Maintaining the sulfuric acid industry

Any new employee of VIP International should be able to answer two questions after completing initial employment orientation: Who do you work for? And What do you do?

The answer to the first question is VIP International, and the answer to the second question is, "I look for better ways to do things."

After over 20 years of serving the sulfuric acid industry, this "looking for a better way" philosophy has made VIP International the premier acid plant maintenance firm
in the nation, bar none.

"VIP is as good as they get at what they do," said Jim Murphy, acid plant superintendent at ASARCO Inc., in Hayden, AZ. "What they do, in fact, is either keep you out of trouble or they bail you out of trouble."

A three-month study of VIP, based in Baton Rouge, LA, revealed that similar sentiments are held by every company the acid specialists serve, including virtually every smelter in the nation and many of the largest phosphoric fertilizer plants, such as IMC-Agrico and PCS. In fact, VIP customers are responsible for over 80 percent of the sulfuric acid produced in the United States.

VIP’s services run the gamut of acid plant maintenance, including tower inspections, element replacement and repair, packing installation and removal, distributor repair and replacement, catalyst handling, acid tank cleaning and neutralization. VIP offers maintenance consultation and high temperature entry as well.

VIP technicians are witnesses to a wider variety of acid plant problems than any one acid plant employee will ever see. This experience gives them unparalleled troubleshooting capabilities.

"We’ve become a kind of clearing house for people’s acid plant problems," Hoss Maddry, Vice President of Sales, said. "A fellow may have a problem at his plant that we’ve seen somewhere else. Chances are that we have an idea how to remedy the problem."

VIP employees’ unique access to acid plants around the country also carries with it a responsibility, Maddry said. That’s why the company offers consulting as part of all of its maintenance work. VIP also offers free diagnosis of most plant problems.

"If someone has a problem they’d like us to look at, we’ll send a couple of technicians with acid suits and compressed air out there to help them," Maddry said. "With a little help from the plant, opening manholes and maybe a light or two, we’ll check out the
problem and videotape what we find and give them an idea of how to fix it. And there’s no charge for that."

While completing work faster and more efficiently is paramount in the minds of acid plant managers, safety remains a key concern to VIP. Their belief that the employees are VIP’s greatest assets means the company cannot afford to lose someone to an injury. In keeping with the total quality emphasis, VIP’s safety innovative programs have resulted in a "Zero incident rate" and won them the prestigious "Eagle Award" for safety awareness and execution.

For more information, please contact Jack Harris or Hoss Maddry at 225-753-8575.