Industry News, The No-Dig Show, trenchless people
The North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT) — the leading association serving and promoting the North American trenchless industry — is pleased to announce municipal and public utility scholarship opportunities to attend the NASTT 20202 No-Dig Show, April 5-9 in Denver, Colorado.
In 2013, NASTT established the No-Dig Show Municipal & Public Utility Scholarship Award Program to provide education and training for employees of North American municipalities, government agencies and utility owners who have limitedor no training funds due to economic challenges. In past years, over 100 applicants were awarded the scholarship annually.
“The NASTT Municipal & Public Utility Scholarship offers public agencies the opportunity in which to participate and experience the world of trenchless. Since its inception in 2013, scholarships have been awarded to more than 850 applicants, and the success of the program continues to increase every year.” said Joe Lane, 2020 No-Dig Show Program Chair and V.P. of International Operations for Insituform. “With an entire show dedicated to trenchless technology, this scholarship is a tremendous opportunity for municipal & public utility employees to attend at little or no cost.”
Selected scholarship winners will be awarded Full Conference and Exhibition registration to the NASTT 2020 No-Dig Show. Also available are one day conference registrations which include full access to all exhibits and technical paper sessions. Selected applicants will also be eligible to receive complimentary overnight accommodations for three nights at the host hotel. The scholarship applications are reviewed by a committee of NASTT volunteers and awarded based upon the supplied responses.
To apply for the scholarship, complete the application online at
nastt.org/no-dig-show/municipal-scholarships on or before November 1, 2019. Applicants are not required to be NASTT members.
NASTT’s Municipal & Public Utility Scholarships program is sponsored by Benjamin Media, Inc, award-winning publisher of the leading underground construction magazine, Trenchless Technology.
For more information about NASTT’s No-Dig Show visit www.nodigshow.com, email conferences@benjaminmedia.com or call 330-467-7588.
Industry News, trenchless people
Zahra (Ellie) Kohankar Kouchesfehani is a Ph.D. Student and Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant at the Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education (CUIRE) in the Department of Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington. She is a NASTT Student Chapter Member and a valuable volunteer at our annual No-Dig Show.
We are excited that Zahra’s submission, “Structural Design Methodology for Spray Applied Pipe Liners in Gravity Storm Water Conveyance Conduits as a Trenchless Renewal Application,” has been selected for an ISTT 2019 No Dig Award.
The selection team found the methodology to be a significant contribution to the trenchless world.
The award will be recognized at the Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony on October 1, 2019 at the 37th International No Dig Conference in Florence, Italy.
Congratulations, Zahra!
Industry News, trenchless people, trenchless products
Combined dealership group to rebrand as Vermeer All Roads
August 19, 2019 – Annapolis Junction, MD — Vermeer Mid Atlantic, an All Roads company, continues its expansion into the industrial equipment industry with the acquisition of Vermeer Northeast, a Pinnacle Award-winning dealer partner of Vermeer Corporation with locations in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The addition of the three locations makes the combined entity one of the largest Vermeer dealer partners in the country with 15 locations covering a service area that includes South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.
“Vermeer Mid Atlantic’s demonstrated market leadership is greatly enhanced by the addition of Vermeer Northeast,” said Mark Boyle, President of Vermeer Mid Atlantic. “Vermeer Northeast is a highly talented team with deep expertise and a passion for delivering results to its first-rate customer base. We look forward to delivering exceptional service and building on the success the Vermeer Northeast team has established in the market over the last 50+ years.”
In conjunction with the acquisition and as a reflection of the changing geographic footprint of the organization, Vermeer Mid Atlantic and Vermeer Northeast will adopt a new brand name – Vermeer All Roads. This change aligns the company’s branding to better represent the markets it serves, which now span the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Ohio Valley.
“We have great respect for and pride in our heritage and our brands which have been the foundation of our organization, including Vermeer Mid Atlantic, Vermeer Sales and Service Inc, and Vermeer Northeast,” added Boyle. “We are excited about this new chapter and the opportunity to further expand our regional footprint under the Vermeer All Roads brand.”
Vermeer All Roads plans to invest in additional expansion locations, on-the-road service trucks, and customer service representatives in the Northeast to drive growth and better serve its customers in core industries including underground construction, surface mining, utility installation, tree care, equipment rentals, landscaping, and organic recycling.
