Tag Archives: Birmingham

Murals: Using Paint to Convey Meaningful Messages

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By Davies Hood, Induron President

Birmingham Pledge MuralNot only do our products beautify and protect assets from corrosion, but our paints and coatings can also be used to create murals that convey meaningful messages and unify communities.

Last month, according to Durability + Design, Public Art Chattanooga commissioned a $200,000 mural commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. The 40,000-square-foot mural covers four sides of the building on M.L. King Boulevard, which was once the city’s center of black culture and business. Continue reading Murals: Using Paint to Convey Meaningful Messages →

Meet the Induron Family: Joe Jones

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Joe Jones, InduronJoe Jones is a soft-spoken guy who doesn’t say a lot, but what he lacks in words, he makes up for in wisdom and loyalty to Induron. The guys in the plant simply refer to him as “the gray fox” – not necessarily cunning, but smarter than the average bear.

Joe has been working at Induron since 1983. His father, Noel Jones, worked at Induron for 38 years, so he’s known the place his entire life. In fact, Noel is part of the old Indurall days’ lore because of a tumble he took into a batch of red-oxide primer. Although he turned out to be uninjured, when he came up out of that batch of dark red primer, everyone in the place thought otherwise!

Joe is behind just about every paint product that Induron sells. He’s worked in all parts of our facility, from filling to maintenance to actually making our paint products. These days, Joe makes several batches every day. Most of these batches are different sizes, all of them use different raw materials located all over our facility (no one knows exactly how Joe keeps up with their locations!) and Joe knows how to use every single different piece of paint making equipment in our plant, from the old Ball Mills to the modern dyno-mill. In a nutshell and in his own words, “Joe makes the paint.”

Joe drives 60 miles to and from work everyday. In his own humble way Joe said, “I guess I’ve been through about seven or eight cars in my time here.” But he doesn’t mind the drive. “I like the people I work with. We have fun and joke with each other while we get our jobs done.”

Davies Hood, Induron president, is the third Hood man Joe has seen running Induron. “The Hoods are good guys,” he said.

The feeling is mutual for Davies. “Joe has been an important part of our team for three decades,” he said. “He does good work and we’re proud to have him as part of the Induron family. Continue reading Meet the Induron Family: Joe Jones →

What Is Sustainability?

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By John Anspach, Induron VP of Operations

I recently read an article in a coatings publication and came across the term “sustainability.”  It’s quickly become a buzzword in industry – and even in personal – life.  But just what does it mean?

One definition of sustainability, written about 25 years ago, is, “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”  Today, it has been defined as, “providing the best for people and the environment, both now and in the indefinite future.

So how can a small business contribute to sustainability without drastically affecting how it does business?  One way is to look closely at how you package your products.

For example, many of our products are packaged in metal drums.  Years ago, Induron chose to utilize reconditioned drums instead of new ones for our packaging. The number of reconditioned, rather than new, drums we purchased last year resulted in 115 tons of greenhouse gas (CHG) emissions NOT being released to the atmosphere.  That’s more significant than most might imagine – energy “avoidance” through re-use!

This simple example demonstrates that it may not require large sacrifices to your particular process or program to contribute to “sustainability.”  Just think about your current process, recognizing opportunities that could incorporate the re-use of a raw material or package in that process.  Go Green!

From Space Frontiers to Water Tower Paint

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By David Hood, Induron CEO

Sputnik

I remember well the afternoon of Oct. 4, 1957 – it was a big time in my life (and maybe yours too). I was somewhere between Gainsville, GA, and Birmingham, riding in the car with my dad. He had been in Gainsville for the weekend working as a volunteer “corner flagman” at an SCCA amateur sports car race. I was just a 14-year-old kid, amazed at the cars and men (and a few women) who drove them.

On that particular late afternoon, we were listening to the evening news when a strange “beep, beep, beep” sound came over the radio. It was a sound that changed almost everything in my future.

It was Sputnik!

The radio announcer explained that the Russians had launched a rocket that carried a device into orbit around the earth, where it would stay for a very long time with no further “push” and send radio signals until the battery went dead.

I was – and have been ever since – fascinated by all things mechanical. I was also (then and ever since) a red-blooded patriotic American, and I was not going to stand by and do nothing while those Russians were beating us technologically! That night I decided I was going to engineering school. I think many other Americans made the same decision, because, as you know, we developed a far superior and much more sophisticated space program than did anyone else on the world. Continue reading From Space Frontiers to Water Tower Paint →

Relationship Selling

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By Tex Enoch, Induron Sales Representative

We live in a fast-paced world.  The internet and cell phones have dramatically improved sales people’s ability to increase their customer base.  However, at the same time, these tools have also enhanced our productivity, thus decreasing the response time demanded by both their employer and customers.

