June 2021 Vol. 76 No. 6
Business
Business
Wyo-Ben Launches New Website
As part of its 70th-year celebrations throughout 2021, Wyo-Ben Inc. launched a new website.
The bentonite production leader’s homepage now features stunning aerial footage of a Wyo-Ben production facility and bentonite “pie pan” outcroppings that create a surreal landscape at one of its Big Horn Basin resources.
In addition to product information, the Wyo-Ben Pet page, dealers and locations, the website gives access to valuable driller resources, including hole volume, annular velocity, HDD back-reaming/pump volume, and mud recycling calculators.
The new website is just one of the ways Wyo-Ben is marking its 70th anniversary this year. It follows the release of an App that gives users convenient 24/7 access to Wyo-Ben resources, no matter where they are.
“Customers value Wyo-Ben expertise,” said Tyson Smith, technical sales engineer. “The App takes some of the most requested information and makes it available right on the user’s phone.”
The company is planning in-person celebrations with employees of the milestone in the latter half of 2021, as the need for more restrictive social distancing precautions continues to decrease.
Later this year the website will also link users to a complete account of the company’s history and the evolution of the multiple, modern benefits of bentonite-based products.
Family-owned and -operated since 1951, Wyo-Ben is one of only five top bentonite producers. The clay’s unique properties allow Wyo-Ben to provide innovative, eco-friendly solutions ranging from cat litter to drilling fluids, slurries, fluid absorption materials and seals and caps used in the drilling and civil engineering industries, as well as products for wine clarification, pelletizing taconite ore, and making the cleaning fluid used by the U.S. Treasury to make bank notes.
Wyo-Ben President and CEO David Brown credits founder Rockwood Brown Sr.’s foresight and business savvy for the company’s success.
“Granddad was very, very industrious,” said Brown. “He was in a lot of businesses, in addition to his law practice. He and his friends decided that bentonite, at some point, would be a good play.”
Rockwood founded the company in Greybull, Wyoming. Operations were based in a mill he had acquired decades earlier. Bentonite derives its name from the Fort Benton Shale Group, where it was first identified in 1890 near Wyoming’s Rock River. It is an aluminum silicate clay, with unique properties that were said to transform water into “miracle mud.”
Bentonite had seen small-scale use in a wide variety of applications prior to that time, including dubious elixirs, women’s cosmetics, and spa applications, such as facials and mud baths. The clay’s greatest commercial utility at that time may have been in manufacturing, where it improved the quality of casting molds.
Oil and water drillers, who at first used the clay as a grout to seal or cap a well, soon discovered the many benefits of adding bentonite to drilling fluid. It improved the drilling fluid’s ability to efficiently suspend and evacuate cuttings from the bore, stabilize bore hole walls – improving circulation and return – and lubricate a drill string’s components and cutting tools.
Demand for the fledging company’s products in the drilling industry rose from 15,000 tons its first year to 50,000 tons by 1956.
Today, the company remains a top provider of drilling fluid solutions, which includes significant sales within the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) industry. John Wornom, Wyo-Ben vice president of sales and marketing, said: “The trenchless market is very important to Wyo-Ben.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Wyo-Ben Inc., (800) 548-6351, wyoben.com
Hobas Pipe’s New Website Goes Live
Viewable via desktop or mobile devise, Hobas Pipe USA’s updated site will provide an elevated experience and easier navigation. It has been totally revamped with improvements to content, project case histories, engineering support and staff contacts.
The company’s CCFRPM (centrifugally cast, fiberglass reinforced, polymer mortar) pipe is the proven, ideal product for all trenchless pipe installations and rehabilitations.
Hobas Pipe USA is the leading manufacturer and supplier of 18- to 126-inch diameter CCFRPM pipe in North America and has become the first non-circular (NC) fiberglass pipe manufacturer in the U.S.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Hobas Pipe USA, (800) 856-7473, hobaspipe.com
Volvo CE Expands Parts Distribution Network in Western U.S.
Volvo Construction Equipment completed a 75,000-square-foot expansion of its Reno, Nevada, regional parts distribution center.
Increasing floor space by 125 percent and bringing parts closer to construction equipment customers, the project results in faster delivery times – two days faster on ground orders for California and the Pacific Northwest, compared to shipping from Volvo’s central distribution center in Byhalia, Mississippi.
A new Dedicated Delivery Service (DDS) now operates out of Reno as an exclusive carrier to expedite overnight shipments to western U.S. dealers, arriving at dealer branches by as early as 4 a.m. the next day. In addition, the parts order cut-off time is now extended to 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Since more deliveries can ship ground, versus air, there are cost savings for customers.
Many western U.S. dealers are challenged to support customers spread across a vast territory. Planting a stand-alone parts center in their region has significant impact, says Tom Zimmer, president of Tri-State Truck & Equipment.
“The Reno parts center has cut our lead times by 40 to 50 percent for construction equipment stock orders,” said Tom Zimmer, president of Tri-State Truck & Equipment dealership, which services customers in Montana, Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle.
While the expansion directly impacts customers in the western U.S., customers and dealers across the country are benefitting from rebalanced parts volumes throughout the supply chain.
“Through substantial investments, we expanded our Reno facility and refined workflows to extend this strong level of service and support to another Volvo Group brand, Volvo Construction Equipment,” said Bob Hochwarth, vice president, Volvo Group Service Market Logistics for North America.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Volvo Construction Equipment, (717) 532-9181, volvoce.com
Denso Expands Corrosion Prevention, Sealing Products Portfolio
Winn & Coales International Ltd. (Denso), leading manufacturer of corrosion prevention and sealing products, acquired the global Viscotaq business, including Amcorr Products and Services Inc.,, which formulates and manufactures viscoelastic protective coating technology.
The patented Viscotaq product range provides unique, self-healing technology to vital infrastructure across a broad range of sectors that offers asset owners outstanding, long-term protection against corrosion.
Amcorr was originally established in June 2000 in San Antonio and thereafter rapidly became the North American market leader of viscoelastic coatings and sealants in the corrosion industry.
“The acquisition will give Amcorr the opportunity to grow rapidly, both nationally and internationally, and above all, guarantee dedicated service and supply to existing and future clients across the globe,” said Edwin Welles, president of Amcorr and co-inventor of Viccotaq technology.
For more than 90 years, the Winn & Coales International Group of companies has been creating customized and off-the-shelf solutions that provide enduring protection against corrosion and chemical attack to buried and exposed pipes, valves, fittings, steelwork, marine structures, tanks, and concrete bunded areas.
The acquisition of Amcorr is aligned with the company’s focus on investing in and providing
the highest quality corrosion prevention solutions for customers.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Denso (Winn & Coales International Ltd.), + 44 (0) 20 8670 7511, denso.net; (281) 821-3355, densona.com
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