When Maxwell and Olen McCutcheon started pumping septic tanks and hauling steel-mill waste in 1947 in Pennsylvania, they owned just one small septic service truck. Today, the company they founded – now known as McCutcheon Enterprises Inc. (MEI) in Apollo – is one of the state’s largest industrial cleaners, employing 125 people and running 275 vehicles, including 21 vacuum trucks and nine vacuum trailers.
As its name implies, this well-diversified company now provides many more services than it did a half century ago, ranging from industrial cleaning and emergency response services to septic pumping, roll-off containers, site remediation and a host of other environmental-related services. And its steady growth reflects a simple premise upheld by subsequent generations of the McCutcheon family: Bold is better than timid when it comes to growing a company.
CHANGE IS GOOD
By taking calculated risks, such as developing and investing in new vacuum loading technology or designing and building a waste-processing facility, the company – now led by President Calvin McCutcheon, Olen’s son – continually finds ways to better serve customers through innovation.
“My father [Calvin] and grandfather [Olen] were not risk averse,” says Chad McCutcheon, the company’s communications manager. He and his brother, Nathan, who oversees operations in Houston, Pa., and is part of the executive management team, are fourth-generation employees. “My great-grandfather, Maxwell, and grandfather, Olen, started with an idea. My father turned that idea into a vision.”
As an example, McCutcheon points to the company’s move to become certified hazardous waste haulers in the mid-1970s, when the federal government began implementing hazardous waste transportation regulations.
“My grandfather and father saw what was happening,” McCutcheon says. “That’s the point where the business really took off. They both saw that the new hazardous waste regulations would create a solid base for a waste-management business. No longer would companies be able to hire just anyone to transport their waste … they saw a boom coming and they needed to be ready for it.”
NEW TECHNOLOGY IS KEY
In the mid-1990s, the McCutcheons needed more efficient and powerful vacuum trucks to handle tough cleaning projects in steel mills and other industrial plants. So they worked with GapVax Inc. to develop a high-flow vacuum truck that could suck up heavy industrial waste over long distances and simultaneously pump it into tanker trailers and roll-off boxes for disposal. Then the company became one of the first customers to buy these specialized GapVax trucks.
Almost 20 years later, the McCutcheons still believe that investing in new equipment increases productivity and boosts customer service and satisfaction. A good example is the company’s recent purchase of three customized vacuum trucks, made by ITI Trailers & Truck Bodies Inc., which can quickly load drilling cuttings from gas and oil wells. Built on 2012 Peterbilt 367 chassis and equipped with low-emission, fuel-efficient diesel engines made by PACCAR, the ITI trucks feature 4,200-gallon stainless steel tanks, a hydraulic hoist for efficient dumping through a full-opening rear door and a 921 cfm blower made by National Vacuum Equipment Inc.
The powerful units enable the company to use just one truck on congested drilling pads instead of the two it required before (one to vacuum up the cuttings and blow them into roll-off boxes, and another truck to take away the boxes). That, in turn, leaves more equipment and employees to serve other clients. Moreover, because of the way the trucks are designed, they weigh less than conventional high-flow vacuum trucks, allowing them to carry larger payloads – and make fewer trips.
THE FLEET FACTS
The company owns many other pieces of equipment and vehicles, including five GapVax high-flow vacuum trucks (built on Peterbilt, Mack and Volvo chassis and equipped with 5,200 cfm blowers); a Freightliner equipped with a 2,800-gallon aluminum vacuum tank with a Masport pump, built by Progress Tank; and several service trucks – built on Sterling, Peterbilt, Mack and Freightliner chassis – with stainless steel or aluminum tanks in the 2,800- to 4,300-gallon range, built out by ITI, Progress Tank and Presvac Systems and all equipped with Wittig RFL 100 pumps (Gardner Denver) and National Vacuum Equipment Inc. blowers.
In addition, the company owns four 5,500-gallon, stainless steel tanker trailers, with manufacturers including Polar Corp. and Stainless Tank & Equipment LLC, and equipped with Wittig RFL 100 pumps; two 5,500-gallon tanker trailers made by Dragon Products Ltd. and equipped with National Vacuum Equipment pumps; three 6,500-gallon aluminum tanker trailers made by Heil Trailer International Co. and Tremcar Inc. and outfitted with Wittig RFL 100 pumps; four dump trucks (Mack and Peterbilt chassis with dump bodies by J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers); and 15 tri-axle roll-off trucks (Macks and Peterbilts) equipped with 60,000-pound hoists made by GalFab (a Wastebuilt company) and extended tails.
While the company’s roots are linked to septic pumping, McCutcheon Enterprises doesn’t do much septic work anymore. The company pumps and treats about 1.25 million gallons of municipal waste a year.
