It’s not every day that you come across a family who has been working in the same industry for more than a century. Thomas French, Senior Quality Manager at Kiewit Corporation, proudly proclaims that his family is an exception to the norm. He is part of the fourth generation in the construction business, with over 40 years of personal experience. Tom’s never been one to stay put for very long, so his career has taken quite a few twists and turns. Due to all the changes, he’s seen come and go, it’s no surprise that Tom is not easily impressed by every new product or technique that hits the scene.
“I’ve watched the evolution of different technologies in the industry, and certain technological advancements in welding and bolting, and the different disciplines of construction, are more impressive than others,” Tom said. “Of course, if you ask different people, you may get different things that impress them. But for me, there are two that stand out as the biggest impacts on our industry, one of them being Squirter® DTIs.”
Squirter® DTIs are an Applied Bolting Technology™ product. They expel orange indication media when a bolt has been properly pretensioned. This provides permanent, visual verification that the connection will function as intended.
“It makes it easy for everybody to be on the same page and for everybody to know it’s being done right,” Tom said of the Squirter® DTI bolting method.
These benefits are clear, but there are a lot of great products on the market. Why does Tom hold Squirter® DTIs specifically in such high regard? He has three main reasons.
First, he was taken aback by how such a simple improvement made such a massive impact on the bolting industry. It doesn’t take significant extra effort or money to add the indication media during the manufacturing process, making Squirter® DTIs an affordable solution for many customers. Yet the extra level of visual validation they provide is extremely valuable.
This leads to Tom’s second point. Unlike other mainstream bolting methods (Turn-of-Nut, Calibrated Wrench, and "twist-off" bolts), there’s no way to cheat when using a Squirter® DTI. During his time in the field, Tom has seen all kinds of shenanigans, such as bolts being marked as properly turned, even though they were not installed correctly. He told an especially concerning story about a contracting customer who caught their employees knocking the tips off “twist-off bolts” with a hammer after they'd been installed – a clear sign of poor job and absolutely no shame about it on the employee’s part. Even amongst those who use standard DTIs, the cheating Tom speaks of is prevalent. He once found someone flattening out the indicator bumps without so much as an attempt at installing them correctly.
All these bolting methods and the possible ways to cheat them create significant pain points for inspectors. Unless they stand there and watch the installers all day, it can be difficult to tell if the job was done correctly. Thanks to the Squirter® DTI indication media withstanding the tests of time and weather, inspection can be much simpler.
“There’s no cheating it,” Tom said of the Squirter®. “It’s either squirted out or it hasn’t.”
Finally, Tom was particularly appreciative of the clear instructions that accompany shipments of Squirter® DTIs. This helps make installation as easy as inspection. Plus, he had a great experience seeking technical support.
“When I called, Chris called right back,” Tom said of Chris Curven, Vice President of Applied Bolting Technology. “I didn’t have to wait. Suddenly, I got all of the help and the answers I needed for the issues we were discussing – and I got competent, knowledgeable people at the other end of the phone.”
For all these reasons and more, Tom became a loyal Squirter® DTI advocate. Wondering what the other technological advancement was that he ranks in his top two? That would be wire feed welding, because of the problems it solves in that part of the construction industry and how easy it is to learn. Looking toward the future, Tom says whoever modernizes and digitizes the Skidmore-Wilhelm bolt testing device will be the next person to truly impress him.
For now, he’s still happily talking up Squirter® DTIs. Tom reports that Kiewit uses the product whenever and wherever it can. Thankfully, he says customers usually trust their recommendations. But when they specify other bolting methods, his first response is to try and change their minds.
“Any job I’m on, you can take it to the bank, I’m going to be using Squirter® DTIs,” Tom said. “They give reliable results, the proper technical support to back it all up, and they’re proven – and I proved them myself! I know that they work.”
Tom has witnessed his fair share of Squirter® DTI doubters convert to Squirter® DTI lovers upon a job well done. His top piece of advice? Try them out for yourself so that you can see the value of Squirter® DTIs firsthand. Click here to request a free sample!