Butterworth is a 95-year-old manufacturer of tank cleaning machines, spray balls and cleaning systems for tanks from 5 gallons to 10 million gallons. We service a wide variety of markets with sales, rental, service and support.
When Harris County and the rest of Texas sheltered in place due to COVID-19, Butterworth was one of the essential businesses allowed to stay open due to our contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The initial days were filled with anxiety, as we scrambled to stock up on goods we would need to keep employees safe and comfortable on the job, while working with our suppliers to ensure minimal disruption. During this time, I began to receive calls from customers who were also deemed essential. Like us, they had begun the difficult task of navigating this new world of shutdowns, furloughs and changing restrictions. Some customers wanted to make sure we were still open, some wanted to exchange stories (the good and the bad), and many were ready to do business.
As an active supplier to the U.S. government, we immediately received calls from our military customers. One branch that currently uses our equipment reached out to us for help finding a solution to an immediate shipboard problem. Another military customer contacted us about sending in its portable tank cleaning machines from the South Pacific for scheduled maintenance.
Many of our customers in other industries had the same idea and were taking advantage of this "downtime" to send in their Butterworth tank cleaning machines for maintenance, understanding that once the "stay-at-home" orders were lifted, they would be back in business full-force. Rather quickly, other inquiries and orders started rolling in. Our large base of industrial cleaning contractors have not slowed down and continue to buy and rent our tank cleaning machines and hoses.
Not all news has been good news, though. When the stay-at-home orders came down, we were in the process of quoting several railcar wash racks for various chemical companies through EPCs. The EPCs were quick to get set up working from home on Skype, Teams and Zoom. Customers' requirements for time and documentation had not changed. After about two weeks, these projects slowed down significantly as the EPCs realized that, while they were prepared and equipped to handle working from home, many of their suppliers were not. It was during this period of video conferences and teleconferences I realized how everyone working from home was taxing the communications infrastructure (and people's home networks). For example, during a conference call between parties in Saudi Arabia, Boston, Minneapolis and Butterworth's headquarters, I could hear the gentleman in Saudi Arabia better than anyone else.
It has surprised me how quickly many of our distillery, brewery and ethanol plants converted from consumer products to hand sanitizer, and we thank them for doing so. Our equipment is typically used in distillation columns, brew kettles, fermenters and storage vessels at these facilities. We started receiving rush repair requests and new unit/ parts orders from these clients as soon as the companies began to transition their production to these new purposes.
When the pandemic hit, our pharmaceutical and nutraceutical customers got busy fast and started to order tank cleaning devices to support their efforts. The most popular orders coming in were for our LT machines for large vessel impingement cleaning and our compact spray balls for rinsing smaller tanks between batches.
Finally, our railcar and tank-truck cleaning customers also utilized the time to catch up on some maintenance, so we saw an uptick there for our LT and K machine lines, which are staples in this industry.
Butterworth would like to thank first responders around the world who have risked their lives to keep us safe. We would also like to thank our essential customers. In the early days of the stay-at-home orders, we were nervous about coming to the office every day. You folks kept us busy and sometimes entertained, and kept our minds off of what was going on. We are happy to be of service. Whether you want to discuss your portable tank cleaning needs or just chat, we will continue to be here.
For more information, visit www.butterworth.com or call (866) 920-3233.