Editor's Note: Each week, Water & Wastes Digest will post an aggregate of business news briefs and networking news items to keep you informed on facility openings, business mergers and purchases, changes in personnel and award notifications, among others in the water and wastewater treatment industries. If you have business news briefs you would like included in this weekly round up, please email the press release, photo and a link to the post on your website to [email protected] with the subject line "Business News Round Up." One news item per company per week will be posted.
Krohne Opens Flow & Level Measurement Facility
Krohne Inc. announced its new flow and level instrument manufacturing and calibration facility, located in Beverly, Mass., opened April 23, 2018. The operations expansion in North America represents the company’s commitment to manufacturing in the U.S. The new headquarters facility will produce a variety of new and existing flow and level products, while continuing to serve as the main distribution hub to North American markets for all other products. Administration, sales, service and marketing, and a new training center also will be located in Beverly. The new production building will be interconnected to a new state of the art, two story office building, tripling the floor space compared to the existing facility in Peabody, Mass. Production and distribution operations will also be transferred to the new space.
Danfoss Drives Celebrates 50 Years of Business
Fifty years ago, Danfoss became the first company to mass-produce AC drives. In present day and looking toward the future, Danfoss Drives innovates technology that tackles climate change, helps cope with rapid urbanization, provides successful and sustained water and wastewater management, and bridges the lag between energy generation and consumption. Since 1968, its portfolio of application-optimized products and services has been designed to maximize process performance, save energy and minimize emissions. In recognizing the potential of connectivity-, motor- and system independence, Danfoss Drives aims to optimize systems and drives to ensure operators engineer the best possible AC-drive solutions without compromises, and find the optimum outcome for challenges.
ASCE Chapter Awards Bently Systems Engineer for Civil Engineering
Bentley Systems Inc., a global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, announced Thomas Walski, Ph.D. P.E., F. ASCE, F. EWRI received the Civil Engineer of the Year 2017 award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, Lehigh Valley Section (LV-ASCE). The award is given annually to recognize outstanding achievements and contributions of a civil engineer to the engineering profession, to the education and support of younger and future engineers, and to the community. The LV-ASCE Nominations and Awards Committee evaluates nominees based on their professional and occupational achievements including positions held, research, technical writing, volunteer involvement in the community, and aid to educational development.
Badger Meter Joines AT&T Smart City Alliance
Badger Meter, Inc. announced it has joined the AT&T Smart City Alliance. This collaboration will explore various alternatives to provide cities, large and small and with diverse needs and priorities, with access to smart city water metering solutions. AT&T and Badger Meter are working together on how AT&T’s extensive network and Badger Meter’s cellular AMI solutions can join together to help water utilities benefit from the collective leadership and experience in smart water metering solutions. Beyond the water utility itself, cellular solutions also create flexibility for a city. By implementing cellular networks, cities are not forced into a “one size fits all” solution. Cellular networks allow easy and long-term interoperability between multiple solutions, such as energy efficient lighting, “smart” waste management and improved leak detection in water systems.
American Water Announces 2018 James LaFrankie Scholarship Recipients
American Water, the nation’s largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, today announced recipients of the 27th annual James V. LaFrankie Scholarship Awards. The awards were distributed nationwide to 10 college-bound children of full-time American Water employees who demonstrate an interest in science and water-related industry occupational fields. The recipients are Danielle Hill of Florissant, Mo.; Devin Jones of St. Louis; CAroline O’Neill of Lexington, Ky.; Megan Purcell of Pittston, Pa.; Rachel Runzer of Mullica Hill, N.J.; Zachary Seals of Carmel, Ind.; Benjamin Sheridan of Philadelphia; Brett Towers of Williamstown, N.J.; Landree Wilkin of Orangeville, Pa.; and Henry Woodburn of Pontiac, Ill.
Plastics Pipe Institute Awards Members & Projects of the Year Recognition
The Plastics Pipe Institute Inc. (PPI) announced the winners of its annual Members and Projects of the Year Awards Program. At its annual meeting, which was held in May at the Coeur d'Alene Resort in Idaho, the PPI membership recognized five projects and five PPI members for exceptional contributions to the industry. Submissions in each of the association's five divisions are reviewed, evaluated and voted upon by PPI members. PPI is the major North American trade association representing all segments of the plastic pipe industry. Winners in multiple divisions for project of the year include Kate Olinger for PPI Building & Construction Division Project of the Year, Greg Bohn for PPI Corrugated Plastic Pipe Division Project of the Year, Heath Casteel and Mike Whitehouse for PPI Energy Piping Systems Division Project of the Year, Richard Kolasa and Tony Radoszewski for PPI Municipal & Industrial Division Project of the Year, and George Zagorski for PPI Power & Communications Division Project of the Year.
John Crane Acquires Seebach GmbH
John Crane, a global rotating equipment solutions company supplying engineered technologies and services to process industries, announced that as of June 13, the company finalized its purchase of Seebach GmbH, a German-based provider of engineered filtration solutions for use in polymer, oil and gas, mining and other high-end applications. Seebach GmbH, located in Vellmar, Germany and Pune, India, will complement John Crane’s existing filtration business, further enhancing its aims in energy applications, and providing solutions and capabilities to grow into mission-critical chemical and process industries.
Water Environment Federation Awards U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize
The Water Environment Federation announced that Braden Milford has won the 2018 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize, the nation’s most prestigious youth competition for water-related research. Milford, a student at Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa, Okla., developed a system using naturally occurring bacteria to remove heavy metals from contaminated abandoned mine sites. He won $10,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to Stockholm to represent the United States at the international competition in late August.
Networking News
- Honeywell appoints John Gugel as president of Honeywell UOP.
- International Desalination Assn. names Dr. Jim Birkett, Engineer Ghassan Ejjeh, Dr. David Furukawa, Dr. Emilio Gabbrielli, Engineer Mutaz Ghandour, Dr. Masura Kurihara, H.E. Fouad Makhzoumi and Engineer José Antonio Medina to its Honorary Council.
- NSF Intl. Awards Walter F. Snyder Environmental Health Award to Brian J. Zamora.
- PolyCera hires Amir Ali Giti as vice president of sales and marketing.
Do you have business or networking news briefs you would like included in this weekly feature? Send press releases and a hyperlink to the full release on your website to [email protected] with the subject line “Business News Round Up” for inclusion in this weekly post. Only one business news item will be posted per company per week.