Industry News, trenchless people
The NASTT Trenchless Family has lost friend and colleague, Tom Perry, a member of the Northeast Regional Chapter Board of Directors.
Thomas Perry of Mt. Olive Township, NJ passed away Friday July 26, 2019 at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown after a short illness. He was 58.
Tom was born in Pequannock, NJ and lived in Mt. Olive Township for 21 years.
A graduate of Pequannock High School and Montclair State University, Tom was the owner of Multi Utilities Ventures in Mt. Olive Township.
Beloved husband of Jean (nee: Miller) Perry. Devoted father of Erin and Megan Perry. Loving son of Doris (nee: Peacock) Perry and the late Raymond Perry. Dear brother of Jim Perry, Peggy Perry, Doreen Sprules , Mary Beth Wyant , Jean Wallace, Michele Bucek, the late Lee Perry, Ricky Perry, Linda Perry and Janice Moebius. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.
We would like to extend our condolences to the Perry Family and to the many friends in our industry that loved Tom.
Memorial donations may be made to the National Pancreatic Cancer Fund, PO Box 1848, Longmont, CO 80502.
Industry News, trenchless people
The trenchless industry lost a founding member with the recent passing on July 8 of James (Jim) Barbera at the age of 79. James Barbera founded Barbco Inc. in 1989. Today, the company leads the auger-boring industry with equipment that promotes safety and efficiency, such as the TriBor, Flexbor and Pathfinder.
In November of last year, the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) at Louisiana Tech University honored James and his brother Leo with lifetime achievement awards for their contributions to the trenchless industry. During the award celebration TTC also unveiled the Barbera Underground Infrastructure Research and Training (BUIRT) Facility. Named in honor of the Barbera family, this state-of-the-art facility will offer research, training and development for the trenchless technology industry.
Barbco has been a generous supporter of NASTT and the trenchless industry throughout the years and their involvement has been very important to us. We send our condolences to the Barbera Family and the team at Barbco.
Image: Jim Barbera and his wife Fran
Industry News, trenchless products
Project Profile:
Salt Lake City Public Utilities is increasing capacity and upgrading a portion of their sanitary sewer collection system from 1500 S – 2700 W to Redwood Road. The project bid in January 2019 and Whitaker Construction was selected as the low bidder. BTrenchless Inc. was awarded the grade-critical tunneled crossing of I-215, a major interstate in Salt Lake City. The tunnel was designed as a 466LF long, 48″ diameter steel casing with a future 30″ HOBAS carrier pipe skid in it afterwards. BTrenchless decided to upsize the casing to 51″ diameter to match the dimensions of their Akkerman SL51 Microtunnel Boring Machine (MTBM). The center of the tunnel was about 7FT below the water table with extremely soft soil consisting of lean clay, fat clay, and silty sand. This type of ground water and soil condition suits itself well for a MTBM installation method.
During design the team discovered an old as-built drawing of a now abandoned 12″ diameter concrete pipe in the path of the tunnel at approximately 320LF out. A series of GBM pilot tubes were installed ahead of the 51″ diameter tunnel launch in an attempt to proof the drive and find this pipe. Two of the
four pilot tube drives were deflected in this area; indicating that something was out there. After lots of internal discussions the decision was made to carry on with the original design and attempt to tunnel through this questionable area at 320LF out. While carefully tunneling through this area, a large pocket of river rock was discovered, but no remnants of any concrete pipe were ever found. This was great news for the project team. The end result was a successfully installed 51″ casing under I-215 for Salt Lake City Public Utilities, allowing Whitaker Construction to continue on with their project as planned.
Photos: Morty the Tunnel Rat and two members of the BTrenchless Crew getting ready for an Akkerman MTBM launch.
Industry News, trenchless people
Company receives award while celebrating its 50th Anniversary
[Annapolis Junction, MD] – Vermeer Mid Atlantic (VMA) celebrated being awarded the 2018 Vermeer Pinnacle designation in recognition of its efforts to provide a superior experience for customers. The Pinnacle Award is given annually by Vermeer to select dealer partners who are top performers in sales, marketing, aftermarket support and equipment safety and functionality training for its employees and customers.
“Vermeer Pinnacle dealers provide an exemplary customer experience,” said Tony Briggs, vice president of sales and distribution at Vermeer Corporation. “This award highlights dealers across the globe who consistently lead in a variety of key business performance metrics.”
