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Published by chriscerullo13, 2017-12-21 17:21:46

Lab Report 12.329.17

Laborde Products Newsletter 12/31/2017 Volume 2, Edition 3

Service Department President’s Message

Service & Production, Year in •••
Review
As 2017 comes to a close and we The Year of the Team
prepare for a prosperous and productive
2018, I’d like to reflect on the 2017 has been a year of rebuilding for Laborde Products
accomplishments achieved by our and I take my hat off to each member of our team for the
Service and Production teams. Our success you have helped the company achieve this year.
industry is as challenging and This year was not without its challenges, but our team has
demanding as they come, and our teams faced these challenges and been successful time after time.
showed up each and everyday to tackle We are operating in a highly competitive and challenging
the challenge. Our technicians are at the market and, as a Team, we are winning. The success we
forefront of these demands, and the long have achieved this year is not the result of any one person
or single departments success, our success this year is due
hours worked and constant pressure put to the actions of every team member working together
on them would wear anyone down, yet towards a common goal. The Laborde Products Team is as
our team continued to perform. strong as it has ever been and capable of taking on any
challenges that the market decides to through at us. 2018
will be another challenging year, but I am confident that
the Laborde Products Team will come together and
continue to build on the success we have achieved this
year. Thank you for all your hard work and commitment
in 2017. Each member of the Laborde Products Team
plays a critical role in the success of our Team and I am
truly thankful for each of you. Merry Christmas!!!

LPI Service and Production Technicians clocked over 23,000 hours in 2017 and the utilization (billable
hours/total hours) average between Covington and Houston Service was right at 80%. It was a productive
year in Service and Production!

Our Service team took part in a lot of new opportunities in 2017. We significantly increased our
Vapor Power service business with Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc., the nation’s largest independently
owned ocean-going petroleum barge company operating a fleet of 26 barges and 25 tugs. Most of their

barges are equipped with Vapor Power thermal fluid heaters, and our technicians answered the call each
time a Bouchard heater required repair. From Staten Island, NJ and Norfolk, VA, down to Tampa Bay, FL
and over to New Orleans and Corpus Christi, our team was constantly on the go and satisfying the needs
of Bouchard. LPI’s Service Department also completed a record number of top-end overhauls for various
customers in 2017. We performed top-end overhauls for Double J, LA Carriers, Tennessee Valley Towing,
Deep South Marine, and Crosby Tugs. Top-end overhauls are a critical preventive maintenance service
that extends the life of Mitsubishi engines and eliminates unscheduled downtime for our customers. As
our Mitsubishi engine population continues to age, top-end overhauls will be a huge part of our Parts and
Service business. Thanks to James Luke, Lorenzo Gonzales, Kenneth Hall, Josh Wallace, Rafael Saddy,
Aaron Michel, Brian Gerhardt, and Randy Saacks for all your hard work!

Our Production Department burned the midnight oil quite a few times throughout 2017, in order to churn
out our products in impressive numbers. Renan Cuevas and his team of Riley Smith, Harold Mizell, Roger

Cedotal Jr., Michael Flach Jr. and Jarret Wallace produced 68
173 HP Barge Power Units, 39 4” and 6” inch centrifugal
pumps, and numerous 3” inch pumps and various generators.
On several occasions, our Production Technicians even stepped
up and assisted our Service Technicians on field service calls
when the workload became too much for Service to handle
alone! Thanks to our entire Production team for your effort and
dedication to Laborde Products, Inc, and for producing quality
products that satisfy our customers!

We are extremely grateful for the opportunities provided by our customers to service their equipment,
and for our hard-working Marine and Industrial Sales Departments for continuing to place products in
the market. We look forward to a safe and prosperous 2018!

Parts Department

Dan Murphy Has Seen the Light!

