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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Unitech of Alaska Pallets, pails and pumps, shovels, sand and sorbent, containers, cans and kits — Unitech supplies it all, with a steady stream of good cheer Susan Braund Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
Tucked away in the trees at the end of East Dimond Boulevard in Anchorage is Unitech of Alaska, a warehouse bursting at the seams with environmental equipment and industrial supplies. Although there are no little Feng Shui fountains or soothing background music, the atmosphere is, well — it’s downright harmonious, thanks to the tight-knit crew that operates the business.
“We’ve worked hard during the last few years of turmoil to keep things going smoothly and continue building the business, which has brought us close,” says General Manager Debbie Hawley. “We’re like a family, a little family who takes care of each other, backs each other up — everything a family does.”
An Alaska owned and operated company since1985, Unitech was in a downhill dive after the death of a major shareholder until Don Rogahn, of North Star Wiper and Absorbent, purchased it in April 2001.
“Now we’re doing great! Don saved the company, paid off old debts and renewed contracts,” says Hawley. “He’s been in the industry for 35 years and has holdings all across the country. With his help we have stabilized and added lines, especially in sampling and filtration supplies.” Unitech operates with staff of four Once a 14-employee company, it now operates efficiently with four knowledgeable staff members: Hawley; Curly Arndt, sales manager; Dave Herrell, outside sales representative; and Garrett Miller, warehouse manager/custom designer.
Dave and Curly are an ideal sales duo: Dave is a former environmental business owner and Curly, a company veteran, has been called a “walking catalog.” From her office in the depths of the warehouse, Debbie runs a tight ship and dispenses good cheer. Garrett, an employee for seven and a half years, designs and fabricates custom containment berms and spill kits and liners from geotextiles that protect the ground under tanks and vehicles. Unitech also fabricates custom filtration systems.
Trained in oil spill response and hazardous material handling and response, the staff is often called upon to consult and problem solve with clients to determine the best approach to cleanup or remediation challenges.
Of course, with such a compact crew, there are always “other duties as assigned.” That’s where the cheerful part comes in handy. Solid service “We put the customer first, by providing attentive customer service, which obviously keeps people coming back. We’re a one-stop shop available 24 hours a day,” says Hawley. “We always have somebody on call after hours. Once, to help a customer make a deadline, we got the order ready, staged it, and would have even had it delivered for them if we needed to — we really do go the extra mile!”Products Unitech is now the leading supplier of environmental cleanup and remediation products in the state, with products from more than 100 companies.
“And, we’re always on the lookout for new products that help our customers,” says Herrell.
Unitech has a large inventory of spill control products, from spill containment through proper disposal packaging — the support supplies it takes to keep the oil industry running — from rags, bags and booms to a myriad of cans, containers and spill kits. Turning a corner in the warehouse or a page in the catalog reveals tents and tanks, pallets, pails and pumps, shovels, sand and sorbent — lots and lots of sorbent. — in boom, pad or roll form.
Unitech supplies sorbent products not only to the oil companies, but also to federal, local and state government agencies and the private sector, and has become the largest sorbent distributor in Alaska and is the only authorized distributor in the Pacific Northwest for the Oily Waste Bag, which handles dirty sorbents.
As an example of their diverse products and sizes, Hawley and Miller animatedly explain that they also supply zipper-lock-type bags for Jerky Jim’s Alaskan Homemade Beef Jerky — a shop favorite.
Winter doesn’t pass unnoticed around this Alaska warehouse, for sure. Unitech goes through four truckloads, or 296,000 pounds of Snow ‘n Ice, an environmentally friendly form of ice melter popular with management companies, hospitals and other public facilities. Fair pricing The company wants to outgrow its current location according to Hawley, “that would mean we are growing and doing well!”
Right now, however, pricing is everything. “We’ve taken so many hits from vendors on the price increases. Last years hikes were everywhere — steel, shipping, fuel — so the cost of doing business went up, she reports with concern. “It was horrible; we could not maintain a 90-day pricing list. There was a 47 percent increase due to economic sanctions and conditions in the country. We’ve had to raise our prices by 10 percent. Of course our customers were not happy, but they understood and know that if our prices go down, we pass it on. We want to keep our customers by providing the best price, the best product and the best service.”
Editor’s note: Susan Braund owns Firestar Media Services in Anchorage, Alaska.
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