News & Press Releases

It may be patently obvious, but it’s worth bearing in mind – water is the lifeblood of the vehicle-wash industry. Without its ready availability, professional washes would cease to function. That’s why savvy wash operators know that they must treat their most precious resource with as much tender loving care as a conscientious car owner lavishes on a vehicle.

At first glance, it would seem that marketing a tunnel car wash would be pretty basic, with little room for differentiation: dirty vehicles go in, clean ones come out. In reality, the wash operators who look beyond that rather simplistic formula are the ones that can create a truly memorable wash experience that will help them succeed.

There are inherent risks that must be analyzed and mitigated when transporting liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, via railcar. Perhaps the most “noteworthy” or “fear-inducing” risk in transporting LPG is the potential for deadly fires and explosions that can result during an accident or non-accidental release (NAR) incident that includes a breach in product containment.

It’s an unavoidable fact of railroad life that at some point, most unit trains – which can be 100 cars or longer – will pass through a heavily populated urban area while laden with dangerous or hazardous materials. While accidents that result in catastrophic leaks or spills of hazardous materials are extremely rare – and becoming even rarer, according to industry analysts – a rollover incident that occurs in an urban, population-dense area has the potential to adversely affect a large number of people.

Tunnel washes continue to forge ahead and have made a comfortable home for themselves in the vehicle-wash universe. Since 1969, Belanger, Inc., has been a leader in developing innovative tunnel-wash designs that are able to deliver a better wash experience for the customer and the highest level of reliability, durability and serviceability for the operator.

At first glance, fueling systems at retail fueling sites appear to be nothing more than rough-and-tumble setups – a big hole is dug in which a long tube is buried before a heavy-duty pump pushes the fuel through the dispenser nozzle and into a customer’s vehicle. In reality, they are delicate ecosystems in which a number of finely tuned parts need to function in harmony to consistently produce the desired result.

OPW’s 125-year-plus commitment to providing one of the safest, most reliable and most efficient storage-terminal loading-arm technologies has rightfully positioned it as one of the acknowledged leaders in the field. The latest manifestation of its expertise in this realm came in 2019 when the company announced that it had performed a top-to-bottom reimagining of its loading-arm business, with the creation of three distinct OPW Engineered Systems loading-arm families: StandardLine, ProLine and CustomLine.

There are several critical points in the fuel-delivery process at a retail or commercial fueling site: ensuring the correct type or grade of fuel is unloaded into the correct tank, ensuring the entire payload is unloaded, ensuring correct volumes are delivered and avoiding product overfills are among the most common. While errors can be rare, they are also entirely unacceptable.

In the fluid storage terminal industry, hundreds of product-transfer activities that take place on any given day carry with them the built-in risk of a product release occurring. Product releases, especially if the fluid product is deemed dangerous or hazardous, cannot be tolerated in any form or volume because they can cause injury to those administering the transfer process, along with damage to our environment.

Per its mission to protect people and the environment while also enhancing business performance, Midland Manufacturing developed a Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) pursuant to the DOT-117/TC-117 regulation.

With all of the varying characteristics that need to be analyzed for loading arm systems, it can be hard to find a “one size fits all” solution that the bulk-terminal operator will be comfortable installing and using. It is at this point that the flexibility that is offered by customization enters the picture.

The members of the engineering team at OPW Engineered Systems like nothing more than packing up their measuring and surveying tools and heading out to a bulk-plant or terminal site where they can begin the process of designing and creating yet another best-in-class solution for a difficult fluid-handling challenge. Since March, “work-from-home” has become the new normal – at least for the near future.

OPW Fuel Management Systems is pleased to announce that effective July 1, 2020, customers purchasing a SiteSentinel® Nano® Automatic Tank Gauge will be eligible for 90 days of ClearView™ monitoring services at no-cost.

Receiving or making a fuel delivery seems pretty straightforward – a petroleum trailer or tank truck pulls up to the loading rack or storage tank and loads or unloads the required amount of fuel. In reality, there are numerous pieces of critical data during each fuel delivery that must be recorded, collected and reviewed if the delivery routine is to achieve its ultimate level of competence and cost-effectiveness.

OPW thanks all the local foodbanks that have worked hard to support families in need around the world, especially during these uncertain times. With many foodbanks reporting shortages, OPW has donated between $500 and $1,000 (USD) to key foodbanks in communities where OPW employees live and work.

A real-world example of OPW Engineered Systems’ unique ability to confront a complex challenge and respond with the optimum solution played out recently at a high-volume bottom-loading petroleum terminal in Kentucky. Originally built in the 1940s, the terminal’s truck-loading lanes had undergone a number of “on the fly” upgrades, expansions and reconfigurations over the years that had ultimately resulted in an unorganized and inefficient loading operation.

As regions across the globe begin to re-open sectors of their economies, OPW continues to take the appropriate actions and precautions to help ensure the safety and health of our employees, while also preserving our ability to operate.

OPW recently announced its winners for the Dover Sons & Daughters Scholarship Program, selected by a committee of college admissions professionals.

OPW is excited to announce the launch of its new Virtual Trade Show. This unique digital experience will provide customers with access to a series of informative videos and product demonstrations in lieu of the spring trade shows that have been cancelled or postponed.

The lifespan of valves that are used to control and contain bulk materials transported via railcar – whether liquid, gas or solid – is finite. As mechanical instruments, it is inevitable that one day they will begin to break down or outright fail, which will prevent them from adequately and reliably doing the job for which they have been tasked.