No, I am not talking about a of the Harahan Office, Dan’s and the service manager had
new intellectual awaking by current office with the new an office, Dan Murphy didn’t
Dan Murphy, I am talking window is quite an have an office, nor a
about his new window. improvement. The owner of desk. Dan had a space in the
warehouse, and improvised a
Dan began his career with the the business had an office, the desk on a metal parts shelf.
company when it was called sales manager had an office This put him in close contact
Star Power, located in to both the parts and the
Harahan just upriver from the mechanics who needed the
Huey P Long bridge, in April parts. Dan didn’t have a
1986. After 31 years, I can tell window then, but his
you that by the old standards desk/rack was strategically

placed to give him a had the engine or the part ownership. In a conversation
wonderful view of the when he could hear the between Dan and Brian
inventory through an open customer on the phone over Laborde, the question was
garage door in the the noise of the shop. When posed to Dan, “What would
warehouse. It was always the part or engine was sold, make your job better for
kept it open to provide some the card was removed from you?”. Dan replied that he
light and perhaps an the inventory shoe box. The would love a window in his
occasional breeze into the customer’s name and office as he spends so much
shop and Dan’s executive information were written on time there, some natural light
suite. the card along with the date would be nice.
of the sale (for warranty
Star Power spared no expense concerns) and the card was Congratulations on your new
back in the Harahan days and then filed in the other “sold” window. You deserve it. It
I can tell you that Dan shoe box. There were never may not the same as the old
Murphy was a master at our had any inventory days looking out the garage
Complex Inventory issues. After a while, Star door in Harahan, but I am
Management System. Star Power upgraded the system sure you will adjust as you
Power supplied Dan with two and purchased a TRS-80 have to computers and the
shoe boxes and a bunch of 5 x computer similar to the one other business
7 cards. The procedure was shown. advancements. While many
when engines arrive Dan things have changed over the
would write the engine model The computer had a big years since the days at
number down on the card floppy disc and managed to Harahan, one thing has not
along with its serial replace Dan’s shoe boxes, and changed and that is Dan
number. Those were Dan and the company moved Murphy is very serious about
organized within the shoe box into the computer high tech his job and his parts.
by model number. The same world. With a current
was done for the parts. Dan inventory of just under
could look at his shoe boxes 100,000 parts, we’ve clearly
and tell immediately if we outgrown the shoe boxes and
the TRS-80.

Fast forward 30+ years, a new
location, many computer
advancements later and new

Administration

6 New Year’s Resolutions for the Office

Personal New Year’s resolutions are great, but have you thought of any for the office? Most of us spent
almost a third of our lives at work. Positive changes made in the office can repercussions in all other

aspects of our lives. The start of a new year is the perfect time to focus on what improvements can be
made going forward.

1. BECOME MORE ENGAGED
If this past year you haven’t been the most engaged worker, don’t fret. You can easily get back on the right
track. Have lunch with a co-worker, and learn a bit about one of your team mates. This should be a top
priority resolution because not only will you benefit, everyone around you will too.

2. EAT RIGHT
This is probably one of your personal goals, so why not carry it over to the
office? Bring a bagged lunch/healthy snacks a few times a week to start. This
way, you can pack healthy options instead of ordering out whatever you
want. Bringing your lunch will save you money, too! Along with eating right,
try to treat the kitchen at work right. Be respectful of coworkers’ items in the
fridge. And, of course, clean up after yourself.

3. GO ABOVE AND BEYOND
The position you hold could potentially grow into something bigger and better. This New Year, push
yourself at work. Do the extra projects you wouldn’t normally do. Small tasks will add up fast and make
you look like a new and improved employee and possible promotions could be on the horizon for you!

4. COMMUNICATE MORE EFFICIENTLY
This resolution is a must and you should work on both aspects of communication, speaking and listening!
Become more aware of what needs to be addressed and address it! You will feel empowered after a long
year of sitting back not contributing. While you’re at it, try to become a more attentive listener.

5. GET ORGANIZED

Some have had longer in their office than others to accumulate clutter. Use
the New Year as an opportunity to get your space organized and clean up
clutter. Don’t be afraid to purge unused things. Evaluate and revise your
filing system and don’t forget your computers desktop too. Often times it
becomes a dumping ground for unfiled documents.

6. GET POSITIVE
Work on becoming a more uplifting and optimistic worker. It will rub off on others in the office and help
with everyone’s mood. Be the positivity that your coworkers need at work. While you make a change for
yourself, you’ll be helping others change around you. Remember the “P” In P.A.C.T.!

