Girard reports on equipment demand

BACKING A WINNER

EQUIPMENT • GIRARD CONTINUES TO EXPERIENCE STRONG DEMAND FOR ITS TANK VALVES, VENTS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT AND IS INVESTING TO MAKE SURE IT CAN SUPPLY THAT DEMAND

ANY MANUFACTURER SUPPLYING equipment into the hydrocarbon and petrochemical supply chain will be affected by external factors it has little or no control over. In North America, rapid development of shale oil and gas resources over the past five years generated something of a ‘gold rush’ mentality in the business, with surging demand for rail tank cars and tank trucks to move the new production and a concomitant surge in demand for safetycritical kit.

Then in late 2014 came the slump in oil prices and, along with the opening up of new pipelines to move crude oil and NGLs, those days were suddenly over. On top of that, uncertainty during the US election year in 2016 ran into 2017 as businesses waited to see what approach the new administration would take.

Despite all this, the market is now “picking up a head of steam,” according to Tim Girard, president of Florida-based Girard Equipment, one of the leading manufacturers of valves, vents and ancillary equipment for the oil and chemical transport sector.

In particular, Girard reports, the market for rail tank car equipment is “recovering quite nicely” with improved demand for vents for tanks handling corrosives as well as crude oil. The oil price boom in 2012 to 2014 also impacted the tank truck sector, where the big manufacturers were unable to meet demand, attracting some smaller truck builders to jump in. That too has now calmed down although Girard says shipments are still going, particularly for stainless steel vents.

LOOING FOR MARKETS Girard also says that the tank container and offshore tank sector is “pretty strong” right now. The company, now well established in this business, has carved out a significant and ever-growing share of the market, particularly in North America, where customers are realising the benefits of tank containers over other packaging formats for hazardous liquid chemicals. Tim Girard says the company is also responding to a growing number of notable European users looking for a viable alternative to the other well known suppliers.

This is a somewhat different market with its own demands and, Girard says, aftersales service and technical support are very important. The company is being selective in

GIRARD HAS INVESTED IN A NEW FOUNDRY TO HELP

the customers it targets, looking for niche operators for which those aspects are vital and Girard is aware that “pricing has to be good”.

In the other area of its specialities, Girard’s intermediate bulk container (IBC) business is “always pretty steady” and has not been so sharply affected by the wider market changes. Girard notes that the company offers some “great solutions” for the IBC sector, not least its sMart Vent™ pressure/vacuum relief valve, which Hoover Ferguson uses on all its metal IBCs. Girard also notes that it sells well in Europe, particularly to IBC manufacturers in Germany and Scandinavia.

Also selling well in Europe right now are Girard’s vents for road tankers. That is one outcome of the company’s reorganisation of its European operations a few years ago. Now headquartered in Barendrecht on the south side of Rotterdam, with easy access to Germany, the office is headed up by former Fort Vale sales director Anthony Malpass and has its own manufacturing facility attached.

“These are exciting times for us in Europe,” Tim Girard says. “The future looks very bright.” That outlook has been helped by recent stabilisation in exchange rates and, along with some local production, Girard is able to sell into Europe at competitive prices.

KEEPING UP WITH PROGRESS There have been changes too at Girard Equipment’s activities in the US, not least the opening a few years ago of a new foundry in Fort Pierce, Florida, some 15 miles (24 km) south along the coast from its headquarters and assembly plant in Vero Beach. Foundry capacity had always been something of a choke point in Girard’s supply chain and the addition of a dedicated plant helped the company cope with the surge in demand around 2013.

That added capacity is now coming in useful once more; Tim Girard says that new orders are coming in thick and fast now that political uncertainty has eased somewhat and that the firm’s order backlog is “tremendous”. Nevertheless, Girard is able to keep up with demand.

And Girard Equipment is taking steps to make it easier than ever for its customers to place their orders, with a new website due to be launched before the end of this year. “A website is no longer just a billboard,” Tim Girard says. As well as an expanded and streamlined online store, the new site will offer an interactive experience with instructional videos and downloadable technical details.

In that respect, Girard is keeping up with technological developments elsewhere in the industry. It is also looking closely at the potential offered by telematics systems to add value to its customers. Tim Girard says the company is talking to RFID providers as well as to its chemical industry clients to see what they want from such systems and what is practicable. HCB www.girardequip.com