“We would absolutely like to have more septic pumping and waste to treat, but in recent years, MEI has had more success in providing other complete waste management solutions to our clients,” McCutcheon explains. “For us, providing septic pumping and treatment services is not about the money as much as it is about providing a valuable community service to customers in our local area. We get the most bang for our buck by providing other solutions, such as emergency response cleanups or hydro-cleaning with a high-flow vacuum truck. Another area in which we’d like to expand our business is in the world of restaurant grease traps.” McCutcheon concluded.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
Facing more competition and disposal-capacity questions in the late 1990s, as well as growing concerns over ever-escalating disposal fees and associated hauling expenses, McCutcheon Enterprises built its own waste treatment facility. In 2001, the company opened what is now a 58,000-square-foot treatment facility that can handle everything from solid to semisolid to liquid wastes from many different industries. Those waste streams could include sediment from a chemical-treatment plant at a local steel mill; chemical and sewage solids that accumulate in clarifiers and digesters at other treatment plants; and drilling mud and cuttings collected at natural gas or oil well drilling pads.
“But nine times out of 10, it’s nonhazardous slurry or sediment that builds up in tanks and pipelines at industrial facilities,” McCutcheon says.
The waste treatment facility can treat and release up to 160,000 gallons of wastewater per day (or about 58 million gallons of wastewater a year) from its biosolids treatment area. A waste solidification area can process up to 500 tons of waste per day, he says.
The facility offers many benefits. First, it significantly reduces transportation costs. Second, spending less time trucking waste to treatment facilities boosts productivity dramatically because the company can perform more cleaning jobs per year. Third, it generates another revenue stream because the company allows other contractors to bring in waste. And perhaps less tangible but equally important, customers like it because the company can handle all aspects of a job, from cleanup to disposal, McCutcheon explains.
“We responded to clients’ needs,” he says. “Clients prefer to hire one company to manage waste, transport it and dispose of it. It’s a cost-effective way to provide waste-disposal solutions to our clients. Customers reduce their costs, compared to sending it to a facility that’s farther away or to one in New York or Ohio … and when they break down their costs, they can see the savings gained from hiring one contractor as opposed to multiple contractors.”
The facility runs several different treatment processes. One process treats municipal and residual waste from sources such as municipal treatment plants, residential clients, manufacturers and the energy and industrial sectors. It utilizes screening and degritting, chemical treatment, separation of solids and liquids, and filter pressing, which consists of a series of vertical plates that squeeze out solids. The resulting cake can be landfilled, and the remaining liquids receive further treatment before they’re discharged into a municipal sewer.
The solidification process involves putting liquid and semiliquid materials into four armor-plated cement pits, where a solidifying agent is added. After the waste solidifies, it’s suitable for landfill disposal, McCutcheon says.
The company recently modified its solidification process to include waste reduction, which is a more efficient treatment method that yields less solid waste. In this process, waste passes through a rotary filter press, separating liquids and solids. The liquids are sent to another processing area for further treatment, while solids are landfilled.
MORE GROWTH AHEAD
Future growth remains in the company’s plans, as evidenced by the acquisition in 2013 of Myzak Hydraulics, a dealership for three equipment brands that sells hydraulic hoses, parts and valves to operators in the Marcellus Shale play and other clients. The company also offers oil and gas industry solutions, such as roustabout services and containment liners for well pads.
When does the diversification stop? “I don’t see a limit at this point,” McCutcheon says. “We’ve been around since 1947, my brother and I are going to be around for some time to come and Dad has no plans to quit anytime soon either. And we’ll keep adhering to Dad’s philosophy of people, performance and progress – that the best people perform the best work, which leads to continual progress and growth. So really, the sky’s the limit.”
MORE INFORMATION
Dragon Products, Ltd. - 877/783-5538 - www.dragonproductsltd.com
Freightliner Trucks A Div. of Daimler Trucks NA - 503/745-8000 - www.daimler-trucksnorthamerica.com
GalFab - 574/946-7767 - www.galfab.com
GapVax, Inc. - 888/442-7829 - www.gapvax.com
Gardner Denver - 217/222-5400 - www.gardnerdenverproducts.com
Heil Trailer International - 423/745-5830 - www.heiltrailer.com
ITI Trailers & Truck Bodies, Inc. - 888/634-0080 - www.itimfg.com
J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers - 888/777-2671 - www.jjbodies.com
Masport, Inc. - 800/228-4510 - www.masport.com
National Vacuum Equipment, Inc. - 800/253-5500 - www.natvac.com
PACCAR - 425/468-8216 - www.paccar.com
Presvac Systems, Ltd. - 800/387-7763 - www.presvac.com
Polar Tank Trailer, LLC - 800/558-9750 - www.progresstank.com
Stainless Tank & Equipment - 608/368-9663 - www.stainless-tanker.com
Tremcar Inc. - 888/442-4888 - www.tremcar.com
