March 30, 2010 ECA Participates in Goettle Inc Drill School
On March 15, 2010, ECA was invited to participate in the first ever Drill Rig Operator's Training School presented by Richard Goettle Inc. This school was a voluntary effort for all of their employees to participate in a three day school that helped to enhance the procedures and safety requirements of drill rig operations.
Mr. Jim Campbell, Midwest Regional Sales Manager for ECA was approached by Mr. Brent Grow, Goettle's Vice President of Operations with the concept of this school and asked if ECA was interested in participating. Jim's response was, "Not yeah, hell yeah!
The next step was to enlist the help of available resources within our company. Pete Rose, Sales Manager for the Pittsburgh Office and Chris Recke, Bauer Product Support Manager were designated as instructors and the two collaborated with Goettle on curriculum, procedures, printed matter, safety information and tooling needs for the drill school.
Now that the plan was set in place, schedules were rearranged, flights were booked, printed matter was selected and the instructors began to polish their presentations. Kelly Simon, Philadelphia Office Manager copied and bound over forty copies of the Bauer Safety and Operation Manual for distribution to the attendees.
On Monday morning March 15, the staff of ECA instructors arrived in Cincinnati, OH armed and dangerous and ready to teach. Pete Rose and Jim Campbell were old hands at events like this having experience with ADSC Drill Rig Operators Schools in the past. Chris Recke was the rookie and had no idea what to expect. Once they arrived at the location, it turned out to be just another jobsite and all the butterflies went away.
Other companies were also invited to participate in the Goettle initiative. The illustrative Mr. Charlie Booth of Soil-Mec, our old Bauer associate Mr. Tony Kraut and Virgil now of Watson, the inimitable Mr. Bo Steeding of Jeffries Machine and the debonair Bo Walker of Texas Shafts (Goettle Affiliate)
The group of forty Goettle employees, most of which were laid-off, some being operators, some field personnel and some field management, were broken into two groups. An indoor group reviewed classroom presentations from Bo Steeding on tooling applications, safety instructions from Goettle's own reknowned Safety Director Rick Marshall and rig specifications and applications from Goettle's Tony Eckart and Brent Grow. Jim Campbell of ECA was involved in the indoor presentations to assist in the review of the machine specs. The outdoor group was given instruction of actual drilling procedures. The groups came in indoor / outdoor and AM / PM waves.
Pete Rose and Chris Recke instructed the groups on the Bauer BG28V that was purchased by Goettle in 2007. This machine has completed a number of successful projects with CFA continuos flight augers and with kelly bar applications. This school dealt with drilled shafts and kelly bar rock drilling conditions. The first order of importance was to review the manual with the group and provide a general overview of the aspects of the machine. The assembly and disassembly procedures, the safety aspects of the machine's design, maintenance increments and procedures and a full overview of the control panel and computer system were reviewed in depth.
On day two, the fun began. It was time to drill a hole. Every attendee sat in the seat and operated the machine. Even some of the skilled operators who had never ran a European machine were nervous at first. However, once they experienced the raw power and the ease and control that the Bauer rig offered the group begged for more. At the end of the day, a seventy-two inch diameter shaft was drilled to thirty-five feet. Hard rock was incurred at a depth of nine feet.
So in conclusion, I want to congratulate the effort put forth by Pete, Chris and Jim. Sometimes we get lost in the specifications of the equipment but it is the quality of our people that we need to showcase. These are perfect opportunities to achieve these goals.
Also, thanks to Goettle Inc for having the confidence to utilize our products, rely on our support and to capitalize on our expertise to train their key personnel.
Last but not least, thanks to the management of ECA for allowing us to participate in these spontaneous events the Mission and Goals that we have set for ourselves.
