Happy October everyone!
This week, we wanted to talk a little bit about why we started Alucast a little over four years ago. As a former driller myself, we have a unique relationship with the industry and take pride in working with drillers around the world.
With that being said, here’s a brief history of our past, and what we’re looking forward to in the future.
What Was I Doing Before Alucast?
I started out as a driller for 15 years. Drilling in 20 different states and throughout Canada from installing large diameter water wells, to drilling on the BIG DIG in Boston, to drilling monitoring wells off the Florida coast.
I also used to run a drilling supply store with 6 locations throughout Canada. Selling everything from monitoring well supplies, horizontal directional drilling products, and geothermal products.
For myself, it’s been a long career in the drilling industry.
Why Did We Start Alucast?
For every hole I was drilling, I was installing a cheap, poor quality manhole cover. It would upset me that I would work so hard and my hole would be represented with such a bad product. When I would come across an old site I work on, I would remember everything from who the client was, the struggles of the hole and the geology. The only thing that was a constant on all my sites was the rusty manhole cover left behind as my footprint.
After drilling my hole, I actually used to carry a tremclad can of paint and spray that on top of my well. I would be confident that my well protection would not rust over time. (probably wasn’t the best idea)
I recognized there was a huge need in the industry for better manhole covers, as every drill site in the world has this rusty eyesore. While I would be drilling, the environmental consultants would constantly complain about the difficulty of getting the bolts off, the general public would complain about the eyesore that these rusty manhole covers are. I understood it wasn’t just myself who had disdain for the industry-standard well protection.
At that point, I knew there was a demand in the industry for something higher quality, and jumped at the opportunity. A few years later, we now have manhole covers in over 7 different countries and 4 continents.
What Makes Alucast covers different from other well protection?
Plain and simple – the manhole cover doesn’t rust. It keeps your site looking clean and rust-free. I believe having a full pipe aluminum skirt betters any sheet metal skirt and really helps to secure the protection of your well. We are the only the company in the world that fully welds the top cover all the way around, meaning we don’t tack weld.
Add to the fact they are far lighter weight and heavier duty. They’re also easier on the consultants and other people using them, as the bolts are easier to take off, the threads are retapped.
We spoke more in-depth about the quality of our covers in our September blog: 4 Reasons Alucast Manhole Covers are Better
What do the next 5 years look like for Alucast?
We will be protecting wells in 40 countries. We want to continue to expand to water well protection as well. We definitely feel that there is a huge need for better well protection across the world, and it’s our goal to really change the industry standard.
We’ve got some pretty interesting new ideas for the industry as well, such as starting to explore new ways to integrate classic well protection with new technologies. A cool example of this is the creation of a digital technology that utilizes augmented reality to allow for site workers to easily see where wells are located. We’re definitely still a little far away from that, but without a doubt, we are excited about what the future holds.
Other than that – we look forward to continuing to create our high-quality products and working with drillers across the world to raise the bar when it comes to well protection.
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