Q&A with Bob Eveleigh, Lawler Mfg. Co. president

Recently, Mark Bruno, Plumbing Engineer’s editor, had the opportunity to sit down with Lawler president Bob Eveleigh to discuss the company's recent unveiling of the 911E Emergency Tempering System. Read on for insight into how the company developed the system in addition to its unique approach for bringing products to the market.

Mark: First, let me say thank you to you, Mr. Eveleigh, for taking the time to talk with Plumbing Engineer today. Many people know that Lawler has recently introduced a new product to the industry (the 911E Emergency Tempering System -- or "Big Boy"). I'd like to know how you got the idea for Big Boy - and so I thank you for agreeing to give Plumbing Engineer readers some insight into your product development process. 

Bob: Mark, thanks for asking - and I'll do my best to provide some insight, although my marketing team has never accused me of being "the great communicator." 

Mark: Well, we're on equal footing then. So, let's get started. How does Lawler approach new product development?

Bob: Many years ago a business colleague of mine told me his company was in a "constant state of recruitment" for new employees. It struck me then, that Lawler is in a "constant state of innovation" when it comes to new product development. Today we call our new product development process, Lawler's "Cycle of Innovation."

Mark: Marketing team?

Bob: Exactly. I might have called it "New Product Development" or something else equally creative. But the name really does accurately describe our approach to new product development.   Lawler is constantly listening to the market and that's always where the cycle seems to start.

Mark: How do you "listen to the market?"

Bob: Over the years, we've used a wide variety of methods to listen to the engineering community. Our headquarter staff has spent a great deal of time out on the road with our Lawler representatives and directly with our engineering customers. We have logged millions of miles and thousands of hours in discussions with engineers. We've also conducted telephone interviews with engineers who've used our products to tackle unique or challenging applications. But some of our most meaningful interactions have come from spending time with engineers at our plant.  We run our operation as an "open floor" environment. Engineers have the chance to see what they want, ask what they want and watch our valve testing process up close. This has been a great way for our engineering customers to understand that we're really working for them. We've used formal survey tools - and most recently, we've begun "Web meetings" with engineers from all across North America to share product knowledge, collect information through online polls and answer questions. 

Mark: What are the types of things you hear from engineers?

Bob: As it relates to new product development, our ears are tuned to listen for repeated, unanswered questions and problems that have no current solution. This is our "criteria" (if you will) for triggering a new product idea. 

Mark: Give us an example of something you heard that ultimately led to Big Boy.

Bob: Frankly, the first thing we heard from engineers that led to Big Boy was a complaint about the price of designing systems for remote emergency applications.

Mark: Imagine that!

Bob: Admittedly, that's what I said, too, but only at first. Because Lawler is committed to listening to the unanswered question or the problem without a solution, we got beyond the normal no-win exchange that the issue of price typically spawns. Essentially, their question was, "how do I deliver tepid water to an emergency shower/eyewash station in a remote location without blowing the budget?" That's a viable question. Every available solution in the market at the time put them in a position of getting their designs "value-engineered" out of the project due to the cost of large hot water storage tanks or long piping runs to places like loading docks, storage facilities, etc.

Mark: Okay, so, now you have an unanswered question in hand. What's the next step of the process?

Bob: Product research and design come next; however, the interactions with engineers don't stop just because we've picked up a problem to run with. Throughout the cycle, we're talking with the engineering community. Every engineer that has visited our plant in the last couple of years has seen the strange iterations we've worked through to ultimately arrive at Big Boy.

Mark: So, what did you do in the research and design phase with Big Boy?

Bob: Well, we did a lot of things -- including establishing a lot of "what if" scenarios, like "what if we could develop a solution that didn't require long piping runs; something that would only require a single point of connection for water and a common power source."  And "what if we could develop a solution that could stand alone - and even be easily moved on a pallet, for example -- if the floor design in the facility changed."

Mark:  Tall order.

Bob: Now you tell me. I underestimated what it would take to move this from an idea to an innovation. This was really an intriguing process, and I'm very proud of the unprecedented effort our team underwent to ensure every detail of this product solves all the problems engineers presented to us for this type of application. That leads us to the product development phase.

Mark: Would you share some of your most difficult moments in the product development stage?

