The Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport Show (WWETT) is the biggest trade show in the U.S. wastewater industry. Held in January in Indianapolis, Indiana, WWETT was the perfect platform to showcase the extensive jet nozzle product line of Authur Products. Richard Rauckhorst, president of Arthur Products, and Judy Coffman, vice president of the holding company behind Arthur Products, haven’t missed a WWETT show since they took over the company in 2006.
Flexible centering enhancements
This year Arthur Products presented an enhancement to its centering device line. “We added a larger diameter centering device to our kits,” said Richard. Reflecting direct customer need, the Cnt-r-KUT® CD-Max kit now features the new 8-inch diameter centering device for larger pipes in addition to the three-, four-, and six-inch diameter centering guides.
Richard indicated the enhancements resulted from Arthur Products’ close relationship with its customers. “Our customers said they needed a centering device for larger pipes, so we developed a kit with three-, four-, six- and eight-inch diameter guides that all attach to the same body. Then last year, we sensed big customer demand for a single-size vane kit, which led to the CD-Max Single kit we presented this year at WWETT.”
Many visitors to the Arthur Products booth were impressed with the flexibility of the centering device, which they had originally thought was rigid and made from metal. In fact, the centering device’s bendable guide vanes created the most buzz at their booth. The Cnt-r-KUT® family of products offers flexible centering for jet nozzles. Users can trim the flexible guide vanes to their needs, which are mechanically attached to the body for easy replacement. “It’s the only flexible centering device in this industry” said Richard.
Nonstop traffic
The Arthur Products booth received nearly constant attention from show attendees. “We talked to everybody, from the people who work in the drains to the presidents of companies,” noted Judy. “Customers were stopping by almost nonstop, interested in a wide variety of our products,” Richard added. “This is a very diverse market, ranging from the single user with a small cart jetter to the big trucks with integrated jetters, so product attention was all over the place.”
One thing remained fairly uniform, however. “Everybody was surprised we manufacture all our nozzles, and that we manufacture them in the USA,” said Richard. “Among the people looking at the products in our booth, there was a big drive for products manufactured in the USA.”
“We’d tell visitors to our booth, ‘Everything you’re looking at here was made in Medina, Ohio.’ That’s when the conversation starts,” added Judy.
In summing up takeaways from the show, Richard said, “The end user wants one nozzle to do everything. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. So instead, they’re looking for variety and adaptability. Arthur Products delivers that.”
