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AICD 2012: Return & Report

“We talked to nearly everyone at the show” said Rob Hunt, Hycomp Area Sales Manager, “And we were happy to attend the 2012 AICD, it is always a great show to be part of.”

Four members of our sales team represented Hycomp at the 27th Annual AICD (Association of Independent Compressor Distributors) Membership meeting in Florida: Ken Schiefer – Eastern US Area Sales Manager, Marty Malzahn – Sales & Marketing Manager, Freda Lasley – Sales Coordinator and Rob Hunt – Western US Area sales Manager. Each Hycomp team member agreed that the overall feel of this year’s AICD was a little different for Hycomp, Ken explains, “There really was not much general conversation about our product, it seems people are starting to really understand what Hycomp does and the products we offer. This year’s individual discussions seemed to all be centered on business.”

Through interaction at the AICD meeting and other communications with our distribution network we are finding that there is a strong desire to learn more about the applications where Hycomp compressors and boosters apply. Our distributors want to specifically know where to look for Hycomp sales and our training videos and other materials are covering that.

Hycomp has a new booth setup, which got several accolades from folks while at the show. Included as part of that booth, we use a flat screen LCD TV to display either a photograph slideshow presentation or in this case, a recorded power point sales training presentation. Rob and Ken both utilized the short 10 minute video to explain to distributors how Hycomp can more effectively train their entire sales staff and how this short video presentation can be used internally by their team.

The seminars at AICD were fantastic. Every member of the Hycomp team had great things to say about the seminars and were especially impressed with a presentation given by Bill Scales, which was titled: The Future of Distribution. Bill expounded on the wants, needs and fears of distributors and also talked about what manufacturers should be doing for their distributors.

Loyalty from manufacturers to distributors was a big topic of discussion during the entire weekend. It is always an important topic to us here at Hycomp as well. In our industry we have recently seen a little bit of a trend in which some manufacturers are cutting distributors out by selling direct to the customer. We highly value our distributors and have even fought to protect them in numerous cases. “Trust… It’s What We Build” is not just some sort of warm fuzzy slogan or tag line we use, we really believe in it and we take it very seriously. The trust of our customers and our distributors is paramount to our business plan. We thank our distributors for their continued partnership and we look forward to working with them, side by side, in the years to come.

CLICK HERE to see where Ken, Freda and Rob went on their way home from the 2012 AICD

Special Tools & Engineered Solutions

When you are the only distributor around that has the right tools for the job, and when potential customers need help, who are they going to call? They will contact a trained service provider who has the right tools to handle the job with agility and precision.

In any industry, when a majority of products are similar, the same tools can be used on most of the products for maintenance and repairs. However, when a product is specifically engineered to match an application, special tools are often employed.

Hycomp compressors and boosters utilize over 10 special tools to administer precision maintenance. The most often used of which are the SA001, SA003 and SA004.

41st Annual ICDA Meeting – April 5 – 7 2020

Due to the global COVID-19 epidemic, the ICDA show has been postponed in the interests of safety. Hycomp applauds the ICDA for their concern and response. We look forward to attending and seeing our friends and partners when the threat of the pandemic has subsided.

Relay for Life – August 2019

This year Hycomp brought back their Relay for Life team and took 3rd in fundraising for Cache Valley. We are incredibly proud to be able to give back to our community and loved ones.

Hycomp chosen to receive Presidential “E” Award for Contribution to U.S. Exports

Hyde Park — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today presented Hycomp Inc. with the President’s “E” Award for Exports at a ceremony in Washington, DC. The President’s “E” Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.
Hycomp Inc. manufactures oil free air and gas compressors used in industrial processes, including nitrogen blanketing, laser cutting and blow molding of plastic products as well as many others. Hycomp compressors, equipped with a lubricated bottom end and an oil free compression end, provide oil free compressed air or gas with an average service life of 20 years. Hycomp has gathered international attention due to the reliability and longevity of their compressors, allowing the company to expand into global markets and place a greater emphasis on exports.

