Induron Goes Political (At Least Where Infrastructure Is Concerned)

By Davies Hood, Induron President

In today’s politically charged landscape, even blogs by industrial paint manufacturers are jumping into the fray. However, we’re not choosing a red or blue side here. We’re choosing to support infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

In this article from PaintSquare, two very different approaches to improving our country’s aging infrastructure are discussed. Both ideas look similar on the surface, but with a little digging the differences are easy to spot.

President Obama has suggested an Infrastructure Bank that his critics have compared to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. The proposed “Bank” backs private investments with public money. The idea was first proposed last year and has drawn bipartisan support. My concern is – which programs and/or projects get the public backing, and which are allowed to fail? I personally don’t like the idea of government picking winners and losers; the track record on that isn’t so great. Continue reading

You get the paint – We’ll pick up the tab for the buildings

By David Hood, Induron President

William Hood, founder (light suit on right) stands next to one of Induron's original buildings - still in use today.

Here at Induron, we have an old paint factory—and that’s a good thing.

“Why?” you may ask. “Newer is always better!” But we benefit and our customers benefit from our factory’s age. Let me explain…

Our oldest building was built in the 1930s – “before the war.” Our newest building was built in 1995 and houses our testing lab, offices for the “technical guys” and a conference area (which used to be a library, but now we use the internet  instead).

All of our buildings are made of steel and concrete and are up to date on all regulations, as required. But they all have at least one other feature which counts for a lot – they are paid for. So is the roughly 4 acres on which they stand. The only building not fully depreciated is the newest one, and it is more than halfway depreciated.

“So what !?” you ask. Well, since these buildings are old, paid for and mostly depreciated, they no longer add to our cost. So they are not included in the prices we charge.

Another advantage in their being old is that they were built to accommodate both the architectural paint volume we manufactured (as Indurall Coatings) prior to 1996, as well as the industrial paint volume of Induron Coatings. That means that Induron has the capacity to make much more paint than we currently sell. Since that “excess” capacity is fully paid for, we are ready to add volume at no additional “occupancy” cost. After all, we’ve been making paint here for 65 years. That’s good for our customers as well as for us! Continue reading

B for Billion

By Davies Hood, Induron Executive VP

In this crazy year of politics (that’s really just getting going!), I was enthused by the title of this article in Paint Square from the SSPC: “DOT Budget Plan Built on Infrastructure.”

However, I was more than a little disappointed when I saw that $47B was going towards High Speed Trains, and $108B towards “affordable, sustainable, and efficient transit options.” I thought that’s what High Speed Trains were for? And don’t forget, that B stands for Billion… as in $1,000,000,000.I just hope that the Federal Government is willing to spend at least as much on our aging water and wastewater systems!

Shocking Sewage Statistics (and unrelenting puns)

By Davies Hood, Induron Executive Vice President

Most anything can be proven using statistics. I recently ran across a couple of quotes that essentially say just that:

“Be able to analyze statistics, which can be used to support or undercut almost any argument.”  Marilyn vos Savant

“I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.” George Canning

 

“Anything people put in quotes and include on Facebook is automatically taken as the gospel truth.” George Washington (it’s possible that I just made that one up)

I was startled recently by a few statistics that were used in Ted J. Rulseh’s letter from the editor in the January edition of Municipal Sewer & Water titled “Second Rate?”

Rulseh brings up the fact that, “Every year, sewer overflows contaminate U.S. waters with 860 BILLION gallons of untreated sewage, an amount that could fill 1.3 million Olympic-size swimming pools Continue reading

Let’s grow this thing!

By Davies Hood, Induron Executive Vice President

I just read Gary Mintchell’s article, “Investing in Manufacturing and the Future of The Country.” I’m tired of “cutting,” and I think Gary Mintchell has it right with this short piece from “Automation World.” The time for investing on infrastructure – true investment not just some political sound-bite – will never be better than right now because of low interest rates, inexpensive labor and pre-inflationary material costs. This investment might just be what our current economy needs to grow us out of our current “fragile” state. What do you think?