Entex Technologies

On June 14th, 15 year old Mark Flournoy set off from Havre de Grace, MD on a 3700 mile bicycle trip across the U.S.  Mark is the son of Entex CEO, Wayne Flournoy, and a member of Boy Scout troop 845 from Chapel Hill, NC. He and 14 other young men have embarked on this epic journey as a fundraiser for the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC, and so far they have raised over $7,000.  The group consists of 10 high school students, 3 UNC students and two adult leaders.  Many of the guys on this ride are leaving home for the first time, pushing themselves to their physical and emotional limit on a daily basis. They are traveling without vehicular support, carrying everything they need for the 70 day journey in 4 panniers on their front and rear wheels. You can follow their progress across the country with live GPS tracking on their website www.cycle20ten.com, along with a daily blog and photos. You can also donate in their honor on the website.  Check out this video montage of the day they set off.

I get a lot of emails from engineers all over the world looking for help designing an MBBR or IFAS wastewater treatment system.  Many are seeking an easy design formula that can be widely applied and does not seem to be found anywhere in textbooks. It's not easily found because it does not exist.  The research and full-scale experiences with IFAS and MBBR technology are ongoing around the world and new information and ideas are published constantly.  Here at Entex we continue to do research and contribute to the water industry knowledge base all while adjusting our design methods almost daily.  New models and tools have come out in the past several years that I have tested and put to use in our quest to optimize our solutions for our clients' changing needs. 

If you are searching for answers to questions about these rapidly changing technologies, I urge you to register and attend the WEF/IWA Biofilm Reactor Technology Conference this coming August.  It will be held in Portland Oregon over four days and brings together many of the brightest minds in research, design and operations of fixed-film systems.  The technical program is available at the WEF website for previewing and it is impressive.  Rip Copithorn, one of the foremost experts in IFAS technology, is moderating a workshop on Sunday that is definitely worth attending.  The opening session with talks from Denny Parker, Mark Van Loosdrecht and Henrick Aspegren is sure to interest anyone in attendence.  And the papers and posters come from universities and engineering firms all over the world, sure to be filled with cutting edge research and hopefully some practical applications.  I'm particularly looking forward to Monday afternoon's session on MBBR and IFAS with papers from Marc Deshusses of Duke (the partnering university on our North Durham pilot study), Mark Steichen of Black and Veatch, Jamie Gellner of Hazen and Sawyer (who also worked with us on the North Durham project), Jim McQuarrie of CH2M Hill, and Hallvard Odegaard from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.  I'm also anxious to check out a poster on IFAS operations from our friend and neighbor, Don Howard at the City of Greensboro, NC.   

Lots of scientific studies have been done to find out what truly motivates people, and consequently companies.  Companies are really just people, after all.  This fascinating video from RSA points out some astonishing results.  The bottom line is that we as a company are not motivated by profit alone, we are also strongly motivated by purpose.  That purpose is environmental stewardship, creating innovative and cost-effective ways of treating wastewater and keeping our waterways clean.  Check it out, I think you'll find it worth your time.

And I must give credit to my friend, Gwen Bell, for bringing this video to my attention.

From Entex CEO, Wayne Flournoy

Recently I was having dinner with one of our investors, a bright, inquisitive professional whose career included a stint as a CEO of a well known social networking company, and one as president of Asia for a leading beverage manufacturer. He now teaches Business Management in his retirement at one of our nation’s leading graduate business schools.

Over the course of several hours, our conversation touched on a number of different topics, some personal, some related to Entex. He offered a number of business insights for the company, and we discussed a broad range of topics ranging from finance to marketing to the value of clean water. When I got home, one part of the evening resonated beyond the norm. What struck me in retrospect was how the conversation drifted to values, and those values we teach our children. It was a very personal conversation, touching on a number of issues close to each of us.

Reflecting back on our dinner conversation reminds me of one of the reasons I value my career in wastewater. It’s not a particularly glamorous occupation, especially not back in the days when I first joined, before “sustainability”, “green” and other buzz words became socially popular. Years ago I had a similar dinner with a senior executive at another company in the industry (who’s long since retired). At the core of that conversation, and most of what I remember of that night, was his revelation that what kept him in the business all those years was the people. He related that while there were some notable exceptions, most people were in this business for the right reasons, and were “good” people that he liked being around.  I had never thought about it in quite that way until he laid it all out so clearly. I’ve never forgotten that dinner years ago simply for that singular personal revelation.

As I reflect back on these dinner conversations, the recurring themes are remarkable, and worth repeating. In the end, it all comes down to values. Nothing else really lasts. Hopefully, we cultivate those values within ourselves, and successfully pass them on to another generation. Another generation of children, another generation of professionals.

I have had many other, similar conversations, some with other Entex investors with whom I’ve become close, some with other wastewater professionals who have helped give depth to my own career as they shared their own values and dreams.

Take a few minutes this week, find a younger colleague, or perhaps your own children, and spend some time talking about what you do, and why you do it.  Pass it on.

Welcome to Ripples, a new blog from Entex

Here you will find up-to-date stories and opinions on all things related to our company, our people, and our passion: the global water environment. We would love to hear your thoughts on the various topics we will cover here, some personal and some impacting everyone.

Entex is thriving and growing as we embark on our 7th year of operations. We recently hired a new engineer, Phil Beecher, who we will tell you more about in an upcoming post. If you’ve been familiar with Entex for any length of time you probably know we recently added an entire new product line, our FlowTex Filtration Systems, headed up by Heidi Rupp. We continue to be actively involved in advancing cutting edge technologies in the wastewater treatment industry through research partnerships, publications and presentations at a wide variety of technical conferences.

Clean water and people are what we care about and we hope you’ll join our blog community to share with us what you care about too!