Tag: school

Helping Within Our Community

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Throughout my tenure here at EXAIR I have seen the company give to many different organizations and to the team members here.   Recently we implemented a program where employees are allowed to choose a charity of their choice to go and volunteer for a day each year.  This year for my volunteer day a group of seven members from EXAIR went to help a non-profit organization that focuses on helping students and teachers in 16 local counties.

The organization, Crayons to Computers is a free store for teachers in these counties that surround Cincinnati.  The store is stocked with donations from corporate and private entities and staffed by volunteers.  Their inventory can be anywhere from classroom supplies, books, decorations, technology equipment, even stocked book bags to give to students.  The store is the largest of its kind here in the United States and has been serving the Cincinnati area for 20 years. Their belief is that a teacher should not have to spend money out of their pocket to supply students in need with school supplies and to ensure that schools in need have access to supplies that aren’t always easily available.

They have a sales floor where the teachers shop and then a large warehouse where the donations are all sorted and stocked for easy pull to the sales floor when needed.  This is where our team spent the day.  We did jobs like sorting books by reading level, organizing / packaging chair mats, unloading trucks, and finally, consolidating over 30,000 boxes of 24 count crayons so that their valuable warehouse space was being used more efficiently.  These crayons were all donated by financial institutions here locally that had challenged each other to see who could donate more.  It still isn’t the amount of crayons that they will supply to teachers within this school year, but it helps tremendously.

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By volunteering our time we were also able to give 10 teachers who’s school would not normally qualify for shopping at Crayons To Computers the ability to go and shop for a day.  This was an added bonus that we were made aware of after the fact.  This is yet another way that Crayons to Computers gives to our community.

One of the best takeaways I have from this year is that I got to give back to an organization that my amazing wife would shop at when she was teaching students in need.  It was organized by someone here on our team that had no knowledge of my personal connection. We ended up getting more done than they had ever hoped to get out of 7 volunteers.  This was all made possible by a company that doesn’t just focus on making excellent products and providing top notch customer service.  EXAIR is also focusing on making sure our team members interests are embraced by letting them choose how to give their time and the companies time to a cause they believe will give back to our local community.

If you would like to inquire about donations or how you could help Crayons to Computers, please check out their site directly.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF
1-800-903-9247

 

Setting Goals, Achieving Results

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

The other day I was talking with my co-worker Russ Bowman about my oldest son’s recent string of success at school (okay I was bragging). I was telling him that the other night we were going over some of his schoolwork to get him ready for a science quiz he had the next day and how I was a little concerned because he was having some trouble retaining the information.

I spent an hour or so going over things with my son when I decided he was about as prepared as he was going to be for the test. When I picked him up the next day after work, the conversation went something like this:

Me: “So tell me dude, how’d you do on your science test today?”
Son: “I think I did OK dad, wasn’t too bad.”
Me: cringing a little… “Too bad huh? Well when do you find out your score?”
Son: “Next week sometime, BUT I did find out that I scored a 100 on my spelling test, for the TWENTIETH time in a row!”
Me: “Spelling test, you didn’t tell me about the spelling test??? You really got a 100 for the 20th consecutive time?”
Son: “Yup, so what do I get?”
Me: “What do you get? Sounds like you get an A+!!!”

Good job buddy!

 

When I was telling Russ this part of the story and sort of reliving the moment, it dawned on me (with a little help from Russ)….. you know what, getting a perfect score on a test, TWENTY times in a row is an awesome accomplishment for a 9 year old, maybe he does deserve something special for that. So I guess I’ll be heading to the sporting goods store in the very near future.

See, I don’t really have to worry about my son’s schoolwork because he takes it on himself to do well. In fact, he’s usually more upset with himself if he brings home anything less than an A. In 1st grade, he made what his school calls the “Administrator’s List” for elementary school students who maintain an A/B average and have great attendance. Last year in 2nd grade, he set a goal for himself to make the “Pastor’s List” which is the highest honor the school awards for students with a straight A average for the entire year and he made it happen! This year, he hopes to do it again and the way things are going, I think he’ll be just fine.

Here at EXAIR, our goal is to not only provide award-winning Intelligent Compressed Air Products® but also the best customer service in the industry. Whether it be by phone, email or our online chat, we make it easy for you to get in contact with a qualified representative to help provide the best solution for your needs. In addition, our cataloged products are in stock, ready to ship, and for the 22nd year in a row, we have maintained an on-time shipment record of 99.9%!

