GLOBAL INFORMATION XCHANGE
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Shareholders, Customers, Employees
June, 1997
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Global Now
By Larry Nance
This is the first in a series of articles about Global's businesses worldwide.
I come early to "scout" work on Friday morning. I unload some things, then take off in the afternoon, understanding that at my current level of corporate insight, there is little to no fiscal, career advancing, or team building benefits in being early. In short, I could hurt myself on the furniture.
Monday turns out great. Jane Gaines lets me use her hole punch and scissors, and shows me how to close the closet door. Lots of very nice people come by and visit. Gregg Blacknall teaches me not to dial 214, offering assurance that my phone isn't really broken. Mike Dade and Brad Hamilton fix my computer. I get help carrying up my books, which are part of my ambiance (from Level 3 where I'm not suppose to be parked but it is raining and I don't want to get wet).
Being new, my first assignment is to get out of town.
Destination: Harbison-Walker in Pittsburgh. Flagship producer of refractors used in the construction of heat resisting ladle and vessel linings: brick and monolithics (mono = one, lithics = stone: the wet application of a heat resistant lining in a single application).
Full flight. Posture perfect back seat in the tail up against the wall, crash safe to the max. Nothing to eat since breakfast. The jet engines are parked on either side of my seat, prohibiting the stewardii from tossing water and pretzels until we are three-quarters through the flight. When I, screaming over the roar of the jets, request two bagletts of the salty snacks, the stewardii screams back that the other passengers will have to be "fed" first before I can get seconds. I whine that "I haven't had firsts!" She ignores me and merges into uphill, upcabin infinity.
The next morning with high-C above high-C ringing in my head, I ask directions of the concierge to Harbison-Walker. He smiles, looks down his nose at me and says what I think he says is the "rust" building out back. I trudge out.
Out back there is this huge, wonderful building next door to Mellon Bank. Don't you love the image that conjures up! Anyway, I reflect on swooning as my ears crack and pop in time with the changing altitude up to the 55th floor. And then my adventure really begins.
I've done my Harbison-Walker homework: read a lot of books.
To wit: "Refraction: Refracting or being refracted; the bending of a ray or wave of light, heat, or sound as it passes obliquely from one medium to another of a different density, in which its speed is different, or through layers of different density of the same medium."
Not bad. And then this: "Refractory, from the French refractarie; and the Latin refractarius, first definition: stubborn, obstinate, hard to mange (person or animal), and then: resistant to heat; hard to melt or work; synonyms: contumacious, perverse, ungovernable, unruly, obstinate.
All set. What we're dealing with here are products that are "contumacious, perverse, ungovernable, unruly, and obstinate." In short, these are single-minded bricks, and single application materials, that won't melt while everything around them does.
I meet Juan Bravo who runs this show; and Gerry Gustas who has the U.S. and Canada; Tom Soroka who's managing sales; Rob Struble who has a great white Bose radio and marketing; fellow flack Phil Rydeski who really smokes local media; Larry Gorski who does human resources; Bill Brown who knows more about minerals and mining than just about anybody; Jess Hutchinson with international, and John Miller who heads up technology. They all fill me in on the business lines. None are, to my great relief, "contumacious, perverse, ungovernable, unruly," or "obstinate."
The business, Juan points out, is central to everything we have, everything we do. It is, however, transparent. Not many people know anything about what was in the past simply "fire-brick." But fortunes have, over the years, been made and lost in the effort to produce and bring it to market. And, we fully intend to meet the shifting market demands of product around-the-world through acquisitions, the development of new products, sustentation of the current product line, and the licensing of product production to partner customers.
Central to the operations is research. This is headed up by Peter Troell, who, along with James Divine, give me a full rundown on how product is reviewed, maintained and augmented, and new engineering brought to completion and market.
