www.ushalonbank.com  1.800.433.1751                                                  May 2014 - Vol 2, Issue 34               
FEATURE STORY
INDUSTRY NEWS
REGULATORY NEWS 
TECH TIPS 
Clean Agent Cylinder Retest Intervals
Rest of the News
Halon Discharge Leads to Comm Center Evac
Did Lethal Cargo Doom Flight 370?
Special Hazard Fire Protection - A Primer
Most Popular Stories from March 2014
Join Our Mailing List!
 
The Air Up There: A Tough Act to Follow
John-Updated
By John Demeter

April 2014

If there was ever a tough act to follow in the fire protection industry, it belongs to Ned Paine. The Marine veteran left a secure job in 1971, moved to Trussville, Alabama at the age of 48 and started what would become the most successful, privately held fire extinguisher company in the country - if not the world. Respected by his competitors, loved by his employees, honored by his community, Ned was an entrepreneur/businessman of the highest order. Ned left a big footprint!

Yes, Bill Beyer had a big pair of shoes to fill when he took over the presidency of Amerex in 1999. But fill them he did.

During Bill's 15 year tenure, company sales tripled and increased over prior year's sales in every year except one. More impressive was Bill's strategic vision and guidance that transformed Amerex into a full-fledged fire suppression company that included pre-engineered industrial systems, pre-engineered clean agent systems, engineered systems, vehicle systems and foam systems.

With retirement planned for 2014, Bill is taking his last victory lap of NAFED conferences - of which he's missed very few over the years. He has much to be proud of, though Bill would be the first to say that he owes it all to his staff and the rest of the employees at Amerex. He would be partly right. In an age when industry consolidation results in the highest levels of management being so far removed from both the factory floor, the convention floor, and the customer, the highly visible presence of both Ned Paine and Bill Beyer speaks volumes of a management style that is sorely needed and much missed in today's fire suppression industry.

Taking over as Amerex's third president in 43 years will be Dennis Kennedy. He hasn't asked us for our advice but, if he did, we'd tell him to keep Ned's and Bill's phone numbers on speed dial!
Bill Beyer

Amerex was started by Ned Paine, who was born in 1923. He started Amerex in 1971, at age 48, with a $50,000 investment. Ned has since retired and is presently in Chicago, living with his daughter, but still enjoying life by taking family cruises. 

 

Bill Beyer graduated from Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. Bill went into the banking industry from 1971 until 1995. In the early 1990s, he was associated with Automated Industries, headed up by George Baureis, Ned Paine's partner who supplied some of the fire extinguisher shells to Amerex. George Baureis passed away in 1992 and, in 1995, Bill was named General Manager. In 1997, Ned Paine asked Bill to join Amerex as President of Amerex. In 1999, Ned Paine retired and sold Amerex Corp. to McWane Corp., based in Birmingham, Alabama. Bill was asked to remain as President. The same executive group remained at Amerex and Bill headed up the entire Amerex operation. In the early 2000s, Bill spearheaded the efforts to make Amerex a true fire protection company by forming Janus Fire Systems, an engineered company specializing in engineered systems design and fire suppression equipment. Shortly thereafter, Bill coordinated the buyout and eventual move of Solberg Foam to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Getz Manufacturing, Janus Fire Systems, and Solberg Foam all remained under Bill's operation. Bill was instrumental in making sure the overall state of the industry moved forward, combating rules and regulations that could have been detrimental to our industry by his participation in FEMA and his willingness to ensure Amerex's visibility by sponsoring events at NAFED and NFPA, as well as other events involving State Associations and various State Fire Marshal's Associations. In his 15 years as President of Amerex, Bill attended nearly every FEMA, NAFED, and NFPA Conference and always had the time to talk to distributors to gain that valuable insight into the industry trends.

 

Read the rest of this article here. 

 
utc
Commercial Aviation Drives UTC Growth

United Technologies's first quarter earnings were impacted by restructuring charges, which more than offset the strong organic growth in its sales. The industrial conglomerate's earnings fell by 5% annually to $1.32 per share despite a 5% organic growth in its sales. In our view, though these restructuring charges impacted the company's first quarter earnings, they will be beneficial over the long term, as they will help expand the company's operating margins making it more competitive. In the first quarter, excluding the impact from these restructuring activities which included headcount reductions, plant closures and consolidations, United Technologies' earnings rose by 10% annually.

Growth in the company's first quarter sales was driven by the global commercial aviation sector and the U.S. housing market, partially offset by a weak U.S. military market. With the war in Afghanistan coming to an end, demand for new military equipment as well as service of existing equipment from the U.S. government is falling. This is weighing on sales of UTC"s aerospace segments namely Pratt & Whitney, UTC Aerospace Systems and Sikorsky. However, sales across these three UTC segments rose in the first quarter due to growth from the global commercial aviation market offsetting the weak demand from the U.S. military.