Whether you’re looking to upgrade an existing blowoff in order to lower noise or air consumption or you’d like to talk to an application engineer about solving a specific process problem, contact our team and let us get to work for you.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Big Thumbs Up image courtesy of Charles LeBlanc via creative commons 

A Good Example of Dedication and Commitment from the First Grade

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

This year, my oldest daughter started First Grade.  My second daughter will be starting preschool two days a week, and the youngest, well she just has no fear and doesn’t see the consequences of her actions at this point in life.   To say the least, the past few weeks have been extremely busy, as I am sure it has been for most of us.

A Great Message For School. (Not On Our Schools)
A Great Message For School.

I went to the parent – teacher introduction night with my beautiful wife and we got to meet the first grade teacher who definitely has her work cut out for her.   The amount of effort and care this teacher has poured into this class is already apparent in the first week of school.   She sent us all her personal cell phone number, sends out updates through a smartphone app, and has even told all parents that if a child in her classroom is involved in an activity outside of school that she will attend one of these events because she wants to see the children in their element and see what makes them happy.  All of these “extra” things the teacher does, she doesn’t get paid for, and is strictly doing out of her love for teaching and the children she teaches.  She legitimately loves her job and wants to see each of these students succeed in life.

There are people who teach that go to their job and give the bare minimum to not get let go and to merely collect a paycheck.   There are also a great number of educators that go above and beyond every day of the school year.  When it comes to teachers, so far my oldest daughter has been extremely blessed.  She had an amazing teacher for both Preschool, Kindergarten, and now even First Grade.   Each of these has also been at 3 different schools where she has thrived and I could not be happier with our school district.  I even mentioned to my wife, who is a former primary teacher, that I do not look forward to the year that one of our three daughters has a teacher that she does not agree with.  (That is going to be an extremely long year.)

Just as I noticed the level of dedication from the teachers I have had the joy of meeting, I have also realized that in order to succeed and thrive, there has to be dedication and going beyond the minimum.  This is what I see everyday when I walk through the doors here at EXAIR.  Whether I am walking through the front offices or the production areas, we by no means have a single team member that gives the minimum.  Every person here cares about whether or not the other succeeds, and we all work together with the same goal, blow our customer’s expectations out of the water.  This is just one reason we continue to release new products, offer the best means to contact us, as well as ship stock products same day, and provide order confirmations and install support for every single order.

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

 

Photo Credit: Jdog90 – Flickr – Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/awAXzv

 

 

Line Vac Helps Students With Automation Projects

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Over the past year I received a contact from a professor and student combination from Madison Area Technical College inquiring about the sizes available for our Line Vac products.  They were using a 2″ Line Vac in one of their automation class labs and wanted to try something a little bigger for a new project.  The 2″ Line Vac was one they had used in the past on different projects and had always worked well.   The new project however increased the bag size and made the conveyance difficult for the 2″ Line Vac.

The Initial e mail received.
The Initial e mail received after a short conversation.

With the picture below of their current setup and a good understanding that they will be placing three items into a heat sealed bag that is roughly 3″ long and 2″ wide we settled on using the 3″ Aluminum Line Vac at a low pressure to convey the baggies to their secondary function.   As you can see in the video below, the Line Vac is activated by a sensor and operates for just seconds in order to convey the bag of parts successfully to the other side of the machine cell where the bag is then picked and placed by a robotic arm.

The existing 2" Line Vac they had in place.
The existing 2″ Line Vac they had in place.

After the project was completed we received a mention through social media, as well as a brief video showcasing the Line Vac in use.  The video showcases how easy it is to install an EXAIR Line Vac into a tight space where adding other conventional mechanical conveying systems would be considerably more elaborate.  The Line Vac is being controlled via a PLC that energizes a solenoid valve on a timer to convey the package in a matter of seconds.

 

Social Media Contact
Social Media Contact

We are very pleased to see the projects these kids turned out, and the leadership shown by Peter, their instructor. Manufacturing programs such as this one at Madison Area Technical College are important for our economy and for the future of these kids. We’d like to congratulate them all on their accomplishment.

If you have a project you are trying to move products from one point to another, contact us.  If you are a professor, student, or even a mentor to an educational program that would benefit from EXAIR products, please contact me directly.

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