I began my career having to use payphones to make calls on the road and snail-mail to confirm almost everything else.  Everything was much slower, but much more personal.  Office visits were encouraged, lunches and dinners were commonplace and relationships were established.

As someone who’s been in the sales business for a long time, I know that lasting relationships cannot be built via e-mail and cell phone contact.  Personal interaction is necessary, and the longer that contact can be maintained, the stronger the relationship will become.

So just how valuable IS relationship selling? I believe it accomplishes two vital aspects of the selling process:

  • Establishing you as the expert. Having a strong relationship with a client means that the he or she will naturally turn to you as his expert.  When a question or product need arises, the sales rep with the strongest relationship will be asked to solve the problem, provide advice or establish the product criteria for the project about to be designed. Continue reading Relationship Selling →

Wearing Many Hats in a Small Business

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By Allison Searcy, Induron Sales Support

Working for a small, family-owned company like Induron means that I wear many hats. I began working at Induron four years ago in sales support, but since then, my duties have grown to include all kinds of things – from invoicing and accounting, to purchasing the raw materials used in our products.

It’s different every day – I never know what the day will bring.

That’s the key to working for a small company – flexibility. You have to be flexible and be willing to take on any number of tasks that “aren’t your job.” It’s very different from the large company I came from. At Induron, everyone does what they need to do, and when there’s a problem, we all pitch in to get it solved quickly. Many times at larger companies, you find that each person – or department – functions as an island. But not here.

Induron’s 14 sales reps definitely keep me on my toes. They count on me to invoice their clients, get them catalogs or other printed materials or even help them troubleshoot their computer woes. We’re all a team, and it’s a great environment in which to work. Continue reading Wearing Many Hats in a Small Business →

Water (tanks), Water (tanks) Everywhere!

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By Davies Hood, Induron President

I remember well my first site visit to an elevated water tank painting project. I was driving down the road with an older salesman who was pointing out all of the different styles of water tanks.

We saw fluted column tanks (large flashlights), standpipes (tall, skinny tanks w/ out legs), Taurus-bottom tanks (made famous being depicted as aliens in George Orwell’s War of the Worlds) and a couple of single pedestal tanks (golf ball on a tee).

I suddenly realized that the paint being applied to all of these tanks was not being applied very close to the ground. After getting over the first round of nausea caused by my deep rooted fear of heights, I started thinking about the “how” part of the equation, as in, “how the heck do they paint up there?”

Motorized pick-boards, baskets and Bozeman’s Chairs on rope falls were the answer. I then saw this cool invention. This motorized chair looks like a great way for our high-work customers to save time and improve worker safety. It also provides a very good reminder of just how much intestinal fortitude some of Induron’s customers have!

Founded in 1947, Induron manufactures high performance coatings that serve a range of industrial applications, including the wastewater, transmission and distribution and groundwater storage industries. Learn more about us at www.Induron.com.  

From Pencil and Paper to Computers

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By David Hood, Induron CEO

I have said before that Induron has old buildings. We do. And in thinking about the history of this company, I’m reminded of something else we have that’s old – our “batch books,” or log of production batches. Believe it or not, we still have the very first batch book. The original batch (batch No. 1) of paint we made was for 10 gallons of TT-P-86 Red and was recorded in pencil by my dad, Induron founder William E. Hood. We still keep batch books today, however, now they’re in electronic form.

That original batch of paint went through the same process we use on our paint today – it was recorded in the batch book and went through quality assurance. Every batch of paint we’ve made over the past 65 years has gone through the same process.

Each batch of paint we make is tested in our Quality Control Lab to verify that its properties meet the standards set for that product by its formulator and/or our customer. The results of the tests are recorded on a record card, on the original batch record and into the computer for statistical analysis. The documents and artifacts (draw-downs, color match data, sag charts, etc.) are attached to the batch ticket and filed away. That way, if we have need to question the field performance or properties of a product, we can go back to the original record to help resolve questions.

In addition to the above, we keep a pint of the paint as a “retain” sample. These “retains” are kept for a period of time sufficient to address any and all needs (about three years), so we can help resolve potential questions. Continue reading From Pencil and Paper to Computers →