Bob: Let's start with the hot water tank. At Lawler, we know valves. For Big Boy, ultimately, we had to become experts about "systems" that integrated various hardware and technology to arrive at the type of solution we knew the market needed. We consulted experts and did what seemed like endless research of tanks and heating elements. We finally determined that in order to have enough energy in the tank for the drench shower to perform properly, we had to heat the tank to 180 degrees.  But! We wanted the tank to operate off a common power source. So, our first step was to develop a 120 v. heater that would store 118 gallons of water with variable temperature control up to 180 degrees.

Mark: What challenges did you face when heating water to that high temperature?

Bob: We did a number of piping configurations with the heat trap to determine if any of the hot water was migrating to the cold-water side of the mixing valve in the system. We never stopped development until we had just the right design that solved that problem. In fact, this may have been one of the most unexpected challenges we overcame.

Mark: But there still have to be problems associated with mixing 180 F water with cold water.

Bob: No question about it. 

Mark: How are you overcoming that in this system?

Bob: Frankly, it's just basic physics that when you bring large quantities of hot and cold water together, there tends to be a temperature spike.  And in this case, we were starting with 180 F -- challenging the mixing valves even further. And, because this is a tightly designed system solution, you add the challenge that the mixing valves and the source of hot water are in close proximity to one another, which doesn't give the valve much time to respond.  So while the heat trap was an unexpected challenge, I knew that solving the issue of temperature spike would be the difference in bringing a safe product to the market.  I also think it was responsible for adding a whole new shade of gray to our team's receding hairlines.

Mark: How did your product development phase solve this tough problem?  The temperature spike problem, I mean. (You're on your own with the receding hairline.)

Bob: Mark, it was just a lot of good old-fashioned trial and error. Don't get me wrong, we had the computer systems capturing, crunching and calculating temperature spike, time frames, etc., but you can't replace a group of folks willing to sweat it out and keep asking, "what if we tried this?"

Mark: So what did you try?

Bob: First, we determined we needed to double-temper the system. Of course, we were confident of how our mixing valves perform, but to install another valve upstream of the 911 was too costly, as well as a safety and maintenance issue. 

Mark: Why the safety and maintenance concern?

Bob: Because we determined that just installing a mixing valve on a storage tank would not produce safe outlet temperature water below 100 F. So, in this case, we wanted to see every possible solution for ourselves. That meant we forged ahead looking at every imaginable iteration because we weren't after an acceptable solution. We wanted the best solution, and that was The Accumulator. Designed specifically for Big Boy, The Accumulator is a secondary mixing chamber with a series of baffles. The Accumulator really acts as a first-stage mixing valve in a double-tempered installation, but without the issues of pressure drop, failure mode or maintenance. It's also one feature about this product that I won't go into great detail on just yet, because it's critical to the performance of the system -- and is patent pending. The Accumulator is really the whole enchilada; without it, you have a great "attempt." With it, you have a safe system that delivers tepid water at the appropriate flow rate for the appropriate duration - whether the use is an emergency shower or eyewash.  Not only does The Accumulator promote proper use through the delivery of tepid water, but it also helps to address the appendix to the ANSI standard that identifies water over 100 F as injurious.  In conjunction with the mixing valves, The Accumulator helps to mix the water in such a way that it will not allow water over 100 F to pass through to the fixtures. 

Mark: I hope you will be willing to tell us more about The Accumulator in the months to come, Bob.  However, your description helps to explain the significant time, effort and expense that goes into solving some of the industries tougher problems, and it sounds like you have an early success. So, we know the final stage in the "Cycle of Innovation" is "Market Delivery."   That seems somewhat obvious -- you simply make it available, correct?

Bob: A lot of people think this is just hanging out your shingle with the "for sale" sign on it. At Lawler, however, we take one more step. Market Delivery is almost like that 100% test we do for every valve that goes out our doors. When we develop a new product, we do a 100% test with the customer, basically to ask, "did we get it right?" So, we've met with engineers face-to-face, we've taken the idea on the road, and we've conducted Web meetings with engineers all across North America to make sure we were held "accountable" for solving the problem presented to us some time ago. 

Mark: I know I've heard a lot of positive comments about Big Boy. So, is it safe to say your Cycle of Innovation works?

Bob: I like the positive comments, Mark, but the real excitement comes when you see it installed (as is starting to happen now) in a wide variety of locations, and it's providing engineers with a real solution to a real problem that we hope will no longer be the challenge it once was.

Mark: All the best to you and Lawler's new product, Bob. 

Bob: Thanks, Mark.  It was great talking with you.