Click here to read the rest of the article
 
tyco
Tyco Earnings More than Double after Cost Cutting

Tyco International Ltd. said its fiscal second-quarter earnings more than doubled as the fire and safety-products company cut expenses and saw a slight increase in revenue.

The company's board also approved an additional $1.75 billion authorization for share buybacks, bringing the total authorization to $2 billion.

Tyco spun off its North American security business in 2012 to create ADT Corp. It also split off, then merged its pipe-and-valve business with pump-filter manufacturer Pentair Inc. What remains of Tyco is focused on fire-suppression systems for commercial buildings and safety equipment.

Last month, Carlyle Group said it had agreed to acquire Tyco's South Korean security business for $1.93 billion in cash. With that move, Tyco sharpened its focus on its core business.

For the quarter ended March 28, Tyco reported a profit of $207 million, or 44 cents a share, up from $72 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier. Per-share earnings from continuing operations were up at 39 cents from 11 cents. Excluding items such as restructuring charges and tax items, per-share earnings from continuing operations rose to 45 cents from 37 cents.

Read the full article here.
 
edwards
Edwards Downsizes Manufacturing Plant to Keep Competitive

03/26/14
Security Systems News

By Tess Nacelewicz 

Its Maine facility is closing and its production transferred to North Carolina, Mexico and China

PITTSFIELD, Maine -- Four years after resurrecting the Edwards name for its fire and safety products, UTC is shutting down its 300-employee Edwards plant here and moving production to three other locations in order to "ensure continued competiveness."

 

The other plants are in Lincolnton, N.C. and in China and Mexico, according to Ashley Barrie, a spokeswoman for UTC Building & Industrial Systems, of which Edwards now is a part. In an email communication, she told Security Systems News: "UTC Building & Industrial Systems has several manufacturing facilities globally, which manufacture products for numerous brands."

 

Click here to read the full article.

 
fike
Fike Corporation Research Engineer Receives William H. Doyle Award

03/27/14
Fike Corporation

BLUE SPRINGS, MO - Fike Corporation's Tom Farrell has earned the prestigious William H. Doyle award. The award will be presented in New Orleans, La. at the Loss Prevention Symposium during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Global Congress on Process Safety held March 30-April 3, 2014.

Given annually since 1984, the William H. Doyle award recognizes the best paper presented at the previous year's Loss Prevention Symposium. Information contained in the submission must have applicability to the chemical industry and add substantial knowledge to the field of loss prevention. The submitted papers are reviewed, selected and voted upon by the members of the Loss Prevention Symposium Committee.

The winning paper, Dust Flame Propagation in Industrial Scale Piping, Part I: Empirical Study in a Conveying Vessel-Pipeline System was presented orally by Fike senior test engineer, Tom Farrell, at last year's conference in San Antonio, Texas. The following Fike employees were primary authors of the research paper: Tom Farrell, Jim Vingerhoets, Jef Snoeys, and John Going. Many of the tests and information presented in the paper were conducted at Fike's unique, state-of-the-art, comprehensive combustion and research testing facility, located at its global headquarters in Blue Springs, Mo. All tests were in compliance with ASTM and CEN standards assuring proper execution and interpretation methods were taken while conducting the studies.

Click here to read the full article.
fcf
Green Compliance Sells Fire-Suppression Business Pyramid To FCF
 
03/05/14

Alliance News  

 

By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty

 

LONDON (Alliance News) - Green Compliance PLC Wednesday said it has sold its fire suppression business Pyramid Fire Protection Ltd for GBP435,000 in cash so that it can focus on its water hygiene and treatment business.

 

The service provider of compliance and regulatory services said Pyramid Fire Protection Ltd had revenues of around GBP427,000 in the six months to September 30 2013, but made a pretax loss of around GBP40,000.

 

The business was sold to FCF PLC. Middlesex-based First Choice Facilities provides fire, security and electrical testing services.

 

Green Compliance said that while it will now only self-deliver water hygiene and water treatment services, it will continue to offer other compliance services including electrical, pest and fire to its customers, via strategic partnerships.

 

"We have now completed the strategic realignment of the group, and Green Compliance is now a well-financed, focused and sustainable player in the water hygiene and treatment market," said Chairman Bob Holt in a statement.

 

Shares in Green Compliance were trading 7.4% higher at 2.10 pence per share Wednesday morning.

 

dupont
DuPont Introduces its Science of Protection Team

April 2014
FSSA Annunciator

For those of you that attended the recent FSSA annual meeting in beautiful San Diego, California, we hope you had the opportunity to meet the DuPont Science of Protection Team.  We are an experienced group of DuPont professionals dedicated to the fire business.  Our mission is to help protect lives and critical assets through education/awareness of the value and importance of suppression systems. We strive to motivate end-users and consultants to specify clean agents for mission-critical applications and to provide you with the support and tools needed to succeed in this rapidly changing market.  Those of us that are new to the fire industry appreciate the warm welcome received at the annual meeting.

