Valve Chronicles with Cla-Val

Host of Valve Chronicles, Tyler Kern, spoke with members of the Cla-Val team, including two new members that the company “moved Heaven and Earth” to get on the team. Those two new members are Shirley Nelson, fueling sales manager, and Jimmy Kmetz, technical sale engineer, who had worked together for years before Tom Boriack, director of fueling, was able to bring them over to Cla-Val.

Seen as all-stars, Boriack expressed his enthusiasm for his new team, noting that Nelson is well known in the industry. He believes it’s a big win for Cla-Val, particularly since she has much manufacturing experience and has a customer-oriented approach to her demeanor, ensuring to uphold empathy in her interactions and providing satisfying solutions.

Having been in the industry for almost 15 years, Nelson admitted enjoying working with control valves. “I love it… It changes every day — the people you meet, the places you get to see. It’s been kind of a wild ride,” she explained. Looking forward to the work she will do with Cla-Val, she’s particularly excited about providing some background knowledge on the many installations she’s worked on in years past, which may be new to Cla-Val. Kmetz, having been Nelson’s right hand man for many years, followed Nelson when she came to Cla-Val. The two make quite the duo with Nelson’s sales expertise and Kmetz engineering background — complete with 12 years of experience in the hydraulics industry.

Clearly, the two newest members bring great skills and energy to the Cla-Val team, and Boriack is excited to be full-staffed with strong talent.

En este episodio, Homero Garcia de Cla-Val nos habla sobre la importancia de software de calidad para servicio y mantenimiento de activos de sistemas de agua, cómo mejorar las válvulas de control y cómo darles el mejor mantenimiento. Los problemas de fugas en las válvulas ocurren cuando uno menos lo espera, el sistema Link2Valves ayuda a detectar la emergencia a tiempo y así ahorrar tiempo y dinero.

Cla-Val brinda una solución integral ya que además de agregar sistemas electrónicos a las válvulas para poder detectar posibles fugas, también ofrece el servicio de dar mantenimiento a las mismas. Esto se realiza según evaluación ya que el tipo de válvula y calidad de agua influyen mucho en la vida útil de las mismas.

La aplicación móvil Link2Valves de Cla-Val, disponible también para computador, permite a los usuarios tener un archivo de todas las válvulas. Esto nos permite saber todas las características de las válvulas (modelo, tipo de pilotos, puntos de control, etc.) Link2Valves también nos permite generar un reporte para enviarla al proveedor de partes y agilizar el proceso de mantenimiento. Asimismo, la aplicación nos permite crear usuarios con diferentes privilegios para compartir y editar la información incluso estando offline, para subirla una vez conectados al internet. Toda esta información se encuentra guardada en un servidor privado, totalmente seguro. La aplicación también cuenta con función GPS que nos proporciona la ubicación exacta de cada válvula en un mapa. Esa función puede ser deshabilitada a pedido del cliente para así proteger esa información.

Cla-Val brinda un servicio personalizado a cada uno de sus clientes así que no dude en contactarlos.

This episode of the Value Chronicles was all about partnerships and making an excellent agent to cement relationships and deliver world-class service. Two long-time partners of Cla-Val joined host Tyler Kern to tackle this vital topic. Raeann Velasquez, Chief Executive Officer and Outside Sales Manager for Cimco-GC Systems, and Robb White, Regional Sales Manager at ESI, dove into the agent waters to reveal some of the secrets that make a good agent.

“People are the key element,” Velasquez said of the importance to her organization. “We have 22 employees between the two organizations, and we have representation of 18-years old up to 72. And we have employees that have longevity anywhere from six months to 41 years.”

“Experienced people are our biggest and most important asset,” White said. “Experienced people in our industry are very hard to find because it’s a difficult industry to find experienced people in.”

And to ensure those valued and experienced employees want to remain with the company, White said it was essential that his organization set goals and a vision that the employees buy into and accept. “They also have a say in that vision and goals. It’s incredibly important to us that everyone’s on the same page.”

So, what goes into a good manufacturer/agent relationship? “Just like any good relationship, it’s good on both sides,” White said. “That means they are providing the assistance, the support, the technical knowledge, the inventory, the ability to ship, and for us on our end it is we are having good communication, good feedback with them, and we are out promoting their product on a daily basis. We go to work every day, and we start with Cla-Val. It is the heart of who we are.”