About Vermeer All Roads
Vermeer All Roads – a dealership group with 15 locations serving the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Ohio Valley markets – is a full-service, Pinnacle Award-winning equipment dealer that specializes in selling, leasing, training and servicing Vermeer NAVIGATOR® horizontal directional drilling machines, equipment for utility installation, tree care, organic recycling and wood waste processing. Equipped to Do More.®, the extensive product line, pre-owned inventory, expansive parts catalog and professional staff have made Vermeer All Roads a top-performer in the Vermeer Corporation dealer partner network. Visit VermeerAllRoads.com for more information.
About Vermeer Corporation
Vermeer Corporation delivers a real impact in a progressing world through the manufacture of high-quality underground construction, tree care, surface mining, environmental and agricultural equipment. With a reputation for durability and reliability, that equipment is backed by localized customer service and support provided by independent dealers around the world.
To learn more about Vermeer Corporation, products, the dealer network and financing options, visit Vermeer.com.
About All Roads
Headquartered in Baltimore, MD, All Roads represents one of the largest privately held, multi-channel retail and commercial services enterprises spanning over 30 locations in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Ohio Valley. The company employs over 700 people and maintains 16 brands through its four operating divisions: Vermeer All Roads, Kenworth Mid Atlantic, Norris Automotive Group, and the Norris Commercial Division.
Industry News, trenchless people
Longtime underground construction and trenchless industry professional Davis Yates passed away Tuesday, July 2, 2019 at the age of 51. Through his career Yates worked at trenchless equipment manufacturer TT Technologies, Aurora, Ill., Mocon Corp., Southern California HDPE pipe, fitting and fusion supplier Maskell-Robbins, as well as a variety trenchless and underground contractors along the West Coast.
Yates trained many people throughout his career in the proper use of various boring, tools, pipe rammers and pipe bursting systems. He was an energetic and innovative individual whose way of getting the job done was very much appreciated by those he worked with over the years.
Always an innovator, always creative and always seeing the job through, he became great friends with many of the people he worked with in the field and will be missed by many.
Yates leaves behind two children, Jenna, 13 and Marcus, 11. A Go Fund Me page has been established to help with the expenses of his children’s future education, as well as the planting of a remembrance tree. Donations will be placed into a savings plan for both Jenna and Marcus.
The Go Fund Me Page can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jenna-and-marcus-dad
trenchless people
NASTT is excited to welcome our newest members from May and June 2019! Connect with them through Talk Trenchless, NASTT’s exclusive member-only online community. Not a member, join today!
Group Corporate/Government/Education Memberships – Primary Contact
City of Portland Environmental Services Bureau – Jeremiah Hess
City of Vaughan, Public Works – Jack Graziosi, P.Eng, M. Eng
Frak-A-Tak, Inc. – Luke Lacasse
Mladen Buntich Construction Co., Inc. – Lee Roesner, PE
Municipal Pipe Tool Co., LLC – Sharon Waschkat
Precision Pipeline Solutions – Charles Brothman
Trelleborg Pipe Seals Milford, Inc. – Andrew Boer
Trinity Products, Inc. – Tony Baker
Individual Members & Group Submembers
Gordon Beach – Global Training Centre
Leah Bissonette – The Energy Biss
James Brauer – Jim Brauer
Mladen Buntich, Jr. – Mladen Buntich Construction Co., Inc.
John Bushard – City of Portland Environmental Services Bureau
Lyle Chapman – City of Medicine Hat
Anthony Christensen – Mladen Buntich Construction Co., Inc.
Terry Corr – The Hallen Construction Company, Inc.
Robert Cozzi, III – City of Portland Environmental Services Bureau
Randy Cyr, PE – Fairfax County, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services
Jeff Davis – DitchWitch
Patrick Doyle – Stantec
James Dugger – Cretex Specialty Products
Shwan Fatah, PE, DISP – Fairfax County, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services
Aniano Fornelos – EPCOR
Horacio Franco – H & R Underground
Andres Gallego – Joint Meeting of Essex & Union Counties
Tina Giese – Kondex Corporation
Ian Grant, PE – Black & Veatch
Randall Hess – City of Portland Environmental Services Bureau
Cody Hyam, P.Eng. – City of Medicine Hat
Eduardo Jaramillo – EPCOR
Kent Lawler – Mears Group, Inc.
Helen Le – EPCOR
Diana Lu – EPCOR
Eddie Lyons, PE – Mladen Buntich Construction Co., Inc.
Cory Maker – DitchWitch
Junaid Malik, PE – Fairfax County, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services
Alesha McKinnon, P.Eng. – District of Saanich
George Milkowski – CUES, Inc.
