April we said goodbye to one of our most experienced Application Engineers with Joe Panfalone retiring (HR has had it easy ever since).  Then in October we welcomed John Ball to our International Application Engineer department.  So needless to say we have been busy here.

At home, I recently welcomed my third daughter into the world the weekend after Thanksgiving and the house hasn’t been the same since.   If you notice I start to blog more about unicorns and glitter, then you will know that I haven’t gotten out of the house that much.

For the 19th consecutive year we recorded a 99.9% on time shipping record (it was actually 99.97%!) and we have to thank all of our customer service, production and shipping/receiving folks for all they do to keep our performance at that level – amazing!

Our social media efforts included 269 blogs, increasing our YouTube channel videos to 52, started a G+ page, and even kept Professor Penurious (and his videos) around for another year. We expanded our website Knowledge Base by adding 6 more case studies, increasing our FAQ’s and updating the PowerPoint presentations available for download.

All of this action made for a fantastic 2014. We thank all of you for doing business with EXAIR and appreciating our quirks (aka Professor Penurious/our individual Twitter accounts).  May your 2015 be a great year.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF