Company Profile
Mole•Master Services Corporation

Reprinted from Grain Journal January/February 2013 Issue

The phrase “Who you gonna call?” (made popular in the 1984 film Ghostbusters) exemplifies the question that companies want potential customers to answer with their name and service. When customers around the world need help with silo cleaning, bin cleaning, and other bulk storage cleaning and blockage issues, Mole•Master™ Services Corporation, based in Marietta, OH wants to be the answer.

“For more than 25 years, we’ve developed unique tools and techniques to respond to blockages and routine cleaning and inspection issues in silos, bins, tanks, railcars, and other vessels used to store or transport dry materials,” says General Manager Dave Laing.

“The problems that come up require speed, safety, and experience in getting back to normal, and we want people to know who to call to best meet their needs. Our full-time customer service group works to keep our name out there so companies think of calling us. And once we work for someone, they usually call us the next time.

“Silos and bins make up a very significant part of our business, and grain is one of our key industries, but we also service other industrial categories, such as power, cement, chemical, commercial bakers, and others.”

Established in 1986

Mole•Master Services Corporation celebrated its 25-year anniversary in 2011. It was established in December 1986 as a privately-owned, stand-alone business after its start as a division of First Colony Corporation, which generally recognized as a leader in silo construction and maintenance.

“During the 1980s, when the economy and construction industry were hit hard by a recession, First Colony chose to divest itself of the Mole•Master division, and in 1986, Mole•Master Services Corporation was founded as an independent company,” says Laing who has been with the company since 1991.

“Mole•Master and our sister companies specialize in manufacturing cleaning equipment, environmental and infrastructure drilling equipment, industrial vacuum systems, sewer jet rodding units, and in providing cleaning, inspection, and other associated services.”

Providing the Best Solutions

“Our family of companies operate as independent entities, but we also help each other out,” says Laing. “One of the advantages of being part of a bigger group is that we have access to more in-house expertise and manufacturing equipment to figure out faster, better, and safer solutions to getting things done. This has helped us create tools and techniques unique to our company, and as a result, grow the business.

“We don’t just offer cookie cutter solutions. We draw on our experience to come up with the best solutions to solve our customer’s silo cleaning and bin cleaning problems.

“When we go to a customer’s site, we not only bring along a game plan and a variety of equipment proven to be useful; we also bring an experienced, problem-solving crew that is skilled in the many proprietary techniques we have developed, and that is able to adapt to the situation at hand. At the end of the day, we are expert problem solvers.”

Experienced Employees

“We have a long history of experienced people,” says Laing. “In fact, two of our senior supervisors – Phil Proctor and Mike Wagner – have been with the company, since before it became a stand-alone operation.

“Another group, including myself, has been with the company for over 20 years. All of our supervisors have at least eight years of experience. When companies bring in a crew from Mole•Master, they know they are getting experienced professionals.”

Company Headquarters

Mole•Master is headquartered in a 600,000-sq.-ft. facility in Marietta, OH that includes manufacturing, research, warehouse, and office space for all of the subsidiaries of Alliance Industries, Inc. In 2002, the company moved from a smaller site to the current 140-acre location called the Reno Industrial Complex.

Although based in Marietta, a Mole•Master team, along with proprietary equipment packed in specialized containers, can be deployed rapidly anywhere around the world. “We’ve worked in 33 countries and sold equipment to and/or worked in all 50 states,” says Laing.

“We have equipment in seagoing containers that can be shipped anywhere, and we have equipment stored in different parts of the country for quick deployment. Depending on the location, we fly our people in to get to the job quickly, with some situations so critical that we charter a plane to bring in people and equipment.”

Growth in Manufacturing and Rentals

“In addition to providing our cleaning services, we have evolved into a c trusted manufacturer of bin cleaning equipment,” says Laing. “Primarily, we build equipment for use by our crews, but at one point, we realized that customers may have day-to-day problems that just require a little cleaning.

“Now, we sell and rent some equipment that customers can use themselves to deal with less difficult problems. The Mole•Master Junior 360o™ and Arch-Master™ Portable Auger System are two do-it-yourself pieces of equipment.

“The rental portion of our business has increased quite a bit over the last few years due to the drop in the economy and OSHA’s increased focus on silo cleaning procedures. Sometimes, it just makes more sense for companies to rent equipment rather than buy and maintain it.

“Other equipment and techniques incorporate proprietary technology. We don’t sell or rent these or provide details about how they work or what we do; we just provide results. One example is our Big Mole Service™ designed for difficult, large-capacity situations.”

New Training Silo Supports Safety

“A commitment to safety has been a keystone of our business from the beginning, and our company has celebrated multiple years of zero lost-time accidents or recordable injuries,” says Laing. “All of our technologies were developed to be efficient, but more importantly, to prevent human risk.

“Our people are well-trained and equipped to handle a high degree of difficult situations. Our safety practices and policies have been certified by many safety groups, so customers can be assured that we have the qualifications required for their particular circumstance.”

Mole•Master recently finished installed of a 36-foot diameter storage silo adjacent to its Marietta headquarters. “We invested in a silo, in order to provide the highest level of training for new employees, as well as ongoing training and development,” says Laing. “In the classroom, it is very difficult to make someone fully aware of the equipment and precautions required to work in the field, so we wanted to provide this additional experience, before going to an actual job site. We work at heights and in congested areas, so it’s important to simulate that environment during training.

“The new silo also provides an opportunity for providing refresher training, and it will be used to test and debug any new techniques. In the future, we hope to make it available for use by outside groups, for example in training rescue crews.”

Media Blasting Service

One of the newest services available from Mole•Master is media blasting used for cleaning, surface preparation, and erosion control.

“We work with anything from baking soda to dry ice to remove everything from paint to smoke from a fire,” says Laing. “However, we don’t use sand as a media, because it has been found to be a potential health hazard.

“Different media serve different purposes. Dry ice evaporates, so afterwards, the only thing that has to be cleaned up is what you are taking off, for example rust.

“We’ve started using a lot of baking soda in the pet food industry, because not only is it a very safe product, but it has been found to slow mold growth. That opportunity came from a customer who had researched soda blasting and brought the idea to us. We invested in the equipment and training and now have been doing soda blasting for about two years. We’ve done dry ice blasting for about a year. And we recently gained certification to deal with mold and fire damage.”

Routine Inspections Needed

“We see a significant need in the grain industry for more attention to regular silo inspections,” says Laing. “Other industries have developed regular inspection routines, and it’s something that is needed in grain, where currently some do, and some don’t. There have been silo failures, and many concrete silos are old and have had a lot of bushels come through them without much structural inspection.

“We now offer silo inspections conducted by a structural engineer to make sure existing or new vessels are structurally sound and in proper operating condition. Should a problem exist, it is always better to find and fix the problem rather than waiting and risking costlier repairs or worse.”