Not only is the lab in the business of developing new products, but thousands of tests are performed on existing product materials which customers have sent in for analysis. All of the data are used to benchmark field usage, materials performance, and ultimately point the way to solve new, specialized problems that will help keep costs competitive, and provide world-class ceramics at the same time.
The bottom line: good research and development is a key business driver. What we can expect downstream is a continuing review of ceramics production technology, the upgrading of this technology and its associated equipment, the reduction of waste, more efficiencies, and the employment of Harbison-Walker refractory materials world-wide.
"We need," Jess points out, "for Harbison-Walker to become the 'spokesperson' for the refractory industry. Nobody has assumed that role. It's a void that needs filling. We need to capitalize on our ceramics production technologies, to publish, to hit the trade press which constitutes some 30 publications."
Rob adds to the list "Štrade shows, advertising that is targeting to steel, glass, and cement, renewed customer focus," and continued marketing pushes into China and the Pacific Rim.
Gerry drives home the fact that "Šwe have to have the lowest costs in the world. This is the driver that will push less efficient producers out of business. We are working to become the leader in monolithics. Cement and lime was an add-on previously. Remember that growth in monolithics is strong in the cement/lime arena. We're looking at $75 to $100 million in sales within five years, maybe ten percent of the world market share.
The key, Gerry emphasizes, is quality, service, and low cost. Keep rethinking manufacturing, production, materials handling, costs, and the maximizing of plant use. "Twenty-five percent of our potential savings are driven by inefficiencies. Expect the company to concentrate on acquiring private companies with market niches. They are out there. They know of our interest. Over the next five years we'll be looking for complementary product lines always keeping in mind that capacity has to be relieved from the market mix."
"We can't stay as small as we are." Jess warns, "Our $340 million market share will erode. We have to have a strong market base, we have to have many markets. Out business units support of this philosophy is central to our success."
"We have got to think how products can be used five years out," John points out. "We will be second to none, equipment-wise. But, we need people that think in terms of applications, a different kind of thinkingŠ" that will leverage current equipment and market demand onto totally new ways of producing product, and doing business in markets yet-to-be discovered.
And, I think about all of this on the way back sitting in my free, first-class upgrade, dampening my face with a hot towel, and reflecting on whomever is sitting in that back seat that once was mine. I worry about their tympanums briefly, and then have another Sprite.
It's an exciting time, a very exciting time.
Editor's Note: Former EDS information technology/telecommunications business analyst Larry Nance has assumed corporate and public relations responsibilities for Global. Over the years Larry has written for major and minor newspapers, magazines, corporations, and universities, as well as writing and directing educational, advertising, and corporate television/video presentations. His photos include: Prezs Kennedy, Ford and Bush; Princess Grace and what's-his-name; Lord Snow; The Hon. Dorothy Brett (of D. H. Lawrence fame); every courthouse in Texas (from whence came "The Texas Courthouse" book) and "The Rose."
The best thing in his life is The Rose, his nearly three-year-old granddaughter. The Rose is an accomplished harmonica player who both sings and plays Ba-Ba Black Sheep to Larry's piano backup. Pictures of The Rose are available for viewing in Larry's office anytime. An appointment is not necessary. The Rose and Larry are anticipating the arrival of daughter Alisa's first baby in August.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Global Roundup
This June, all U.S. Global employees will receive a brief 401k plan questionnaire from the Vanguard Group, the plan's record keeper and trustee. Please answer the questions. Your confidential responses will be used to help Global improve the plan, and provide maximum benefits.
Harbison-Walker
Lota Green refractory related assets and business in Conception, Chile, has been purchased by Global for $13.6 million. Lota Green reported $14 million in sales for fiscal 1996. The transaction was closed June 2 in Santiago, Chile. Global has managed operations in Chile since the acquisition of Refractarios Chilenos S.A. (RECSA) in December of 1994. The purchase strengthens Global's position in Chile, increases production capacity, and opens the door for entry into other signatory countries' markets which are included in the Mercosur trade agreement. The consolidation of Lota Green and RECSA improves Global's ability to supply the Chilean steel and copper industries with a more complete product line. Look for lower production costs and increased efficiencies.
