Case study: Heavy Equipment Services

We offer paint, sandblasting and body-work services for all makes and models of heavy equipment, attachments, trucks, and trailers, said Heavy Equipment Services Manager Jeremy Lapka. “We’ll work on a single machine or your entire fleet. Our goal is to be the ‘go-to' paint shop, not only for RoadBuilders but for all heavy equipment in the area.”

Located at 1000 S. Mill St. in Kansas City, Kan. Heavy Equipment Services is just a few blocks from RoadBuilders’ headquarters. In addition to Lapka, key people in the operation include shop Foreman Steve Horning, longtime painter Ron Johnson and painter/sandblaster John Denton.

In addition to equipment and trucks, we can perform a wide range of other paint jobs, including pipe, signs and lawn furniture. If its metal, we can sandblast it, paint it and make it look like new.

We were using a Nova 2000 helmet for some time and just did not like the small viewing window. There was almost no peripheral view, blaster would have to turn his entire body to look a few feet to one side. Much like the Michael Keaton version batman suit. Another complaint was the amount of noise that still can be heard with the helmet on.

I had a good relationship with a salesman at Canfield & Joseph in Kansas City, and he turned me on to the Nova 3. The minute I put it on, I noticed how much more viewing window was in the helmet. I liked it but did not want to pull the trigger on buying a new helmet since our Nova 2000 was still in working condition. A few months later the salesman let me know about a promotion RPB was running with the purchase of the Nova 3 and I decided to go ahead and get the helmet. I am happy he let me know about the promotion and getting me into this helmet.

The noise reduction on the Nova 3 compared to our old helmet is almost night and day. When I first used it to blast I could not tell if the pot had engaged or not. Cuts out so many dB’s it’s so much better for the ears. The greater viewing window allows the user so much more line of sight, which I feel, makes it safer when the blaster is moving around projects and causes less fatigue by not having to move the head and body up, down and around to see what is going on.

It was a morale booster. My blaster was happy that he had a new piece of equipment. He said the new helmet made it easier to see what had been blasted and what needed to be. My blaster commented on not having to move his neck and body so much to see where he was going, which made his neck less sore by the end of the day.

If you are near a distributor of RPB products, try to get a demo of the Nova 3 helmet. Once you try it, you will not want to use anything else.