ADVERTISEMENT
Paul Meeks of Worthington Products: Solutions for Public Safety Around Dams
I
n 1995, Paul Meeks was a struggling manufacturer’s representative for a little-known maker of log booms. When his client went bankrupt in early 2001, he saw an opportunity and purchased the TUFFLOAT product line from the original manufacturer. Thus began a long journey in the hydro industry that has seen the company he founded, Worthington Products, expand beyond debris booms into fish guidance systems, public safety boat barriers, and now signage. By recognizing a need for a good standard for public safety signs specifically targeted toward dam owners, Worthington has become a U.S. leader in the field. In this interview, Mr. Meeks tells us about the wide range of products his company creates for dam owners and operators. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background.
8 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021
hydroleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WORTHINGTON PRODUCTS.
This 720-foot-long Worthington fish guidance barrier, seen here before, during, and after installation at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, guides migrating salmon to the surface bypass for safe passage downstream.
Paul Meeks: I am the president, CEO, and founder of Worthington Products. The company officially started in 2001, although I was involved in the industry and related products for several years prior. We started with a single waterway barrier product, primarily intended for debris control. That product, TUFFBOOM, is now recognized worldwide as an industry standard. Our business and our reputation quickly grew over the years. Today, we have products in 63 countries. We have production alliances in Brazil, Canada, France, India, Poland, Portugal, and Turkey. We use those production alliances to support our worldwide installation base. As we gained exposure, we recognized additional needs that our clients had. This led to an ever-increasing range of product solutions. Those include terrorist security barriers. Currently, we are in the midst of a multiyear project to protect all the French navy’s ports and vessels. We started by protecting its nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and at the end of this year, we will move into the larger ports. We found that by modifying our larger debris barriers, we could offer highly effective physical fish guidance systems. To ensure that our guidance systems would be designed to maximum effectiveness, we retained the services of a professional fisheries biologist. Now, we have fish guidance systems on both coasts of the United States, and as I like to joke, we are preventing the fish from becoming sushi.
