Burt Process Equipment is known across North America and the world for its advanced engineering and custom fluid systems manufacturing. The company’s clients have access to some of the country’s best engineers, master steel fabricators, welders, plastic fabricators, control panel technicians, and many other professionals. The company also puts heart back into manufacturing.
Clean water is critical to life, and Burt Process Equipment is passionate about helping to provide potable water to the world’s poorest communities. As the company’s principles are focused on philanthropy, people, their quality of life, and stability, it stands to reason that its team of over one hundred and fifty employees loves working here.
“The company’s core values allow us to focus where our attention needs to be—on how we run our business to benefit all of our customers and supplier partners alike,” says Dave Carson, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “We have the ability, the resources, and the teams to do what it takes to meet our customers’ needs.”
Burt Process Equipment is a leader in all fluid handling systems and everything related to system start-up, improving output, and diversifying capabilities. From pumps to instrumentation, flow and level measurement, and everything in between, the company offers expert design, fabrication, and implementation services. Burt Process serves a wide variety of industries including chemical processing, industrial manufacturing, food and beverage to oil refining, adhesives manufacturing, craft beer and wine, medicine, municipal water, pharmaceutical, and more.
Burt Process delivers for its clients by improving the health and safety of staff and end-users, extending system longevity, and saving time and money throughout the lifespan of the equipment. The company provides the latest technology for predictive maintenance and testing equipment, to eliminate system failures. The Internet of Things (IoT) means that the company is increasingly able to lend intelligence to parts and even entire systems in a way that was impossible to achieve before. Clients rely on the company’s team of experts, regarding Burt Process Equipment as a valuable business partner.
The company’s technology also allows the team to create equipment bundles from individual off-the-shelf parts. “That is a huge differentiator between us and the competition that we typically deal with, who might not be able to connect the dots through a whole process equipment solution,” says Carson. He explains that, in the past, the water systems industry was much more focused on separate parts rather than complete processes. Understanding how each element of every process integrates within entire systems gives the company a significant edge over lookalike operators. This approach has provided huge growth potential.
Over the past three years, Burt Process has expanded its services to the U.S. West Coast and Ohio.
“We service varied industries across North America and continue to have a presence on seven continents. Burt Process has grown from being just a Northeast-based company to a global player in handling worldwide clientele. Most of our customer base is still in the United States,” says Carson.
Today, many communities in these new territories benefit from state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facilities and other infrastructure designed by the Burt Process team. Carson also acknowledges, with much gratitude, the company’s supplier partners in each new area, who have met various challenges with great resolve and dedication, making its entry into this new territory not only possible but also hugely successful.
He also notes how good it was for company morale to have the team see and contribute to the expansion, stating that everyone is “really proud, and they should be. It is very motivating to see what we can accomplish when we put a plan in place, and the organization collectively works together,” Carson says.
Ensuring clear communication was the key to achieving this growth and long-term success, implementing systems across the company’s facilities. Continuing its transparency despite obvious challenges also became central to its revised mission. Instead of sending memorandums to its teams, senior management opted for video conferencing to share new developments directly. This approach minimized the occurrence of miscommunication and confusion and bound its teams together even more tightly.
Carson attributes the team’s commitment and mettle partially to profit sharing and the firm’s willingness to be open and offer them the opportunities and security they need to flourish. Naturally, this commitment to clear communication builds solid relationships with suppliers as well.
This culture of care continues to guide the company’s ethos and support the globe in its dire need for potable water. “Being able to help provide clean drinking water to people who don’t have access to it globally is where we are highly invested in our community as an environmentally responsible company in being able to provide that awareness, equipment, and support to help our fellow man,” Carson says.
To make this happen, the company partners with non-profit organizations, like Water Mission and Global Water Center based in South Carolina, that support underdeveloped nations in gaining access to drinking water by introducing varying levels of technology into struggling communities. Burt Process Equipment also supports the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center with an annual golf tournament fundraiser that has run for twenty-five years, and has donated $77,000 to date.
In line with the United Nations’ ten-year goal to make this its Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development by 2028, Burt Process Equipment is investing in the initiative regarding funding and sharing its extensive knowledge. “We have capable individuals here who can do a lot of great things for the world by providing engineering support, equipment, and general solutions to help the billions of individuals who don’t have access to clean, disinfected drinking water,” Carson says.
As a result of its company-wide commitment to the lives of others, countless communities have benefitted from Burt Process Equipment’s generous support, including places like Haiti after hurricanes. Selflessness is evident in its teams and in several of its suppliers who co-sponsor and invest in these projects.
Burt Process Equipment is accustomed to handling high-pressure, time-sensitive situations, so adapting to the COVID-19 situation was manageable for the company. Apart from remote working, it also implemented protocols to secure the best service for mission-critical operations supporting the health industry and those responsible for people’s overall safety.
Carson describes how every industry changed in different and often unexpected ways and how Burt Process creatively met so many new and sudden challenges, handling them in meaningful new ways.
“You had industries like the paint industry that did not have critical status. We saw those industries, specifically the paint industry, convert their operations from manufacturing paint to manufacturing hand sanitizers. We were able to not only provide the equipment but also work with our suppliers who fast-tracked that equipment to allow entities doing good work to move fast,” he says, pointing out how marvelous it was to behold such seamless teamwork in motion.
Doing the right thing also applies to the company’s energy usage, as it has since 2012. To this end, Burt Process Equipment is the proud owner of one of the largest solar panel arrays on a building in Hamden, Connecticut. Several team members also come to work in electric vehicles. Looking toward the team’s 2028 plans to double sales revenue, this conscious development and growth will continue to be a theme. Despite the global health crisis, the firm’s financial situation is sturdier than ever, putting it right on track to reaching this goal, perhaps even before then.
Part of its expansion plan revolves around developing existing staff and those who are new to the industry. “It is important to let young professionals know that companies like ours exist. These are great-paying and highly-respected jobs where one can contribute to the greater good, and if we invest in them, great things are going to come from it,” Carson says. Every successful job brings the same sense of achievement, from helping mom-and-pop outfits survive to dazzling Fortune 500 clients at Burt Process Equipment.
