Friday Fax
A Weekly Summary of Polywater® News of Incredible Importance
Issue #560

Tom Fredericks envisions an evolving marketing direction and a whole new species of profitable sales of cleaners to wind farms.
Charles Darwin
          Notoriously susceptible to motion sickness, Charles Darwin promptly vomited after alighting from the HMS Beagle following his transformative voyage of natural discovery.   With a stronger constitution but feeling no less enlightened following his voyage to a recent American Wind Energy Association conference, Tom Fredericks alighted back in Minnesota with visions of an evolving marketing direction and a whole new species of profitable sales: Polywater cleaners to wind farms.   Expect Tom to share his new insight into wind farm terminology.   You'll learn terms such as "up tower", which refers to everything up the ladder in a wind turbine, and "collections, which refers to the transformer at the tower base and everything needed to transmit power to the substation.   Tom will target wind turbine maintenance companies and wind technician training courses in search of leads and new product opportunities.   Join Tom on this quest for knowledge and new markets, where you'll also learn interesting facts.   One is that wind pushes the top of those towers around a bit, making motion sickness one of the hazards of being a wind technician.   Charles would not be amused.

Nacelle cleaners must be safe, easy to apply, compatible, and very effective--plenty of opportunity for specialization and innovation.
GE Wind Turbine
          Why is Tom so excited about wind farm opportunities?   One reason is that this huge growth market is still in its infancy; companies working to establish themselves now will be positioned for the long haul.   Another is that products in use today include generic do-all's like SimpleGreen and brake cleaners from the local auto supply, which aren't necessarily formulated for specific wind tower applications and may not be compatible with critical components (new product opportunities!).   Here are more reasons:
  • Technicians clean the entire inside of the nacelle.
  • They clean the generator inside and out.
  • They clean the generator brush box to remove carbon build-up.
  • They clean the gear box.
  • This cleaning can consume 4-5 hours of scrubbing per tower!
  • Cleaners must be lugged by hand (or tiny elevator) up a ~200' tower.
This means that nacelle cleaners must be safe, easy to apply, compatible, and very effective--plenty of opportunity for specialization and innovation.

The Friday Fax Editor's Joke of the Week
The Joke
                              Airport Tales 2.   Ticket agents reveal who's running our government ...   1) An Illinois Congresswoman called last week.   She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 a.m., and got to Chicago at 8:33 a.m.   I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.   Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.   2) A New York lawmaker called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?"   I said, "No, why do you ask?"   She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said FAT, and I'm overweight.   I think that's very rude!"   After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it, I came back and explained that the city code for Fresno, California is FAT (Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.   3) A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.   After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?"   4) I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?"   I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them."

Click here to View This Issue Online With Images
Click here to View Back Issues by Number or View Back Issues by Topic

Copyright © 2009 American Polywater Corporation -- Issue Date: 6/12/09

American Polywater Corporation -- The world's leading manufacturer of cable pulling lubricants, cable cleaners, and MRO & construction chemicals.
P.O. Box 53 | Stillwater, MN 55082 USA
1-(651) 430-2270 (Voice) | 1-(651) 430-3634 (Fax)
1-(800) 328-9384 (Toll-Free US/Canada Only)