A $5.6 million order for 12,000 tons of refractors has been inked by Harbison-Walker International with Aluminio Brasileiro S.A. (ALBRAS), Brazil. H-W's Fairfield, AL. Plant will produce 1,700,000 KALA bricks for relining of a carbon-bake furnace at ALBRA's Barcarena Works. H-W's Fulton, MO. Plant will provide 1,500 tons of specialty refractors (castables and mortars). The first shipment is set for June, the balance later in the year and early '98.
Refractarios Mexicanos, S.A.
Ramos Arizpe and Tlalnepantla (Mexico) hosted a fiesta recently to mark their The Way We Do Things Around Here corporate culture progress. Juan Bravo, President of Harbison-Walker, Julio Labadie, President of REFMEX, and Global's CEO and President J.L. Jackson, cited Antonio Saenz, Armando Muniz Dominguez, Edmundo Enrique Garcia, Eduardo Altamirano, Jesus Vidanes, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Adrian Torres Montes, Jose Loreto Mendez, Luis Robledo Mendieta, Mario Candido Gomez, and Mario Gutierrez Angeles for their daily dedication to "caring, honesty, integrity and trust."
INTOOL
Great Internet story out of Houston: Julius O'Quinn accessed a used machinery page on the Web and found a rare and "typically expensive" piece of equipment the company needed for a critical project. Julius' resourcefulness, and technical smarts, help slam-dunk what we laughingly refer to as the competition. Fantastic Julius!
A new CLECO© E3 die grinder line targeted at the metal working industry as been brought to market by the Industrial Tool Division. The new CLECO© E3 comes in a right angle and extended version, both sporting a big 1/3-hp motor. The neon green, orange, blue and pink tools knocked everybody out at a recent American Welding Show.
INTOOL presented a products overview to supply General Motor's total tooling needs at a recent worldwide meeting of purchasing executives in Silao, Mexico.
Glen Hebert reports that we can access their home page at www.intool-inc.com. ITD Automation
Larry Rapp's E-mail address is www.LRapp@aol.com.
Rotor Tool
After more than two years of hard work, preparation, and training, Rotor Tool has been recommended for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification. Approval came after DNV Inc. recommended Rotor Tool certification to the RVA and RAB.
ISO, established in 1947, is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from over 110 countries. ISO has to date developed nearly 10,000 voluntary, consensus-based International Standards covering nearly every field of industrial, economic, scientific and technological activity. ISO 9000 standards represent an international consensus on the essential features of a quality system to help assure the effective operation of any business. More than 80 countries have adopted the ISO 9000 series as national standards. There have also been two large regional adoptions, CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and COPANT (*the Pan-American Standards Commission).
Rotor Tool began pursuit of ISO 9001 certification in the fall of '94. Documented quality systems meeting ISO design, development, and production requirements were initiated. Certification is expected to increase customer confidence in Rotor Tool products and services.
Industrial Energy Products
Larry Van Deusen
You can surf IEP's homepage at www.airetool.com and Larry Van Deusen at www.larryvan@erinet.com.
Corrosion Technology International
Copper Refineries Limites in Australia has tagged UNICELL®technology for the upgrading and expansion of their Townsville refinery, the home of the ISA Process. A total of 1,162 electrolytic refining cells (used in the production of copper, zinc, nickel, silver and cobalt products) will be supplied during 1997-98.
Big River Zinc of Sauget, II, USA has purchased four prototype UNICELL®'s for trial.
PENOLES has contracted for three UNICELL® prototypes, the largest single casting electrolytic cells yet to be made using UNICELL® technology.
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd.of Japan has placed an order for 68 cells for their Toyo Copper Refinery. The cells will be manufactured in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The India licensee Chemical Process Equipment Sterlite project has a new order for 118 cells which will be produced in Silvassa. This project in conjunction with 407 cells being produced for the INDO GULF project at Dahej, Glujarat.
