Easy Engineering: What industries do you think will grow in 2021?
JES Supply Company: The concrete repair and preservation industry has shown steady growth during the last several decades due to the obvious necessity to fund the rebuilding of the Nation’s infrastructure. Unfortunately, the pace is not keeping up with the demand. Aboveground infrastructure includes concrete roads, highways, dams, drainage channels, runways, bridges, sea walls, and more. Underground infrastructure (typically part of what exists above ground), includes drainage and sewer systems, communication and electrical wires (and their respective vaults), tunnels, subways, and more. Most of these systems and structures are built in whole or in part with concrete. Concrete does not last forever, and with additional external forces such as weather, earth movement, acidic soils, and groundwater, much of this infrastructure will have the duration of its service life cut short. Eventually, it will all need to be replaced or repaired. Currently we are concentrating on the repair and preservation of concrete and other hard surfaces, keeping an eye on the future.
E.E: What solutions do you provide for these industries?
JES Supply Company: The solution, in its simplest form, is a repair material that will provide a lasting repair. The ideal repair system needs to be strong, durable, quick to set, easy to use, and cost effective. This is where JES Supply Company is providing solutions to the concrete repair industry with new materials and application techniques for a large variety of aboveground and underground concrete structures not previously thought to be repairable. Most importantly, we offer an option that combats the tendency to use the cost of replacement or potential loss of life as the determining factor on whether to take action to remedy a problem. The products we offer truly remove a lot of the challenges that operations and maintenance professionals face when scouring their budgets. We offer an affordable repair solution that is fundamentally as permanent as a replaced structure at typically half the cost. It is also important to protect your concrete to keep it from becoming damaged. We have solutions for this, as well.
Watch our complete concrete repair transformation video of an underground utility vault at: JESsupply.com/vault-repairs
E.E: Tell us about product innovations and their impact on customers.
JES Supply Company: JES Supply Company is pioneering the use of thermal set vinyl polymers to repair and protect concrete. We call it FLEXKIT 5. This polymer when mixed with aggregates of various sizes will make quick and lasting repairs on concrete. Our FLEXKIT 5 repair product will cure up to 12,000 psi, which is 2.5 to 3 times stronger than standard concrete mixes. It will stand up to the rigors of highway vehicle traffic, as well as the stresses of landing aircraft. Cure times are as quick as 15 minutes in warm climates and within an hour at 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. It can be applied as thick as needed or feathered out to the height of the aggregate. There are zero VOCs, allowing the applicators to wear normal work gear, as well as allowing repairs to be made in crowded public areas. Once cured it is waterproof, it is unaffected by all auto/aviation fluids, liquid chlorine, muriatic acid, and many other chemicals. FLEXKIT 5 can be used to repair damages on horizontal, vertical, and overhead concrete services. To simplify the mixing and installation processes, the FLEXKIT 5 is sold in three different sized kits for these three different surface type repairs. The FLEXKITs contain all materials needed to make the repairs and the tools needed to apply the repair material and are housed in a 5-gallon metal pail with a cam locking lid for additional safety. The kit is designed to be mixed and applied and any leftover materials can be left in the pail along with the used tools and then discarded into the common trash.
Repairing the concrete infrastructure in this country will be a daunting task. Much of our concrete structures are beyond the point of repair and are at the point of required replacement. With a concerted effort to repair our damaged infrastructure now, before more structures require replacement, there will be considerable savings, not just as it relates to the cost of these structures, but the costs involved with the inconvenience and cost impact to commerce. In the future, materials will cost more and money will have less value. It only makes sense to repair. If we repair and preserve, we will be saving ourselves tremendous sums of money in the way of taxes, tolls, and higher energy costs. It usually takes less time to repair than it does to replace, which translates into fewer delays in daily commutes, eliminating unneeded stress on our society.
For more information on FLEXKIT, go to: jessupply.com/flexkit
E.E: What industries do you think will grow in the future?
JES Supply Company: We see the concrete industry continuing its steady growth related to growing populations. Therefore, we believe the concrete repair and preservation industry will continue to grow, as well. We are also seeing new technologies emerging that will compete with concrete. We also believe asphalt preservation is an up-and-coming industry that we are also looking at with cautious optimism.
E.E: What solutions do you bring for these changing industries?
JES Supply Company: Our R&D department is currently testing materials that will restore the pH value of failing concrete, helping to prolong its life. Other materials are being tested that will penetrate the concrete and stop any rusting of the structural rebar. This is a game changer, as the rusting of rebar within the concrete is a large contributor to the failure of concrete structures. Or R&D is showing very promising results with a couple of new products that we believe could replace many cementitious materials such as cement, mortar, stucco, and other like materials. These products will perform as well as concrete and in several applications they will outperform concrete. They have as high or higher psi values and a lower carbon footprint, making it a very favorable option even if at a higher initial cost. We are also performing R&D on several materials that will help with asphalt preservation by protecting it from the elements that cause its decay and are also testing cost effective ways of applying these materials.
E.E: How will you adapt your solutions for the future?
JES Supply Company: Every problem has a solution. As new issues arise in the concrete repair and preservation industry, we will strive to find the best solutions. We will continue our research and development to find the best products, materials, and application methods for the repair and preservation of concrete and other materials. We believe we have the best solution for many concrete applications, and part of our research includes expanding the material’s utilization for the repair of items not usually considered. In addition to concrete, our FLEXKIT 5 material can be used on steel, wood, asphalt, and fiberglass. Ultimately, as our repair products are embraced and employed on a larger scale, adapting to the need will inspire solutions for replicating processes as part of the normal evolution of how infrastructure challenges are contained.
E.E: How will these solutions benefit users?
JES Supply Company: In a nutshell? By saving users time and money. New solutions usually bring superior products, in a quicker time frame, with less hassle. The irony here is that these solutions do not just benefit property owners. Everyone who contributes to the tax base is ultimately a user. It cannot be emphasized enough the savings that comes with a commitment to the identification of infrastructure that can still be repaired and making repairs before it is too late.
E.E: The industrial internet of things is seen as the future. What solutions do you provide and how does this impact you?
JES Supply Company: The industrial internet represents a more systematic, focused, and higher performing use of managed data, which is the foundation of information. Information is an essential component of knowledge, and knowledge is power. As the ability to organize data and integrate it with the skills we have acquired through our R&D efforts, the positive impact is profound, and most assuredly a necessary component in staying relevant in the space in which we operate. Fundamentally, the solutions we provide are “where the rubber meets the road,” as they say, as it relates to solving a serious problem with crumbling infrastructure. Advancements in technology will merely serve to expedite the implementation of these solutions through the connection of frontline operations/maintenance providers with products available today and into the future.
E.E: How do you think 5G will improve industrial processes?
JES Supply Company: Speed. Speed is essential in providing good quality service and arguably the opportunity for the legitimate comparison of products best suited to specific applications. As it relates to repairing infrastructure, the mere magnitude of the need could be made less daunting due to the agility and speed that 5G is expected to make possible.
Contact JES Supply Company at: sales@JESsupply.com | (702) 827-5695 | JESsupply.com