Click here to read the full article.
 
harc
California Updates Climate Action Plan

03/13/14
Halon Alternatives Research Corporation

In February the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a draft update to the climate change scoping plan (attached), which outlines priorities and recommendations to the State to achieve its long-term climate objectives.

Among its many recommendations that cover all sectors that emit greenhouse gases in California, the draft update proposes a more aggressive strategy to address short-lived climate gases such as HFCs by 2015. The following potential approaches to further reduce high-GWP F-gases are presented:

High-GWP F-gas Phase Down - The draft update proposes to work with EPA to develop national standards in alignment with the European Union proposed F-gas phase down. At the HARC meeting last week, EPA staff noted that they were aware of this proposal and would be following up with CARB to obtain additional information.

Low-GWP Requirements - The draft update states that it is vital to require low-GWP compounds to be used for all sectors (including fire suppressants) if California is to meet its mid-term and long-term GHG goals.

ODS Recovery and Destruction - The draft update proposes further Incentivizing recovery and destruction of ODS by a combination of strategies, including adjustments to ODS destruction protocols, a mitigation fee, and/or using cap-and-trade revenue to help pay for higher costs.

High GWP Fee - The draft update proposes a mitigation fee on sales of high-GWP gases and pre-charged equipment.

CARB is currently accepting public comments on the draft update that can be submitted on the web at http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/scopingplan.htm.

CARB will hold a public hearing in late Spring to consider the final scoping plan update that HARC will attend.

osha
OSHA Hazcom Standard

At the February 2014 Installers Division Meeting during the Town Hall the topic of HAZCOM Standard adoption by OSHA was discussed. FSSA would like to provide you with the following preliminary information that may be useful to you since it is time sensitive. FSSA will continue to provide more information regarding this topic in the coming months.

 

There are new hazardous shipping standards that OSHA is adopting to align their HAZCOM standard with the UN Global Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) Standards.  These standard update new labeling elements, as well as a standardized format for Safety Data Sheets (SDSs), formerly known as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) . By December 1, 2013, employers are expected to have completed training their workers on the new label elements and safety data sheet format required under the revised Hazard Communication standard (HCS).

 

For more information, please view the following article on J.J. Keller & Associates Inc.'s website.

 

To view a presentation "HAZCOM What You Need to Know" submitted to FSSA by Roger Bourgeois, please click here.

 

As an additional resource, please view the free OSHA training tutorial here.

 

If you have information or documents you are using in your business that you think could benefit your fellow FSSA members, please send to Vince Mullhausen at FSSA Headquarters.

 
cylinders
Clean Agent Cylinder Retest Intervals

Do DOT Regulations or NFPA Standards require fire system cylinders containing gaseous fire extinguishing agents to be periodically removed from service, emptied and hydrostatically tested?
  • DOT regulations and NFPA requirements are different.
  • Requirements for clean agent cylinders are different than the requirements for carbon dioxide cylinders.

Read the full statement here. 

 

Halon Discharge Leads to Comm Center Evac

03/24/14
The Suburban Times

By Hallie McCurdy

At approximately 1:30 pm Monday, the Fire Comm dispatch center was evacuated when a construction crew accidentally set off the Halon suppression system. Prior to exiting the center, dispatchers forwarded all calls to Tacoma Fire Dispatch and alerted all of the agencies they provide dispatch services for. Approximately a half an hour later, dispatchers were back in the center handling 9-1-1 calls again.


Did Lethal Cargo Doom Flight 370?

03/25/2014
KSPR

 

By Sylvia Adcock

 

(CNN) - With no wreckage or flight recorders from Flight 370 to guide them, investigators in Malaysia are poring over information about the backgrounds of the pilots and passengers, radar data, and the transmissions from the cockpit. They also need to pay close attention to another important clue: the cargo manifest.

The list of what ends up in the cargo hold of a passenger airplane goes beyond checked luggage. Freight shippers use passenger carriers as well as cargo lines to deliver goods and raw materials. Knowing what was in the cargo hold -- or at least what the official list says was in it -- is important in any accident investigation.

Click here to read the full article.

 


Special Hazard Fire Protection - A Primer
NAFED logo

Special Hazard Fire Protection - What Is It?

 

Despite their endless variety, Special Hazards have three things in common: 

  • First, ordinary sprinkler systems do not control or extinguish special hazards fires. 
  • Second, these fires grow with great speed in all directions. 
  • Third, it takes critical insight, not only to identify your special hazards, but to apply the most appropriate solutions.

Click here to see the full presentation. 

 

Most Popular Stories from March 2014 

   

 
If you have any questions, comments, would like to be featured in a future Halon Herald, or would like to be added to our mailing list for this newsletter, please contact Kari Buser at kbuser@ushalonbank.com.

WESCO HMB
1.800.433.1751
www.ushalonbank.com
OUR BLOG

View our profile on LinkedInFind us on Facebook