“At least 60% of our business comes from exports.” states Marty Malzahn, Hycomp Inc. Sales & Marketing Manager, “Without exports, the growth we’ve experienced in recent years would not have been possible and the future growth we are striving towards would not be realistic. Export is our business.”
In 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order reviving the World War II “E” symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America’s exporters. Today, Secretary Pritzker honored 123 U.S. companies with the President’s “E” Award for their outstanding work to reduce barriers to foreign markets and to open the door to more trade around the world.
In 2015, U.S. exports totaled $2.23 trillion, accounting for nearly 13 percent of U.S. GDP. Nationally, exports contributed to the U.S. economy, supporting an estimated 11.5 million jobs.

U.S. companies are nominated for the “E” Awards through the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Commercial Service office network, located within the Department’s International Trade Administration, with offices in 108 U.S. cities and more than 70 countries. Record years of successive export growth and an applicant’s demonstration of an innovative international marketing plan that led to the increase in exports is a significant factor in selecting the winners.

For more information about the “E” Awards and the benefits of exporting,visit www.export.gov.

A Case Study in Nitrogen: Kateeva OLED Displays

A Case Study in Nitrogen: Kateeva OLED Displays
Customer: Kateeva
Model: 2AN35D-H3321-BLMVA10-20/10T
Gas: Ultra high purity nitrogen
Suction Pressure: .8 psig
Discharge Pressure: 95 psig
Flow: 17.75 SCFM

Situation: California based Kateeva is creating a new class of production equipment for advanced flat panel display products like OLED (organic light-emitting diode) TVs. Through this process they questioned, what is the most efficient and effective way to compress nitrogen? They desired a compressor manufacturer that would assist in building equipment for their development.

Their major concern was finding a compressor that would not allow outside oxygen to contaminate the manufacturing process and product. It needed to keep nitrogen pure while stopping ingress of oxygen higher than 5 ppb (parts per billion). They struggled to find anyone that would even come close to solving their situation.

Solution: Mr. Mauck could not find a compressor to meet these requirements until he spoke with representatives from Hycomp. The Hycomp team worked together to understand the problem and find the correct solution for Kateeva to meet their difficult requirements.

Justin Mauck, Senior Mechanical Engineer for Kateeva, approached Hycomp with this situation. Hycomp accepted the challenge. They worked together to understand the problem and find the correct solution for Kateeva to meet their difficult requirements.

“Talking to the Hycomp engineers gave me a strong sense that they could really solve our difficult problem,” Mauck commented, “We had a hard time finding anyone that could even come close to meeting our need. When we found Hycomp, I thought ‘this is it’ and I was excited to work with them.”

A Study in Nitrogen

Nitrogen (N2) is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that constitutes 78.08% by volume of the air we breathe. Nitrogen is an inert gas.

Nitrogen occurs in all living organisms. It is a constituent element of amino acids and thus of proteins and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). It resides in the chemical structure of almost all neurotransmitters, or in other words, nitrogen is an important chemical in the thinking process. As you read this article you are utilizing nitrogen to connect cognitive thought patterns via synapses in your brain.

The bulk of nitrogen produced in the United States is done via cryogenic separation of air; air is supercooled to a liquid state, and the different gases stratify, just as water and oil do in a glass. Nitrogen is then pulled out as a liquid. Air separation plants can be large facilities serving multiple customers covering several states, or site specific for large users of nitrogen. Cryogenic nitrogen purity can vary depending upon need, but can hold in the ppb (parts per billion) of contaminant gases.

