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PERMATANK®
Newberry’s PERMATANK® Saves the Day During Fiberglass Shortage
About The Company
A well-known convenience/gasoline retailer with more than 850 stores across 11 states and over 24,000 employees has strategic growth plans to continue to build market share through targeted, high-volume locations and an unwavering commitment to customer service.
The Solution
While many corporations delayed new development during the Covid shutdowns, this company refused to lose momentum. But in the middle of an uptick in construction of new stores, they faced a major hurdle—no fuel tanks. And with 2021 demand for fiberglass at an all-time high and supply at a critical low, not only did pricing soar, but lead times pushed to ridiculous limits.
Unprecedented demand in the pool industry, pandemic-related slowdowns, and the catastrophic Texas freeze that decimated the majority of resin capacity in the United States all converged to severely disable fiberglass production. Matched with nationwide labor and transportation shortages and the already limited availability of having only one domestic fiberglass source, the outlook was grim. Simply put, no tanks meant no growth, and no growth was not a fate they were willing to accept without a fight. “An already hard-to-swallow ten-week lead time was pushed to 20 weeks, then 35, then nearly a year,” the Construction Manager explains. “This would have halted our progress on new construction in its tracks, but we simply refused to accept delays on our projects, which would have happened if we’d dug our heels in on fiberglass.” So instead, the company stepped outside of the box, looking beyond fiberglass tanks for a viable solution—one that could ease their immediate crisis and one that could be a staple moving forward.
“This supply chain disruption was all very eye-opening for us, and we realized the vulnerability of putting all of our eggs in one basket. It made sense to diversify our suppliers to avoid the pitfalls of such future market fluctuations and supply chain issues,” he says. “That’s when we began considering an option not installed in our gasoline retail stores in over 35 years.”
Inventory
With no fiberglass tanks to be had, the company had to steel themselves for a shift in resources to. . . well, steel. Reconsidering steel first required a bit of due diligence. They revisited a few of their existing sites that still had steel tanks from years past to assess the tanks’ current condition, dropping in a camera to determine the levels of corrosion present. What they observed left them pleasantly surprised. The tanks were in excellent condition, clean and structurally sound, and this shot of confidence spurred them to continue investigating the advantages of a switch to steel underground storage tanks (USTs).
“The company spoke with a handful of steel tank manufacturers and liked the easy communication and responsiveness they found at Newberry Tanks.”
Newberry’s Vice President of Sales, James Fischer, explains how they met to understand the scope of needs, applicable timelines, and the parameters of a partnership moving forward. Newberry was thrilled to re-introduce the company executives to the exciting new innovations available with steel by way of their Permatank®, a double-wall jacketed storage tank that features an inner steel tank wrapped with a corrosion-resistant fiberglass shell. The laundry list of advantages proves steel is more than an alternative—it’s a go-to.
The unique design of the Permatank® marries the structural strength of the internal steel tank with the corrosion protection of the outer wall of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. A uniform interstitial space between the inner and outer tanks allows for rapid detection of leaks and meets the EPA’s regulations for leak detection. Designed with a shorter footprint than fiberglass tanks of the same capacity, the Permatank® requires less available real estate, making it the feasible option for ultimate flexibility in site layout, as well as requiring less backfilling, thereby reducing the cost of labor and installation. In light of ever-evolving ethanol and biodiesel fuels, steel tanks provide total compatibility with fuel chemistry while fiberglass versions could lead to unanticipated and even negative reactions between the tank and fuel. Looking forward, steel tanks provide the promise of a monetary and environmental return as these tanks are 100% recyclable and sustainable.
Tim O’Toole, Executive Vice President of the Steel Tank Institute/Steel Plate Fabricators Association (STI/SPFA), touts the benefits of steel, saying, “Steel tanks last the test of time. The strength, sustainability, and lifetime value of steel tanks are unmatched.”
If the benefits of steel aren’t enough, Newberry also offers an internal Preferred Customer Program with planned build-outs and on-site inventory for on-demand access to tanks, including Fireguard® UL2085 Tanks and Vertical & API Tanks, with order fulfillment in only 24-48 hours versus the industry’s extended lead times. “Not only can we ship needed product within a slim window, as one order is fulfilled, an immediate replenishment initiates, ensuring that Newberry is always ready to meet and stay ahead of the need, helping customers solidify their competitive edge,” says Fischer. “While this model is capital-intensive for us, it pays dividends when we are able to meet the growing demand of our client base and enable them to grow both internally and externally.”
Through their timely collaboration with Newberry, the company enthuses, “Our lead times were slashed by 70%, going from an expected 40-50 weeks for product to a manageable 12-15 weeks. The steel Permatank® has gained traction in our operations and provided definite advantages in our future growth plans. We’re just getting started.”
“Not only can we ship needed product within a slim window, as one order is fulfilled, an immediate replenishment initiates, ensuring that Newberry is always ready to meet and stay ahead of the need, helping customers solidify their competitive edge.”
James Fischer Vice President of Sales