The achievement, which makes Vermeer Mid Atlantic a multiple-time Pinnacle recipient, comes at a momentous time as the company celebrates 50 years in business.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment to be considered a Vermeer Pinnacle designee, and I am truly proud of the effort and commitment from our entire team,” said Mark Boyle, President of VMA. “To celebrate receiving the award in our 50th year in business is incredibly special.”
Vermeer Mid Atlantic founder, John Vos, started his career at Vermeer in the cleanup crew at the Iowa headquarters, and then he diligently worked to become a demo representative. After years of dedication, John was given the opportunity to open his own dealer location in Maryland in 1969, which has developed into what is now Vermeer Mid Atlantic.
VMA now represents 12 locations spanning Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Image 1: The staff in Garner, NC
Image 2: The staff in Medina, OH
To learn more about Vermeer Mid Atlantic and the services it offers, visit VermeerMidAtlantic.com.
Industry News, trenchless people, trenchless products
PELLA, Iowa, – With 24 locations throughout Michigan and Indiana, MacAllister Rentals, the region’s authorized CAT Rental Store, rents, sells, and services a wide range of high-quality equipment from Caterpillar and over 50 other manufacturers. As a part of the Indiana-based and family-owned MacAllister Machinery, MacAllister Rentals has an impeccable reputation for supplying contractors with first class service, in-depth technical knowledge, and top-notch equipment including the Vermeer Vac-Tron Series trailer vacs.
Project Challenge
The team at MacAllister Rental wanted to offer customers with an effective soft excavation method that would deliver outstanding productivity safely. They were familiar with vacuum excavators but wanted to find an equipment partner that manufactured quality machines that were easy to operate and efficient to run.
Solution
MacAllister Rental added Vac-Tron vacs to its fleet eight years ago. Since then, rental demand for these machines has increased significantly, and the rental store has continued to grow its fleet of Vac-Tron vacs. “We feel that CAT is the leader in the hydraulic excavator industry and the Vac-Tron series trailer vac is an industry leader in the vacuum excavator industry, so it fits very well with what we are trying to accomplish,” said Dan Hickman, district sales manager.
According to Chad Brogan, a sales representative with MacAllister Rental, most of their customers use Vac-Tron vacs for precise excavation when conventional excavation is not able to be used. “We have also found other uses for the Vac-Tron vacs with construction and foundation cleanup after heavy rains. It was a no brainer to add it to our fleet because we want to provide the best solutions for our customers,” he added.
Results
“Customers have commented that when they have these on their jobsites, they really have a vacuum, pressure washer, and an air compressor all built into one piece of equipment,” explained Hickman. “I can’t say it enough; contractors can be much more efficient using Vac-Tron vacs than other excavation methods when working around fiber optics, gas or water lines, as well as near foundations and wells. All that material gets sucked up into a self-contained unit, and they can dispose of it where they want to. Our customers get a cleaner jobsite, the job gets done faster with a lot fewer people, so it makes them money,” he concluded.
Learn more about Vac-Tron by visiting vactron.com.
Industry News, trenchless people
June, 2019 (Pella, IA) Ring-O-Matic is pleased to announce that Dave Langenfeld has joined the company as the Director of Engineering & Product Development. Dave comes to Ring-O-Matic with over 30 years of experience in the construction equipment industry at Vermeer Corp and most recently at Weiler. With a unique and experienced skill set in all aspects of engineering, Dave will provide fresh leadership to the engineering team and add significant value to the entire operation located in our Pella, Iowa location.
Dave has a proven record of not only leading new product develop, project timelines, efficiency improvements, and understands the changing climate of our industry, but most importantly has a proven ability to coach, mentor and drive for daily improvement across an organization
“Frankly I’m honored that someone with Dave’s experience, technical skills, and desire would entertain joining our Ring-O-Matic team.” stated Brian Metcalf CEO/Owner of Ring-O-Matic. “His background, experience and knowledge in product development within our industry is just not easy to come by, so we’re excited to have Dave’s leadership!” Metcalf said.
Ring-O-Matic is a leading provider of trailer and truck mounted vacuum excavation equipment and car wash pit cleaning machines. Founded in 1960, Ring-O-Matic products are known for their proven performance, innovation, reliability and built to last the rigors of job sites in the underground utility, municipal and water and gas markets. Headquartered in Pella IA, Ring-O-Matic employs a Sales, Engineering and Production team dedicated to building the industry’ s most productive vacuum excavation machines. Ring-O-Matic products are sold worldwide through independent equipment dealers.
The NASTT Trenchless Family has lost friend and colleague, Tom Perry, a member of the Northeast Regional Chapter Board of Directors.
