Question & Answers with
Supplier Q&A: Mole•Master Services Corp.

Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL September/October 2019 Issue

For more than three decades, Mole•Master has been a leader in the silo and bin cleaning industry. Having provided services throughout the United States and in more than 30 countries worldwide, the company continues to innovate silo cleaning processes and technologies.

Headquartered in Marietta, OH, Mole•Master’s capabilities include equipment design, manufacturing, and testing. In addition to its Ohio headquarters, the company maintains a cache of equipment on the West Coast to provide efficient service in virtually any area.

The company’s trained and certified technicians can solve nearly any silo, bin, bunker, tank, and process vessel blockage problems using proprietary technology that eliminates human entry and maximizes safety and efficiency.

Grain Journal spoke recently with Michael Bailey, project and technical sales manager, to learn more about the company’s services and what’s trending in the grain industry.

What’s Hot

Our turn-key silo cleaning services are always hot. With companies downsizing and working with fewer people, they just don’t have the manpower and training to clean silos. So they call us, we come in quickly, and they don’t have to worry about it anymore. They don’t need to commit their limited number of employees to bin cleaning. It’s very common for elevator managers to contact us and say, “I just don’t have the workforce to handle this.”

More and more companies are realizing that outsourcing silo inspection and cleaning just makes sense. Recent years have seen a notable rise in injuries, deaths, and catastrophic events related to grain silos. In 2017 alone, at least 23 deaths were attributable to grain entrapments in the United States.

In-house safety training and certifications require a significant investment of time and money. Our company was founded on the principle of doing this kind of work in a safer way, and we continue to raise that bar. In fact, we have the only onsite training silo in the industry, so all of our technicians are always prepared for virtually any real-life scenario.

Grain Industry Trends

In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in popularity for a lot of the services we have been offering for a long time, and one of those is silo inspection. We’ve really seen an uptick in inspections, just as we have seen an uptick in silos having catastrophic failures and spilling grain.

Silos all over the country are getting older, and they have a limited lifespan. Many of them are even older than their intended lifespan. So it’s necessary to have a qualified engineer perform a structural inspection. They will determine if your older silos are structurally sound or if they are actually unsafe to fill completely. Oftentimes, an inspection also includes cleaning.

Keys to Success

The biggest key to our success definitely is our experience. We have been in business for more than 30 years, and in that time, we have completed projects in all 50 states and 35 countries. We have key employees who have been with us since day one. Our experience is second to none. When we arrive at a jobsite, not only do we bring tools and equipment, but we also bring the collective knowledge from more than 30 years of working on silos all over the world. That is our big differentiator.

Company Highlights

Our proprietary Big•MoleTM silo cleaning service will ensure that silos and bins are cleaned out safely, efficiently, and effectively. We also offer industrial vacuum services, structural inspections, confined space entry services, dry ice blasting, and pipe cleaning.

Our proven silo inspection process consists of:

• An extensive examination of the interior structure, including beam pockets.

• Sound tests to evaluate whether delamination of concrete has occurred.

• Thickness testing of steel cones and silos.

• Interviews with key facility personnel to determine usage history and intended future use patterns.