Taking I&I to School

Grout school provides a hands-on education to help fight the flow of infiltration

When it comes to training your crews and handling rehabilitation work in-house, you can learn some things from the contractors who serve your utilities. Frank Klima knows a thing or two about running a business, and training his people to do the job right. The president of Lake County Sewer in Willowick, Ohio, makes sure his people get a thorough education at Municipal Sewer Grout School, because it helps his bottom line. It also helps his customers’ manholes and sewer lines.

“It pays for itself in the long run,” Klima says. “If you have a truck — especially the ones we build — they aren’t cheap and can break if handled incorrectly. Just the basics regarding how the panel operates, how the packer is inserted in the pipe, there is just so much they can learn from the instructors. Every guy picks up a little something different from each school.”

The school is a joint venture between Aries Industries, Avanti International, CUES and Logiball; they teamed up to develop the two-day school to educate contractors and municipal utilities on the process of grouting. The school covers everything from mixing and optimizing grout performance to specification requirements and live demonstrations.

“We need to educate everyone about what they are going to be doing. Avanti, Aries, CUES and Logiball have the program down where it’s a teaching pro-gram. Whether the person has been in the industry forever or they are just starting out, we like the idea of keeping our team up to date with technology and anything else out there we don’t know,” Klima says. “The payback is there when it comes to that guy jumping on a grout truck and knowing how to run it to get the job done. The overall benefit outweighs the cost.”

For more information call 1-800-246-5988 or email info@logiball.com