LG Metals Corp.has ordered CTI's CORGUARD 9000 and CF400VE/400VEHD flooring and coating systems for concrete protection in their Onsan refinery. The order will be filled by the CTI's Green Bay facility.
A 408-cell contract from Union Miniere has been signed which follows up a previous 518 UNICELL®'s order.
CTI surf's up at www.ctipacific.com.au anytime you'd like to visit.
Global Processing Systems, Inc.
Jeffery
Jeffery's new "Chip-sizer" product reduces the size of rejected wood chips so that the chips can be used to make paper. The new patent pending product has a recovery of over 85 percent, and lower capital and operating costs than other technologies. Seven Chip-sizers have been sold recently "Šand the pace is acceleratingŠ." as the market catches on.
Shred-Tech
Whoa! Shred-Tech made the news in the April issue of BioCycle, not on every news stand in the city but hey! At any rate it seems that Canada's Miracle Feed, Ltd. has branched out into cereal depackaging services at Talbotville, Ontario. KD Lang's from around there is she not? Anyway, the plot thickens as "...cereal packages are brought into the plant either in compactor, or special live bottom trailers. Don't you adore that image! "They" (the packages: the magazine misplaced a modifier) "are loaded into a hopper which feeds a ShredTech Product Recovery system." Now we're getting somewhere. "The ShredTech breaks open the boxes and drops the material onto a separation screen which divides the material into two streams...." Well, lots of other stuff happens downstream but the point is: "Way to go Shred-Tech!"
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Global View
This year's winners of Global scholarships are:
Jason T. Schwerdlin, the son of Howard Schwedlin with Global Processing Systems, Inc., Wood Dale, Ill. Jason is off to MIT.
James J. Carlson, the son of Joseph Carlson with Harbison-Walker Refractors in Ludington, Michigan. James is going to Michigan State University.
Kavita Iyengar, the daughter of Shkailesh Iyengar with Marion Power Shovel. Kavita is getting ready for Miami of Ohio University.
Sanjeev Malik, son of Dev Raj Malik with Marion Power Shovel. Sanjeev will be a freshman at Northwestern University.
Brian J. Powdrell, son of Allen Powdrell with Harbison-Walker Refractors in Pittsburgh. Brian has selected Penn State University at University Park.
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Global Culture
By Leopoldo Lopez, RefMex-Ramos Arizpe
Translated from RefMex's newsletter by Carmen Nieves
A comedian said once that if you don't pay attention, you can get a "rock" in your rice. We are impatient. We have programmed ourselves to see only what we want to see. We have to change how we see things, to look for, and get that rock out of our rice.
An essential part of implementing The Way We Do Things Around Here, has consisted in determining exactly the significance and implications of each component. In adopting and associating our basic Care, Honesty, Integrity, and Trust values, our delegates have initiated activities that will help us develop the habit of looking at things in a little different way.
First we have to understand what needs to be done, learn it, recognize it, learn to love it, and finally live it. It may seem strange talking about values. You may think values are foreign to the work place. But when we become familiar with positive values, and apply them to our work ethic of looking for and extracting "the rock out of our rice," we can show The Way to others.
One of the activities planned to strengthen our corporate value set is a weekly program in which we are participating. It is helping us identify and develop our enterprise goals. For example, in strengthening our commitment to Caring, we are evaluating the service we give our customers, we're asking for feedback.
We verify our progress and work performance with one another. This helps develop Trust. We are dedicating ourselves to doing a great job and, in so doing, are developing personal Integrity. We pay special attention to do exactly what we say we're going to do. That's Honesty.
We will see our corporate cultural initiative succeed as we help one another embrace The Way.
