Inaugural Wellhead 201 propels Stream-Flo USA further on their Service Excellence journey
Stream-Flo USA has achieved a major milestone toward their goal of providing service excellence in all they do with the completion of the very first Wellhead 201 course.
Executed over four days at the Stream-Flo Derrington training facility in Houston, the inaugural four members to take the class were Zack Prugh (Indiana), Dakota Meabon (Cheyenne), Eddie Guzman (Beeville), and Dana Sanders (Hobbs).
All four techs came with their A game, says Stream-Flo USA Account Manager JT Norwood, who was the instructor in charge of the classroom side of things.
“The participation was great,” said Norwood. “These guys were hungry. Any time you’ve got to do something like this there’s death by PowerPoint, so during those PowerPoint presentations we got a lot of good participation, they asked a lot of good questions which then makes it easier for us as instructors to be able to give that much more to it.”
Handling the nuts-and-bolts part of Wellhead 201 was Stream-Flo USA Field Trainer Tommy Duke.
The training, which centered around how to properly use a lubricator to safely install and repair wellhead equipment, marked the full utilization of the recently finished training cellar at the Derrington facility.
“It was, man, probably two years or better in the making,” said Duke, who oversaw the dummy cellar project. “I started making a run at it and had a lot of preliminary stuff done in December of ’22 and then between December ’22 and the middle of January ’23 I suffered about five heart attacks.”
So, progress, understandably, was halted. After Duke had successful open-heart surgery and recuperated, he returned to work with no restrictions in March of that year.
“When I got back here in March Mr. Mark (McNeill) was coming down in May and it was on, the squeeze was on,” laughed Duke, who picked up where he left off and got all the required HSE approvals and bids in place for the cellar’s construction.
A critical training tool
With the completion of the cellar, Stream-Flo USA now has a new critical tool in their training arsenal as they move forward on their Service Excellence journey.
“We got some of the lead techs at the various bases to come and do this thing with the intent being we get them trained the right way — because there’s a hundred different ways to do this stuff but there’s only one right way — so we train them up on the right way to do things,” explained Norwood. “That way, when they go back to their bases, they can then assist Tommy later or whatever other field trainer is there to get guys signed off on the equipment.”
Our inaugural Wellhead 201 members get some hands-on training using the dummy cellar that is now fully operational at our Derrington facility.
Their journey toward service excellence is of the utmost importance in our industry, says Norwood.
“Service is king,” stated Norwood. “You can have the greatest equipment but if you don’t have people who can install it, what’s the point? Drilling and frac and all that stuff, at least for us, the reputation is built on the service capabilities and the competencies of our service technicians.”
Norwood goes on to say that the expectation is that Wellhead 301 and 401 are the natural next steps for the training group given the dummy cellar and possibilities it presents. Which is right in line with how our organization prioritizes this ever-important aspect of our business activities.
“Stream-Flo, as a whole, there’s a great importance placed on training for everybody,” said Norwood. “By doing that and putting that sort of emphasis on the customer relationship and then the development of the individual, that’s key. None of us get paid, we don’t have Stream-Flo, without excellent service.”
To make Wellhead 201 a reality and get the most out of the cellar he created, Duke had to source a crane for all the required heavy lifting.
After looking into how much a jib crane would cost, the idea of renting a mobile one was floated.
“I don’t know if you know, but man, Mr. Mark (McNeill), he doesn’t like renting stuff,” said Duke. “We got the cellar put in and he (Mark) came into town, and he came over to the training center and he said ‘Hey, Sean (Wilcock) told me you have an idea something about a crane, something different’.”
‘Find me one today’
The idea Duke had, and ended up pitching, was to buy a used off road or rough terrain crane.
Duke figured it would cost less than half of what a jib would.
So, Mr. Mark told Duke to find him one.
“I said OK, I’ll do that, I’ll get to work on that…he said, ‘I need you to find me one today’,” laughed Duke. “It was early in the morning so by late that afternoon I had looked at three cranes in the Houston area and zeroed in on one.”
Five to six weeks later, money was put down on it and the crane was delivered thereafter.
Duke then took a two-week training course to obtain his crane certification.
“It’s very functional and very operational,” said Duke of the 20-ton crane with a 5.9 Cummins diesel engine and 60-foot boom. “It worked out good.”
Stream-Flo USA Field Trainer Tommy Duke operates the crane during Wellhead 201.
Under pressure
In addition to the complexities crane operation adds to the Wellhead 201 mix, another important aspect of the training includes its emphasis on simulating as close to a real-world environment as possible.
Which means working under pressure.
“Any time that you’re dealing with pressure, even the pressure we were dealing with, water and relatively low pressure, it’s still dangerous,” said Norwood. “We started every day same way you would out on a job location, we had JSAs, pre-job safety meetings, identifying all the hazards, and always working in pairs.”
The current pressure of the lubricator is shown during Wellhead 201.
All of it not only helps make the training as realistic as possible, but it also provides plenty of teachable moments throughout.
“The expectation is that you’re going to fail, in the class,” said Norwood. “And that’s OK to do it in the class, because it’s a controlled environment, we can stop what we’re doing, back up a couple steps, talk about what was going through your mind at that moment, and then correct the action and carry on.”
That way, Norwood says, you aren’t making mistakes on site and causing serious ramifications, as can easily happen, with the loss of hard-earned stature and business always at stake.
“Service reputation is everything in our industry,” emphasized Norwood.
Board approval
A curveball the inaugural Wellhead 201 crew was thrown came in the form of the simultaneous board meeting taking place in the Derrington facility during the class.
“They were setting up the meeting behind us while we were teaching,” said Norwood. “That made it just a little bit difficult, but other than that the feedback was great. They’re (the board) excited to see more of it and excited to have more techs come through.”
Norwood says the scheduling mix up also provided a terrific opportunity for those taking the class to interact with some of our most senior members.
“It was a good experience all around,” said Norwood. “The technicians that wouldn’t normally have exposure to that level within the company, it was great. They were able to sit and talk with Kevin (McNeill) and Mark (McNeill) and a couple other board members. I think that was good for the board as well to be able to see the types of employees we have and the types of investments we’re willing to make in our employees.”
Because, in the end, it’s those employees who carry the reputation of the organization on their back every single time they go out in the field.
“You’re only as good as your last job,” summed up Duke. “Right, wrong, or indifferent.”
With this new addition to the Stream-Flo USA wellhead suite of training, and plans to expand it even further, the ability to consistently execute flawlessly and continue forward on their current Service Excellence journey, has taken a marked step forward.
From left to right, Dana Sanders, Dakota Meabon, Tommy Duke, JT Norwood, Zach Prugh, and Eddie Guzman, the first Stream-Flo USA Wellhead 201 graduates and their trainers.