The dry bulk sales group at Tank Connection has an amazing wealth of knowledge to assist you with your projects. We encourage our customers to contact us for assistance from the very beginning stages of their project. We can assist with questions such as:

• What is the most economical size (height and diameter) for my needed capacity?
• What is the most economical type of support for my project (i.e. skirted, legs, structure, etc.)?
• What is the smallest diameter tank that can utilize a truck drive through skirt design?
• Is it better to go taller or larger diameter for a bulk storage application?
• What is the largest diameter tank that can have a hopper?
• What can I do if my product is difficult to flow?

These questions, as well as a wealth of others, can be answered by the members of our sales team. We can assist with making sure your tanks are the most economically designed without sacrificing the high-quality that your project demands. Most people wouldn’t dream of designing their own car before going to purchase one… it’s not any different for tanks. Call the experts at Tank Connection and let us assist you with your next project!

Webbie / Web Stiffener / Web Truss

Call it by whatever name you prefer, but it is still just a cheap “erectors set” of bolt-together stiffeners.

At Tank Connection, we only prescribe a very limited use of webbies on stainless steel bolted tanks. There is no justification of its use that makes it a good choice for the customer, outside of this application. It is the cheapest type of support utilized on the cheapest liquid tanks offered in the industry today. To make this situation worse, the
use of webbies is out of control by tank suppliers trying to increase their profits by making the tank PDT (plate design thickness) lighter. In some cases, we are witnessing webbies used on every horizontal ring!

The adjacent picture is a “brand x” tank that utilizes a webbie support.

Does this look like a “well engineered support system” to you?

Progress

Following another very successful quarter at Tank Connection, I would like to let you know about what is happening in our quality department. Since this is the first quarter following our recent successful ISO 9001:2008 certification, you may be surprised to learn that we have been fine tuning the tracking, measurement and review of our major performance indicators since before we were even certified. The measurement methods have been scrutinized, enhanced and improved ever since the implementation started. The point I want to make here is that we aren’t waiting for a better opportunity or another quarter to make the improvements that we can make today. It is not another department, or another person or even another manager who is supposed to make an improvement. Changes are happening to our business system now and they are happening virtually every day. These changes will allow us to streamline our processes so we can eliminate work that is ineffective. We can make changes that make our existing processes more effective, and we can improve processes that have been a problem in the past. This isn’t just about the Quality Department. Areas throughout Tank Connection are directly supporting or are being impacted by these often small changes. Small steps, will lead directly to big improvements in the way we work each and every day, and will reach the bottom line.

Dynamics of improvement

When people make the right changes, for the right reasons the dynamic that follows will have a lasting and positive impact that resonates through an organization, a community, a country and as far as you can imagine. It is a privilege to work with so many creative and positive people who strive for excellence in everything they do. Every one of us should strive to be part of the process of developing better ways to approach our work. Ideas that may not even seem possible when they begin to take shape can become something great. Those ideas are being developed and cultivated right here, right now. The dynamics of continuous improvements that are currently taking shape will continue to expand and lead to more action that will be increasingly effective throughout our organization. As we take each step, the things that have limited us in the past can be overcome. As one thing leads to another, these improvements will make Tank Connection even more competitive on a global scale. The net result is that there will be a bright future for all of us.

“Tank Connection personnel are committed to the relentless pursuit of continuous improvement in all of our business operations to fulfill the needs of our customers.” Enjoy the journey!

— Matt Hamilton

Prior to developing our own aluminum dome product line, TC and our affiliate companies built a significant number of “other brand” domes. Although we did have some issues in fit-up and panel stain issues, for the most part we had few issues with other dome suppliers.

When Tank Connection decided to enter aluminum dome fabrication, we decided to improve every aspect over other products available in the industry.

The results have been excellent. Tank Connection has numerous aluminum dome projects in the field and a growing backlog. Under objective review, we have clients that have picked our dome design over the other “brand x” supplier.

As we have prescribed in TC literature, we think we can prove that we are building the best aluminum geodesic dome designs in the industry today. Compare our dome design to others at www.AluminumDomes.com. We offer some significant advantages:

• Heavier beam/strut design with flange stiffeners
• Best batten bar sealing design and mechanical attachment
• Best spun aluminum node cover design with mechanical attachment
• Best safety access design
• Expansion pier design (patent pending)
• Easily containerized & shipped worldwide
• Competitive price leader due to company vertical integration