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Global Tech
Becomeng Computur Literut
The Board of Directors has given the Information Systems the green light to complete the corporate, wide area network (WAN). What follows is in celebration, and preparation, of the corporate-wide WAN coming "on-line." The WAN will set the stage for a completely new way to manage our information, as well as put into play a number of new applications, including engineering, manufacturing, accounting and E-Mail.
This is for all of you out there who don't have a real fix on computers, and for the most part don't care about computers, computing, or those who claim to compute, or if you do compute, want to be left alone.
It's been said that almost 60 percent of adults over 50 have not the slightest idea what computers and networking are all about. And, those under 50 are just pretending. Well, let's get up to speed.
First, a computer is just hardware. It is quite dumb. Hardware requires software. Software is just 0's and 1's arranged in a specific way that uses the hardware as a vehicle to calculate layers upon layers of 0's and 1's that we call applications. A word processing package is an application. So's a spreadsheet. So's something that let's you communicate over a phone line. Applications are legion and quickly out of date.
Applications let you create directories and files. Directories are folders into which more folders and files may be put. Now, all of these applications, directories and files reside electronically on a computer's hard drive, or a "server computer" to which a number of satellite computers are hooked up in a system called a network.
A network, in which computers can send files to one another and store files, is called a Local Area Network, or LAN, for short. Companies with offices scattered around a city, state, and the world, may all have LANs. Now, LANs can hook up with one another and exchange files. All that's needed is some hardware that will let the LAN connect to a phone company (called a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), or "cloud") on one end, and a connection to the LAN on the other end. This type of hardware connectivity is called a "router."
So, now we have desktop computers that can communicate with one another through their LAN, or intranet, and outside their LAN through the LEC, or wide area network (WAN). Now, install an open telephone line some place in your WAN, some additional hardware and software with which you can connect with LANs and individual computers all over the world, and you've got an "internet" (connectivity between remote sites), as well as the Internet which is connectivity with the rest of the world. Our network is ready to be managed and maintained, and that's the real trick.
Management means there has to be a series of processes and procedures in place to keep the hardware and software running, and everything maintained at the current "software/hardware release" level. When something goes wrong, either with the equipment or the network itself, a "help desk" is always available to initiate fixes of any kind, all within agreed upon time limits ranging from 15 minutes up to two days, depending on the problem. A help desk may be as simple as a Level 1 staffed by a single technician, up to a full-blown Level 3 system complete with experts and spares of every kind ready to "plug and play."
Another management issue is "disaster recovery." When the lights go out, what happens to the network? How about a backup power supply or other alternate sources of energy? Or even a backup server/mainframe computing center if there is a fire. And how is data backed up? Redundancies have to be designed into every network. These things are all central in managing and keeping a network running smoothly.
From where is a network managed? Well, it can be managed from either several locations, or one central location. A central location is the most efficient and cost effective method. Using special hardware and software, a central location can monitor, through open phone lines and satellites, networks anywhere in the world.
An administrator checks on remote routers and the like by "pinging" equipment. Statistics are collected about the condition of equipment, network usage, and other information critical to network maintenance quickly and easily. Problems are anticipated by monitoring network traffic. Plans are subsequently made, and solutions initiated, to keep information flowing at uptime service levels as high as 100% (as in the case of major financial houses like JP Morgan who sport generators on their roof and engineers who sit around on the trading floor looking for trouble).
Next episode: "What's wrong with a manual typewriter?"
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Global Talk: Word of the Month
Utilize: This is the most abused word in the business world today. One should disabuse oneself of using it. Use "use" instead. Utilize is really "utility," using something in a way for which it is not designed, like taking a pencil and flipping a light switch to the on position with it. In this case you have "utilized" the pencil to turn on the lights. But in daily written and verbal communications, "utilize" is used for "used," not utility. See? More later.
Global Information Exchange is published monthly at Global Industrial Technologies, 2121 San Jacinto Street, Suite 2500, Dallas, TX., Fax news items to: GIX, Attn: Larry Nance, 214/953-4595.