Mark More – Kondex Corporation
Andy Motz – City of Medicine Hat
Molly Nause-McCord – City of Portland Environmental Services Bureau
Edward Naylor – Naylor Drainage Ltd
Nikili Njovu – Aurora Water Department
Tim North – Cretex Specialty Products
Jeff Penny – HammerHead Trenchless Equipment
Dan Peterson – Cretex Specialty Products
Scott Pevey – DitchWitch
Peter Pignotti – Niagara Region, Water & Wastewater, Public Works
Travis Schneider – City of Medicine Hat
Ben Sebat – Mladen Buntich Construction Co., Inc.
Debbie Shelley – Global Training Centre
Scott Shipe – Cretex Specialty Products
Joe Siwek – Tetra Tech
Christopher Stafford – Joint Meeting of Essex & Union Counties
James Steele, P.Eng., PMP, RMT – City of Vaughan, Public Works
Debra Sureman – Blueox Management Group Ltd.
Hamid Rod Tehrani – Absolute Plumbing and Drain
Tucker Toelke – Michels Corporation
Mohan Toor, P.Eng, PMP – City of Vaughan, Public Works
Alyshia Tuomi – Niagara Region, Water & Wastewater, Public Works
Colin Turnbull – AECOM – Hong Kong Shatin
Garrett Vanderaegen – City of Medicine Hat
Scott Wells – City of Medicine Hat
Jim Wessing – Kondex Corporation
Ralena White – CB HDD Trenchless Civil Construction Ltd.
Tony Winiewicz – CUES, Inc.
Johanna Wong – San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Michael Wong – EPCOR
Allen Xu – EPCOR
Owen Yan – QuakeWrap, Inc.
Randy Yu – Mladen Buntich Construction Co., Inc.
Mustafa Yulek – TC Energy
If you’d like to join this list, contact us today.
Industry News, trenchless people
PELLA, IA – Recently, Vermeer Corporation held the groundbreaking for a monument commemorating the buildings destroyed by an EF3 tornado last July (2018), while celebrating the strength of the Vermeer team and the growth and progress that is happening along the Vermeer Mile.
“The tornado was the greatest challenge Vermeer has ever faced. I am incredibly proud to say our team has turned it into an opportunity. Not only are we rebuilding what we had, but we’re becoming stronger than ever before,” said President and CEO Jason Andringa.
With three new facilities underway at the Pella-based headquarters, Vermeer is investing heavily in the future.
The first facility scheduled to open this summer is a new engineering and R&D building named Shop 48. The name stems from Founder Gary Vermeer’s shop where his innovations came to life and led to the founding of Vermeer Corporation in 1948. With more than 100,000 square feet of space dedicated to building and testing new equipment, team members will begin to move into this space in August.
“We’re very fortunate at Vermeer to have a 71-year history of innovation. Shop 48 will take our innovation and growth opportunities long into the future,” said President of Industrial Solutions Doug Hundt.
Plant 7 was formally announced as the new facility being built where Plants 5 & 6 once stood. Nearly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space will expand beyond the original manufacturing footprint that took up just less than 400,000 square feet of this area. The new facility will connect to the original Plant 7 that was damaged in the tornado but repaired in the months following. Together, they will take on the name Plant 7. Scheduled to be completed in fall 2020, this facility is being built to keep team members safe at every touchpoint on the job, create ultimate productivity, be a collaborative and engaging space for team members and allow for growth long into the future. Incorporating advanced manufacturing techniques and continuous improvement best practices will help drive world-class manufacturing. “Looking ahead, this facility is going to be world-class in every feature. We’re advancing our paint technology, coat technology and the space for our team,” said Vice President of Operations Bill Blackorby.
Also recognized was the new Eco Center. Replacing the one lost in the tornado, the new building will be placed behind Plant 1 and open its doors in January 2020. The Eco-Center helps responsibly process and manage waste along the Mile.
“Our customers depend on our ability to get high-quality equipment to them – this new facility makes us excited to continue to deliver on this promise into the future,” said Executive Vice President of Forage and Lifecycle and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Core.
About Vermeer Corporation
Vermeer delivers a real impact in a progressing world through the manufacture of high-quality agricultural, underground construction, surface mining, tree care and environmental equipment. With a reputation for durability and reliability, that equipment is backed by localized customer service and support provided by independent dealers around the world. To learn more about Vermeer, products, the dealer network and financing options, visit Vermeer.com.
