News

Latin American Service Conference & Celebrating a Service Icon

Monday, April 23, 2018

Last week NPK welcomed visitors from dealers and end users across Mexico to participate in our second annual Latin American Service Conference in Walton Hills, Ohio. Representatives from Maqro, La India Mine, Mascota Mine, and Pinos Altos Mine came to learn about maintaining and servicing hydraulic hammers and pedestal boom systems. Carlos Salcedo Vazquez, NPK International Service Representative, led the classes and not only provided excellent instruction, but also served as a translator between our English speaking employees and Spanish speaking guests.

Lunches were catered by Back 9 Catering, and evenings were spent interacting with additional NPK employees who attended dinners at Brewster’s and Panini’s in Twinsburg. As you can probably guess from a particular photo below, much of the conversation outside of the lessons involved the weather. Unfortunately for our friends accustomed to a warmer climate, the weather wasn’t exactly ideal. April snow isn’t appealing to just about anyone, but it is especially rough if you are used to temperatures in the 70s and 80s. But as an unexpected bonus, a large number of NPK employees now know at least a little bit of Spanish… “Mucho frio!”

Tuesday’s class covered Pedestal Boom Systems. Attendees visited the Assembly Department to interact with a newly assembled pedestal boom to cover assembly and operation of the boom system as well as troubleshooting both the hydraulic and electrical systems. Wednesday morning they dug further into pedestal booms, focusing on gearboxes, with the assistance of NPK vendors. That afternoon they disassembled and measured a GH23 hydraulic hammer. Thursday morning the class covered hammer reassembly using the previous day’s disassembled hammer including cleaning, honing, and polishing of parts prior to reinstallation. Finally, they discussed how to use ECAT, NPK’s online parts catalog, to pull up and interpret various parts breakdowns and drawings.

This year’s service conference attendees also got to be a part of a special event while in town. Wednesday evening NPK employees, conference attendees, a few additional retirees, and a very special surprise guest gathered together for a Pig Roast celebrating the retirement of service legend, Dean Lewis. Dean has been with NPK for over 25 years travelling across the west coast teaching service schools, and assisting dealers with installations, troubleshooting, and other difficult repair issues. Affectionately known as “Dr. Booster”, Dean is the master of all things material processor and crusher, and it is well known in NPK circles that his baby was the M35 series material processors. His dedication to customer service and colossal NPK product knowledge will be sorely missed as he moves into the next chapter of his life!

The festivities began with cocktails after the day’s classes finished. As the rest of the troops found their way to the celebration location NPK president, Dan Tyrrell, called for everyone’s attention. He started off the Roast with a few introductory jokes, then introduced the evening’s secret guest. The look on Dean’s face when his wife Mary, secretly invited from their home in Arizona, walked in made the entire room tear up! Mary has been a part of the NPK family just as long as Dean; in fact, she even flew in with him for his interview all those years ago. Service Manager, Mike Rzeszotarski, then presented Dean with a cartoon caricature inspired by his baby the M35 and his beloved car the 2010 Honda Element, with a subliminal message to toss the cellphone and get out on the boat! Lastly, Dan then presented Dean with the traditional, engraved NPK clock and as the ceremonial portion of the event wrapped up hugs, cheers and tears filled the room!

Then it was time to eat! Back 9 Catering supplied and served the food which was absolutely delicious! The star of the show was the full pig which they carved at the head of the serving line. Sides included scalloped potatoes, sauerkraut, corn, coleslaw, rolls, and mini cornbread muffins. Dinner was followed by conversation, lots of laughter, and the delightful cake chosen by hostess, Jeannine Romeo who completely outdid herself. Not only with the cake, but with the planning of both the retirement party and the entire service school. Many, many thanks to Jeannine and the rest of the crew who makes these events run so smoothly!