The app Link2Valves helps to make faster, more intelligent decisions on water system infrastructure. It has an intuitive and user-friendly design, with precise and easy-to-interpret data while maximizing maintenance efficiencies for automatic control valves and other water system assets.

Here to break down Link2Valves on this episode of The Valve Chronicles is Jake Corzine, Western Regional Manager for Cla-Val, and Tim Neumann, the Production Facilities Lead at Mission Springs Water District, which provides, protects, and preserves water in Desert Hot Springs, California, and the surrounding areas. The two talked with Host Tyler Kern about Link2Valves.

Neumann was introduced to Link2Valves when he worked for the City of Redlands and was tasked with monitoring 18 modulating valves, which are the lifeblood of the Redlands system, according to Neumann. There were no maintenance records on the valves, and he inquired that if he was going to do 18 valves, he should also do all the valves in the city

“They kind of looked and me and said ‘Really?’” Neumann recalled. “It kind of went from there, and I started using Link2Valves as soon as it came out.”

One of his favorite aspects is the geo-location, especially when having new staff, as they can be directed to the valve's location. It also provides information on the type of valve and its function, which is a significant convenience for Neumann when maintaining the valves.

“The other thing I think is really nice is the monthly report you can get sent to you in email format,” Neumann said. “When you have a bunch of different job duties, it is important to get that reminder.”

Robb White, Regional Sales Manager at ESI Fab Systems, broke down the aging infrastructure of control valve vaults in the United States and detailed the process of fixing the issue.

White said the problem is widespread across the United States from coast to coast. “These control valve vaults are underground; they’re in concrete structures,” White said. “These vaults are not something that you typically go into unless you’re having an issue, and so things get left untouched for years and years until there’s a potential failure or something stops working. Then we have to go down in them and have to maintain them.”

The very nature of control valves is to let them do their job and not mess with them. But sometimes, that hands-off approach means there can be some playing catch-up when issues do arise. “In particular with control values, people don’t usually address them until there’s a failure,” White said.

And sometimes, the problem goes beyond the control valve if the value's infrastructure is damaged and needs repair or replacement. “We go in and assess what’s operating and what needs to operate properly in a control valve vault, and that’s the start of the process for us,” White said.

Once a determination’s made on the infrastructure replacement strategy for inside the vault and all appropriate parties have signed off on the plan, it’s time to make the necessary fixes. White said that they take measurements and render auto-cad drawings before replacement efforts get underway.

For any parts in a mechanical process, preventative maintenance is critical for a longer, useful life. That’s true for valves in water systems. On Valve Chronicles, host Tyler Kern spoke with Jake Corzine, Western Regional Manager, Cla-Val, and Randy Harris, EMT Superintendent, California Water, about the subject.

Harris’ role with Cal Water is to manage a network that maintains electrical and mechanical systems, including valves. He explained the different types, “We use altitude, pressure reducing, pressure, release, and pump control. Additionally, sometimes there are combination valves.”

In Harris’ area, which includes 1750 valves, it's a tall order to keep them in top shape. He shared that some are as old as 1953, while they just installed a new one. So, how do they service all these valves?

Harris answered, “We are constantly checking the condition to ensure something that’s worn out is replaced before failure.”

They use a computerized maintenance management system that includes all the valves and have a five-year cycle for each one. Corzine commented, “Cal Water has also standardized each type of valve, which helps with maintenance.”

Replacement versus fixing is another consideration. “It’s the age and condition. We look at the inside of the valve. Before the mid-90s, they didn’t have an epoxy coating, so rust builds up and has to be scraped away, which makes the body thinner,” Harris said.

Corzine noted that Cal Water has an excellent maintenance program and encouraged all organizations to “allocate funds and time to this because it prolongs the life of the valve.”

On this episode of The Valve Chronicles, a podcast from Cla-Val, host Tyler Kern and Cla-Val’s Kyle Chism dove into perhaps the ultimate example of solutions that are often invisible, but always essential – fire protection products.

For the final episode of The Valve Chronicles’ look at the differences in aircraft fueling operations between the U.S. and Europe, Cla-Val’s Tom Boriack, Global Market Manager for Fueling, and Richard Hooton, Market Manager, Aviation & Ground Fueling, EMEA for Cla-Val Europe, put on their forward-thinking caps.