Thursday, April 29, 2010

Nalco Acquires Res-Kem and General Water-Denise’s Story

On April 1st, I was fortunate enough to have sold my company, which I have been building for over 26 years, to Nalco Company. We are a wholly owned subsidiary now and our official name is Res-Kem LLC although we will continue to go by Res-Kem General Water.

As with every privately held business in America it is imperative to have a succession plan in place. As responsible business owners, my business partner and husband Bob Hader and I developed a business and team that would continue to thrive whether or not we are able to work. The team of people who work at our company are the best at what they do and I’ve worked hard to make sure no one was irreplaceable, including me.

I know things don’t always go as planned. I wasn’t looking to sell the business, we had a great 2009 in spite of the recession, but we were at a point where it was time to consider the next steps. These steps always include investing money in the business and it was time to consider all of my options. During the past year I’ve explored all the options and and was lucky enough to have been approached by Nalco during this evaluation.

My goals were to:
1. Continue to grow the business and secure the employment of my co-workers. As a family business, my coworkers include two brothers, a nephew, and many people who are like family. Those of you in small businesses know what I’m talking about.
2. Continue to take care of all of customers in the same fashion. We have a reputation to uphold. We are a business to business company but most importantly we’re a people company. We work hard for and like our customers.
3. Expand the company so rewarding manufacturing jobs will be available for the next generation.
4. Sell the company to people who would like for me to continue operating it. I may be in denial about my age, but I’m still not old enough to retire!
5. Make a deal with people I like – I had to like the people I would sell the company to.

So here’s the bottom line. I have accomplished all my goals and am excited for the future. As I said before the acquisition, we are not a chemical company. We distribute, service, and assemble water treatment equipment including service DI. I want to assure each of our customers using a different chemical company that we will continue to do business as always and not be bringing in the local Nalco rep. We are simply doing for Nalco the same things we’ve been doing for years – supplying equipment, services and SDI.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Nalco Acquires Res-Kem and General Water

It has been a very busy day at Res-Kem and General Water. All of us are being contacted by many of our customers after reading the news release about Nalco's acquisition of the Res-Kem and General Water businesses. All of us in Res-Kem and General Water are excited to be part of this organization. Also, as stated in the news release, "This acquisition improves Nalco's ability to provide customers with the equipment, supplies and accessories for a total industrial water solution in general industry markets throughout the Northeastern United States, specifically in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland."

Friday, April 09, 2010

Industrial Water Softener Skid-Mounted Shipped

I try to keep up with our shipments, but with all the systems going out recently, I missed posting this dual tank industrial water softener out about two weeks ago. Dual alternating, skid mounted, water softener, including PVC interconnecting piping, GE Aquamatic composite diaphragm valve, GE Aquamatic 962 series controller and isolation valves.
The system is a dual tank alternating, skid mounted, water softener, including interconnecting piping and isolation valves. GE Aquamatic composite diaphragm valves are used for system automation. A GE Aquamatic 962 series controller opens and closes the Aquamatic valves during regeneration. The tanks are epoxy lined carbon steel with an epoxy exterior and 100 psi ASME code. Face piping consists of Schedule 80 PVC pipe and fittings. Regeneration initiated by either gallon throughput or timeclock.