State of the Nation
by E. W. Phares II
It is with great pleasure to report that our company finished fiscal 2010 with sales 16.5% ahead of last year and nicely ahead of our profit plan. Our consolidated pretax income finished very strongly, although somewhat behind plan, at 33% ahead of last year. In spite of the continued soft, national economy, sales held up extremely well in all divisions.
Sales and profits continued well in Canada, although our sales rate has dropped due to the cutback by one of our major accounts. The opportunities in the tar sand field look very promising, although we anticipate that we will be somewhat behind in 2011.
Sales have been slightly weaker than planned in Penetone during November, however, greatly improved sales in pulp and paper, coupled with slight increase in overall demand, excluding military, looks bullish for 2011. Activity in pulp and paper in Europe and the Far East has improved dramatically and we anticipate being able to counterbalance the drop-off in the military with our improvements in pulp and paper. Although our sales were somewhat below plan, we have been able to achieve our profits equal to the original profit plan. 2011 looks promising; an improvement over 2010.
Petron has had an outstanding rebound in 2010, and our sales and operating profit have considerably improved. All areas at Petron, with the singular exception of the cement industry are running very strongly with great emphasis on the Iron ore industry which is dramatically ahead in the U.S. as well as off-shore.
In spite of the continued slow growth in the U.S., most all of our markets are holding up extremely well and we are quite pleased with the results of 2010 and anticipate 2011 will also be a good year, in spite of the world economy. Heartiest congratulations and deeply felt thanks to each and every one of you for your contributions to achieving the results in 2010.
Sales rebound and profits follow
by John McHale
Petron had a very good year in 2010 regardless of how you choose to measure results.
Our 2010 sales rebounded from recession-affected 2009 sales by 38%. We saw robust growth in all facets of our business throughout the world except for cement in North America.
We hired highly skilled sales personnel in 2010 in China, India and North America. These tactical hires will help propel our sales even further in 2011.
Petron increased the strength and depth of our bench in Operations in 2010 by adding additional management and compounding personnel.
There was significant capital investment in plant and lab equipment in 2010.
One of achievements I am most proud of is our lost time injury record. We have now gone 11 years without a reportable lost time injury at Petron. That is a terrific accomplishment and one that any company would envy.
And last but certainly not least, our operating income for 2010 was 23% greater than our operating income in 2009.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Petron employees as well as all of our customers, distributors and suppliers for helping Petron to achieve the above mentioned accomplishments in 2010.
Focus on power generation
by Gerry Enroth
 First Energy’s Bruce Mansfield Power Plant in Shippingport, PASeveral years ago Petron Corporation made a conscious decision to pursue open gear lubricant sales in the power generation industry. The reason for the focus within this industry was simple… there are hundreds of mills grinding coal daily at numerous power generation facilities throughout North America and the world. Our initial focus was the North American market. Through continued sales pursuit, we now have customers throughout the world including the United States, Canada, China, and South Africa.
Our concentration within the industry is specifically on fossil fuel (coal) burning facilities utilizing ball mills in the grinding of the coal. Huge volumes of coal must be ground to a powder-like consistency to feed the massive boilers. The boilers in turn produce steam needed to drive the turbines that produce electricity.
Significant advances have been made in recent years to clean the emissions from coal fired power generation facilities. Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) mills are now present in most facilities to help eliminate sulfur dioxide from the exhaust flue gasses. Most FGD mills have an open gear drive and are excellent candidates for Petron open gear lubricants as well.
Petron’s user list for the Power Generation Industry has grown to over 25 facilities. Our most recent customer converted to Petron Gear Shield is the Bruce Mansfield Plant located in Shippingport, PA.
It is First Energy’s largest coal-fired power plant with three units producing a total of 2,460 megawatts of electricity. Twenty-four ball mills grind over seven million tons of coal annually to power the turbines, and they are all lubricated with Petron Gear Shield.
Our commitment to grow within the power generation industry continues today with new prospects on the horizon.
Penetone targets new market
by Bruce Muretta
Modeled after the West Penetone Inc. barn program, Penetone has launched its cleaning and disinfecting farm program in the U.S.