Birthdays

•••

October – Brian Laborde
November – Aaron Michel, Joey Tubb, Kyle Bordelon, Mike Jarrell
December – Chris Cerullo, Renan Cuevas

Safety Department

It Takes Teamwork to Prevent Workplace Accidents

Workplace safety isn’t a one-person job. It takes teamwork. How’s your safety team doing? Here are some key steps
to make your teams more effective.

In a safe workplace, there are lots of teams working together.

• There’s your safety management team.
• There are employees teaming up with co-workers formally and informally to protect
one another.
• There may be a safety committee working as a team to identify and correct hazards.
• And then, if you’re doing it right, there’s the one big workforce team, composed of
all those other teams, working together to prevent accidents.

Keep Teamwork Alive
To keep safety teamwork alive and well in your workplace, consider these fundamentals:

• Make safety a priority. Talk about it every day and hold weekly safety meetings to discuss new information,
problems, and solutions.

• Keep your workforce informed. Make sure employees are up to date on any changes in policies, procedures,
materials, hazards, and so on. Ignorance is a dangerous enemy of safety.

• Provide excellent training. Demonstrate, discuss, practice, and review. Drills, skill building, and knowledge
transfer will mold raw material with potential into a tight-knit

• Select the right equipment. This includes both equipment like tools and machines as well as required PPE.
Make sure employees know how to use equipment properly—and follow up to make sure they dos.

• Emphasize employee participation. Get employees involved in hazard detection, problem solving, and
decision making. Everybody has something to contribute to a safer workplace.

• Encourage suggestions. Employees know a lot about their jobs, and if you’ve trained them well, they know a
lot about safety, too. Listen to their ideas for making the workplace safer.

• Reinforce safe behavior. Give positive feedback—and lots of it—for safe performance, and use feedback to
correct unsafe behavior and redirect risk taking as well.

5 Characteristics of Effective Teams
All teams share certain essential characteristics that make them effective. These characteristics are:

1. Focus. Effective teams are focused on the same safety mission—identifying hazards, working safely, and
preventing accidents.

2. Goals. Effective teams understand safety goals and commit to achieving them. Everybody on the team
works together toward the same goals to achieve success and prevent injuries.

3. Involvement. When teams are successful, it’s because employees all over the workplace are involved in
safety programs and in efforts to improve workplace safety.

4. Cooperation. On effective teams, members cooperate with one another and depend on each another to
identify hazards, follow safety procedures, and prevent accidents.

5. Communication. Because team members are interdependent, they must be constantly communicating,

sharing information, giving warnings, reinforcing safe behavior, and talking.

Marine Department and from St. John. Diesel fuel was hard to get,
and thanks to the efficiency of his Mitsubishi
Spreading the Love engines, the Capt. Vic didn’t miss a beat. With
the loss of his other vessels, Lewie Sewer of Love
In September 2009, Laborde Products was City Ferries is now building a new vessel at
fortunate enough to provide a pair of Mitsubishi Steiner Shipyard.
S6A3 engines for the repower of the ferry Capt.
Vic operated by Love City Car Ferries. The ferry The Grand Vic will be powered by a pair of
runs 10 daily round trips from St. Thomas to St. Mitsubishi S6R2 engines with Twin Disc
John in the US transmissions and Northern Lights generators all
Virgin Islands. provided by Laborde Products. The Grand Vic is
One could say supposed to be ready to sail and support the
this is truly ongoing relief in the USVI in earl 2018.
paradise.
However, with
the destruction
caused by
Hurricanes
Irma and
Maria, the
Capt. Vic’s role became more critical. The vessel
became the only ferry capable of operating after
Hurricane Maria as both Love City Ferries, and
their competition lost vessels to sinking. The
owner of Love City tells us he used chains to
secure the Capt. Vic to the dock! In the days
following the storms, the Capt. Vic was
transporting victims, supplies and relief crews to

P.A.C.T.

•••

The P.A.C.T. recipient for the second quarter of 2017 was Toni Popp, and for the third quarter was James Luke. Both
were nominated by several other Laborde employees as displaying the attributes outlined below. Any employee can
nominate a person for the P.A.C.T. Award. Nomination forms and P.A.C.T. Award Guidelines are available from Dan
Murphy.

Positive Attitude: The Laborde Products team is committed to attacking every situation with optimism and enthusiasm.
A positive attitude produces positive results!

