When your product is selected for a great application, you need to beat the drum, tell the world and invite others to jump on the bandwagon. We have helped others in this situation by working with trade publication editors and encouraging them to feature the application in an upcoming issue. In some situations we have produced case studies detailing the applications. Ideally, we do both.

Why are trade press articles and case studies important? The answer in a word is credibility. Trade journals add third-party objectivity to your story. Case studies typically feature the customer and his or her impressions of the product, not promotional patter from company insiders. Prospective customers read comments about your product from people like themselves – other engineers, contractors and sourcing representatives.

School Maintenance Crew Fights Mold with VaporWick® Pipe Insulation
With plenty of warm humid weather from late spring to early fall, Memphis City Schools are challenged to keep chilled piping systems tightly insulated and dry. All too often their best efforts come up short and the schools have to deal with dripping water, stained ceiling tile and growing mold.

One response from school administration was to assign a special maintenance crew to fix what was said to be the cause of at least some of the mold – condensation from poorly insulated chilled pipe. In some cases the pipe may not have been insulated properly to begin with; in others the insulation was old or had been damaged.

To select the best insulation for the job, the maintenance crew assigned to the task held separate training sessions for two candidate insulation products for chilled pipe – a relatively new type of fiberglass insulation and expanded polystyrene foam. They had representatives from each manufacturer teach the crew how to install their insulation. After the two sessions, the crew voted for the one they wanted to use. 

Their pick: VaporWick® pipe insulation from Owens Corning.
Case History - Memphis VaporWick

Pink Foam Insulates Eagles’ New Nest
When winter weather arrives at the end of football season in 2003, SWOOP, Greenman and other avid Eagles fans may seek shelter inside the new Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. When they do, they may be wearing green from head to toe but it will be pink extruded foam insulation keeping them warm.

After 30 years at Veterans Stadium, the Philadelphia Eagles broke ground for a new stadium on June 7, 2001. Plans for the $512 million project include more prime sideline seating that starts closer to the playing field – 60 feet vs. 120 feet at the Vet – and larger seats with cup holders. The team expects to begin using the facility – named Lincoln Financial Field – in August 2003. The team is understandably pleased.

“For the first time in the 68-year history of the Philadelphia Eagles franchise, we will have our own stadium,” owner Jeffrey Lurie said. “No longer will we be a secondary tenant.”
Case History - Lincoln Financial Field

Slip Hazard Evaporates with VaporWick® Pipe Insulation
Housekeeping Director Patience Collins remembers what it was like before VaporWick® pipe insulation was installed in the back hallways at the Doubletree Guest Suites in the WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort.

“We were getting a lot of condensation which was dripping in the hallway,” recalls Collins. “The pipe was always wet and it built up a lot of mildew. We took caution by putting safety strips on the floor because we were having accidents but you cannot keep up with wiping the floor when you have water dripping down every two seconds.”

The solution?  Paul O’Rork, Corporate Engineer for property owner FelCor Lodging Trust, ordered the installation of Owens Corning VaporWick insulation for chilled pipe.
Case History - Doubletree Guest Suites

ELAMINATOR® System from Service Partners Insulates Project with WideBay Trussed Purlins
Service Partners thought they might have a problem when they were asked to bid on a job needing the Owens Corning ELAMINATOR® insulation system in Shelbyville, Tenn. The 121,000-square-foot pre-engineered building would have purlins on half of the roof – which Service Partners is very familiar with – but the other half would have a framing system recently introduced by VP Buildings, the WideBay trussed purlin. The job would be the first project using the ELAMINATOR system on VP’s new product.

Assured by Owens Corning that the ELAMINATOR system would work with the new WideBay trussed purlin, Service Partners bid the job as usual and got the contract. When it came time to do the job, Certified ELAMINATOR Operator Randy McCarron, the insulation systems project supervisor managing the job for Service Partners, contacted the Owens Corning Service Center in Florida and arranged to have a few special parts shipped to the job site. 

The result: The WideBay portion of the project was no different than the rest of the building.|
Case History - ELAMINATOR

Thermal Analysis Puts Insulation Project on Fast Track
You’ve heard the saying, “A picture is worth 1,000 words?” Well, Mike Davis says the expression is true when it comes to infrared images showing energy loss in mechanical systems. Better still, a picture may be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Davis is a project estimator and manager at Insulation and Refractories Services, Inc., Memphis, Tenn. He became a believer in the power of infrared photography and thermal cost analysis while working on a project with Vicksburg Chemical Company in Mississippi. Colorful images and a potential energy and cost saving analysis were part of a study conducted by Owens Corning Sales Representative Steve Campbell.

“Even though they knew there were repairs that needed to be made, the visual aids in the report really gave them a better understanding that the repairs were necessary,” said Davis. “The calculations that accompanied each picture also quantified the heat loss and let the customer know exactly how much could be saved by insulating that particular spot in their operation.
Case History - Vicksburg Chemical

Owens Corning Products Add Safety, Energy Efficiency & Comfort To Washington, DC’s Largest Building
Scott Weiss is no stranger to large construction projects. As a vice president at Kamco Building Supply, Weiss has visited many big building sites over the years. Still, he was impressed when he first saw the new Washington Convention Center in the District of Columbia.

“When we first saw the project, it was a tremendous hole in the ground,” said Weiss. “The excavation was so large the crane work and construction equipment actually looked like Tonka toys in there.”

No wonder. The new Washington Convention Center is the largest public works project in the District since the city was first constructed. It will be the largest building in Washington and is being built in the largest excavation in the Western Hemisphere. To get the space they needed without violating the District’s strict limits on building height, the 17-acre site was carved out to 50 feet below ground level. It will cover approximately six city blocks in the downtown business district.
Case History - Washington Convention Center