Phil Figdore developed a nonphenolic, non-glutaraldehyde, non-peroxide disinfectant, Penquat FD, to effectively combat Porcine Circovirus, PRRS, Newcastle Disease, Salmonellas, as well as other diseases. This product is a unique alternative to competitive products offering excellent stability and low odor.
We have identified the major market areas in Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio/Indiana. Dick Irwin has been hired to pursue the Iowa market. Dick is a veteran in this market and possesses strong selling skills. Chad Tennant is handling the North Carolina market while Mike Bradford and Leeside are handling Ohio and Indiana.
Jean Richard, Pierre Stewart and Doug Garnsey have been outstanding in assisting with Penetone’s program formulation. We are quite encouraged that the program will be a success.
Employee of the Year Awards - 2010
Administration: JoAnne Hegberg for Customer Service. JoAnne is consistently a pillar of reliability day in and out and really has held our customer service department in Edmonton together for the past year. We have had four people cycle through her department and she has handled and trained every one of them with a very professional attitude while keeping everything else running on the straight and narrow.
Sales Manager: Mike Nelson
Mike Nelson completed an outstanding year increasing Pulp and Paper sales $ 278,000 or 16 % above 2009. He achieved these results with strong increases in sales to existing customers and adding some substantial new domestic accounts. Many successful contacts and trials have been made with domestic and international customers promising future successes.
Technical: Charlie Good
A plethora of military products, namely Penair C5575, C5572, C5571 aerosol, and C5571 wipes, developed by Charlie Good over the past few years are now flourishing in the market place. Charlie always goes out of his way to provide help and guidance for salespersons and customers. As always, Charlie ensures Penetone product quality and ethics.
President’s Award
By Bruce Muretta
Kimberly Garrity Lyons wellearned the President’s Award for 2010 for her outstanding efforts in three major areas. She spent many hours with our insurance brokers to achieve a health plan of very comparable provisions as the previous policy with well negotiated premiums considering the outrageous costs in the market. General insurance coverage was maintained or improved in some policies with an overall premium decreases. During Kim’s first year of responsibility as legal services manager she handled the transition flawlessly greatly reducing legal costs for the Company.
New markets attempted
byPaul Hayden
The Western Industrial Division of West Penetone Canada has broken new ground in a field of chemistry never attempted before by West Penetone Inc. West Penetone began tackling the production side of the Petroleum Industry with the hiring of Ken Spearing as the Manager of Production Technologies in November 2010. Ken brings a multitude of experience in this field of chemistry having worked with industry heavyweight Champion Technologies and most recently Caradan Chemicals in the upstream side of production chemistry. With Ken’s leadership and direction, West Penetone is hopeful to gain a foothold in the very lucrative upstream chemistries market for H2S Scavengers, demulsifiers, corrosion and scale inhibitors, and other related technologies worth several hundred million dollars.
Since starting in November, Ken has made much progress. Ken has organized prospects, made contacts, had some initial meetings and has drawn up plans to get operational early in the New Year with new raw materials and field operating equipment. Please join me in welcoming Ken on board at West Penetone. We look forward to many years of prosperity and leadership with Ken Spearing at the helm of Production Technologies.
All the best Ken, Good Luck!
New Hires
In 2010 the following employees joined our organization and we extend a warm welcome to:
- Michael Reich – Production-W/P
- Fred Bolden – Packer-Petron
- Pascal Gauthier– CS Rep-W/P
- Jean Christoph Halou – Shipper-W/P
- Blas Hernandez – Filler-Penetone
- Melody Hickie – CS Rep-W/P
- Kyle Hintze – Prod Mgr-Petron
- Dick Irwin – Sales-Penetone
- Allan Lewis – Compounder-Petron
- Jason Liberatore – Sales-Petron
- Teresina Pucci – HR & AP-W/P
- Ken Spearing – TechMgr-W/P
Service Awards
January – March 2011 Congratulations to the following employees on their service achievements:
- JoAnne Hegberg – 10 years – W/P
- Stephen Sollie – 3 years – W/P
- Marcelo Bravo – 10 years – W/P
- Darlene Vogel – 3 years – Petron
- James Patrick Freeland – 3 yrs-W/P
- Jessica Zarate – 3 years Petron
Birth Announcement
Congratulations to Miguel and Jaclyn Martinez on the birth of their son, Joaquin, on November 23, 2010. |