A method of Nitrogen production gaining rapid favor for its ease of installation and relatively low cost are nitrogen generators that separate the nitrogen from air in the gaseous phase, either through the use of a membrane, or via pressure swing adsorption (similar to regenerative air dryers). These units are fairly small in size and production volumes (roughly 100-10,000 scfh per system), but can be 1/10th to 1/100th the cost of a cryogenic separation plant. However, gaseous nitrogen generators don’t produce pure nitrogen – they actually remove oxygen. So while the oxygen content can reach less than 10ppm, there will still be other gases present in the nitrogen that are also present in air – gases like argon, helium, carbon dioxide, etc. In many applications, this is acceptable, as the nitrogen is being used because oxygen cannot be present in the process.

Nitrogen has many commercial and technical applications. As a gas, it is used in heat treating of primary metals; blanketing of oxygen-sensitive liquids and of volatile liquid chemicals; the production of semiconductor electronic components, as a blanketing atmosphere; the blowing of foam-type plastics; deaeration of oxygen-sensitive liquids; the degassing of nonferrous metals; food processing and packing; inhibition of aerobic bacteria growth; magnesium reduction of aluminum scrap; and the propulsion of liquids through pipelines.

Natural Gas Compressor for Ceprot Systems

Ceprot Systems have been a packager of natural gas compressors for well head applications in Estonia and the Baltic region since 2005. They offer engine and motor driven reciprocating and rotary screw compressors.

In mid 2012, Hycomp received a request from Ceprot Systems for a vapor recovery compressor to operate in a remote region of Ukraine. The application required a compressor to recover the natural gas vapors and compress them to a pressure that could be re-introduced into the production system. Due to the remote installation location and lack of cooling water, Ceprot required an air cooled system with very high reliability.

Hycomp was able to build exactly what Ceprot Systems required with an oil-free, air-cooled “F” block compressor and “G” series packing arrangement. This package included a skid-mounted compressor with motor, and air cooled intercooler and after cooler. It was supplied to the Sakhalin gas treatment plant near Kharkov, Ukraine. UKROilDrilling Company, LLC is the company now using the Hycomp compressor via rental agreement with Ceprot Systems.

“The unit is working in a very heavy application and remote location and we have had no service calls in the last six months”, stated Alex Shvets, General Director of Ceprot Systems.

The “G” series packing configuration is designed for service with flammable or hazardous industrial gases. Suction gas is plumbed through the plenum chamber, equalizing pressure on, and providing cooling to the packings. This design incorporates a purge/vent line to prevent leakage of the process gas.
Let Hycomp help determine the best possible solution for your application. Please contact Ben Brough or Ken Shiefer at 435.563.3695.

Hycomp Donates to INSTEP for Expansion

Hycomp is proud to donate a portion of four compressor packages that were sent to Institut Teknologi Petroleum Petronas (INSTEP) in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. INSTEP is being expanded as part of a technical training partnership between Petrofac and Petronas. The donation is a gesture of goodwill and support for the industry, and INSTEP in particular.

Established in 1981, INSTEP was primarily set up to train skilled technicians and operators in meeting the rapid growth of the country’s petroleum industry. To date, INSTEP has trained almost 10,000 technical staff in the various facets of the oil and gas industry.

Hycomp Made the List, Inc. 500|5000

For the third year in a row, Hycomp is listed on Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 500|5000 list, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.

Thirty two years ago (1981) Inc. Magazine began to publish an annual report of what was originally titled: “The Inc. Private 100: One Hundred of the Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in the United States.” They have refined the title of this report and expanded it to a list of 5000 with a concentration on the top 500.

Hycomp has earned the rank of 2908 out of 5000 companies. In an industry top 100 list, Hycomp was ranked at 61 on the list of top manufacturing companies; in 2011 Hycomp was listed at 91.

From 2008 to 2012 Hycomp has experienced a growth of 226%. Hycomp’s Sales and Marketing Manager, Martin Malzahn attributes our constant growth to having a niche in the manufacturing market and a great ability to customize.

“We grow because we provide service to our customers.” said Martin.

We continue to push forward by researching new markets and applications where our compressors and boosters can provide quality solutions. Our niche market is increasing, and we look forward to more growth at Hycomp.