All In: The Laborde Products team is totally committed to the success of our company, fellow team members, and
ourselves. Any action that helps the team succeed will be enthusiastically embraced regardless of title, task or time.

Commitment to Excellence: The Laborde Products Team is committed to achieving excellence in everything we do and
delivering an exceptional experience that exceeds expectations.

Trust: The Laborde Products Team is committed to operating at the highest level of honesty and integrity. We
continually build trust by doing what we say we will do.

Industrial Department

Industrial OEM Business and Engine Distribution

I recently re-read an old Laborde newsletter article from exactly 1 year ago. The theme was building
diversity into the Industrial Engine business and getting away from having too much focus on one
industry segment, in this case - oil and gas. Since the article was published, we’ve continued to become
more and more diverse, adding new customers with new applications. Many of these applications and
industries we’ve never supplied engines for before.

One of the things Laborde Products has struggled with in the past is high
volume engine distribution. Although we’ve had a few high-volume
OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in the past, a lot of the success
of the industrial department was built on custom packages, many of
which are “one-offs”. Although we still design and build custom
packages, these projects eat up a large amount of engineering, production
and management resources. If we can reproduce that package over and
over again, it’s a win-win. If it’s truly a one-off, we still turn a profit, but
lose precious time in resources.

Over the past 12 months, the Industrial Department has brought in new business from some major OEMs
that are buying in high volumes. A few of the OEMs are receiving loose engines from us and they’re doing
all the assembly and installation work. This is the classic engine distribution model. Others require us to
install engine kits, control panels, etc. Some even require some special components, like special mufflers
and NEMA boxes that protect the electronic control panel. The key is repetition and volume. Once we dial
in a customer’s specification and it’s fairly easy to replicate that spec over and over again, especially in
larger quantities.

The engine we’re moving the most volume of at this time is easily
the Mitsubishi S4S. This is the same engine we’re using on a 4” and
6” mobile pumps. It’s a simple, mechanically controlled engine that
is a work horse used in some CATEPILLAR equipment. Custom
Hydraulic Equipment Company is using the S4S for a grease unit
used in the oil field. Clark Systems is using the S4S in a water
transfer application in the oilfield. We’re also providing Akurate
Dynamics with a turbo generator version of the S4S to power a
spray foam insulation system. We’re now talking to a second spray foam OEM and a mobile steamer
application to name a few others in the works.

With some new staff joining the Industrial Department, 2018 will be a major transitional year. A large part
of the sales effort will be to continue to target and sign new, large volume OEMs. The opportunities and
applications are endless.

Houston working with the environment, and full
development team to customization to meet our
From Trailer to Taj Mahal finalize the details, needs. We will also have
After selling our Dezavalla with an expected plenty of room to expand as
facility to Marine Systems move in date of we continue to grow. There
Inc., a Kirby company in August 2018. were a lot of good laughs and
October 2015, with a mindset memories, that happened
of 6 to 12 months tops for a The new location will above the executive axles, in
new place to call home, we be an 18,000 sq./ft. the snowball shack and in the
have finally found a location building with a 10- half shop; and thankfully we
to break ground on for a new ton crane, but built are taking those with us when
Laborde Products facility. with the capacity to upgrade we move.
The Houston team has been to 20-ton crane capacity. The
building lies on 3 acres in an
extremely accepting of some industrial business park, just
less than ideal conditions, but off the intersection of Beltway
that time is coming to an end. 8 and Highway 225 in Deer
Laborde Products has decided Park, TX. This new location
on a new location and is will provide Laborde
Products with timely access to
Accounting our customers, a secure
industrial surrounding,
Did you know that….. comfortable shop work

Statistics Statistics Statistics
Mileage Injuries Sales

Laborde service techs drove Laborde Products staff has The largest sale in the 1st
approximately 35,386 miles in gone 531days without a quarter was $545,826 to
the 3rd quarter, consuming reportable injury. The last
Waterfront Services.
1,965 gallons of gasoline. reportable incident was on
04/14/2016, resulting in 7 light The smallest sale in the 1st
Laborde sales people drove quarter was $1.51 to
approximately 14,450 miles in duty work days. Hydroquip.
the 3rd quarter, consuming 791

gallons of gasoline.


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