October 2015 Vol. 70 No. 10
Features
Choose the right tool for the job
Total-solution HammerHead®/RS Lining Systems collaboration keeps pace with rapidly evolving noninvasive techniques
Today’s pipe repair specialists can take a lesson from Maslow’s “law of the hammer,” revising it slightly to make a similar point: “To the contractor with a sledge, every bid includes demolition” – and, consequently, restoration.
However, with increasing frequency jobs that would once have been bid as open-cut now specify the use of noninvasive techniques such as replacement through pipe bursting or rehabilitation using cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP). Point patching, repair, rehabilitation and replacement techniques for laterals, mains and culverts are in a continual state of evolution, with increasingly innovative tooling and technologically sophisticated consumables. Contractors who are limiting their repertoire to traditional methods are quickly in danger of losing their market viability.
Fortunately some equipment manufacturers have stepped up to help contractors keep pace by supplying not only a wide array of tools for the new techniques but also by providing industry expertise, offering their customers time- and expense-saving consultation.
Rather than duplicate entire product lines, some manufacturers have formed strategic alliances that bring their customer bases a comprehensive range of solutions.
Rick Johnson, CEO of Charles Machine Works and interim president of HammerHead Trenchless Equipment, a Charles Machine Works company, recently announced such an alliance with RS Lining Systems, LLC, the provider of RS Technik CIPP solutions in the Americas. Johnson said the endeavor forms “a team of companies that offers you not only the most complete array of tools to choose the most effective and economical solution for your job, but also their combined industry expertise to ensure you are successful in satisfying your customers with them.”
The initiative combines RS Technik’s line of alternatives to traditional pipe repair such as RS MaxPatch®, a fast, trenchless, selective point repair system for pipes 3 to 48 inches in diameter, with HammerHead’s HydraLiner® CIPP installation equipment and consumables, as well as HammerHead’s full line of pipe bursting equipment.
Joanne Carroll, RS Lining Systems senior vice president, said: “It’s exciting for us to be partnered with HammerHead Trenchless Equipment. They are a significant leader in the industry, who provides trenchless solutions that effectively and economically address mounting underground infrastructure issues.”
Johnson said he believes customers will see how well the companies complement each other right away: “Our companies share that same entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for creating solutions for the underground infrastructure industry, which makes this union such a natural fit. Both companies are solution oriented and innovation driven. In the future, we’re even looking forward to the possibility of our R&D teams cooperating on the next generation of trenchless solutions.”
For more information:
www.hydraliner.com
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