Safety Valve Basics
Is it just me or are so many people retiring lately in the pipe, valve and fitting industry? It seems every other customer or vendor I call lately, someone I’ve dealt with for the last 15 years I’ve been doing this, has retired. Customers I’ve dealt with for years know exactly what I need to help them, and my vendors know exactly what I’m asking for without me having to spell out every little thing. Now, I feel like I’m having to train customers and vendors alike all over again. Wow, that kind of sounds bad but I’m sure you all know exactly what I’m talking about.
You work with someone for so many years and you just know how to communicate with each other. I had one customer I first started working with about 10 years ago. I would dread every time he reached out for help as I just felt like I had to hold his hand through everything and honestly, he just irritated me. However, over time, we built the best working relationship, and I loved when he’d call as we’d talk about life and family. When we did talk shop, he understood when I would push back for more information, and I knew when he just needed a model number and price to put in for budgeting reasons. When he called last year and told me he was retiring, I was so happy for him but again, since this is all about me, I realized I was going to have to start all over with his replacement.
This is my job and the whole point of NASVI. We are here to be your expert at safety relief valves, so you don’t have to be. I love what we do, and I love helping our customers so they can look smart to their customers. However, for those newer at this, please realize that the safety valve is the last line of defense for something to not blowup, so when we push back and ask for more information, it’s because we are just trying to ensure the valve correctly does its job.
Starting in this newsletter, with the old guard slowly retiring, we want to help bridge the gap. We are lucky that we still have my father, who started this company when he was only 25 years old almost 50 years ago, as a part time employee. I know a few years ago, I said he was retiring but that lasted a whole two weeks before my mother called me up and asked me to talk to my dad and tell him he was still needed at work, as he was getting in her way. So, two days a week, Allen comes into the office to work. If you get an email from him, it really is from him as he is “putzing around.”
I love it as I get to still see my dad a few times a week and whenever we have a super old valve come up, I have the best reference in the world to go to when I need help identifying it. He has forgotten more about relief valves than I’ll ever know. Therefore, we have decided to add an “Al’s Safety Valve 101” section to the newsletter. Just a little article from him hoping to help educate the next generation on the nuances of safety relief valves and the various information we need when trying to provide the best option for the application.
NASVI is blessed that all the salespeople have been trained by someone with so many years of experience at safety valves. When I started at NASVI, I was the baby, and everyone had worked here for at least 20 years. Kind of crazy! Over these last 15 years, we’ve had our share of salespeople and shop people retire but at least their knowledge has been passed on to the current generation who can share it with you. Thank you all for your continued loyalty and support. We appreciate it!
