The Situation
Every location of this North American based retail chain goes through millions of cubic feet of helium per month. Each store has an average of 16-24 helium tanks installed in their location at a time. The retailer audited the machinery and found tubing throughout the store location that connects the tanks to the filling station was out of compliance and causing helium to leak. Helium is currently in a global shortage, causing any leaks to be detrimental to the store’s bottom line.
660 stores needed their existing Praxair systems replaced with the new Praxair telemetry manifold system including a Duratec or copper piping system. An additional 140 stores required the new telemetry system but already had copper piping system in place. Each store required the old line system to be removed and disposed of.
NEST puts the stores first and goes to great lengths to make this as painless as possible.
The NEST Solution
The NEST Construction and Projects team streamlined the process for the client by managing the entire project including scheduling, follow-ups, and completion. A single point-of-contact was established by NEST for all stores/regions to ensure efficient scheduling and overall quality assurance. Lower rates were negotiated through the NEST ISP™ Network helping ensure the project stays on-budget. Repeat providers were used for regional coverage and all providers were trained on project specifications for all installers.
The corporate team had full visibility into the project status via live reporting with real-time updates and weekly calls were held between NEST and the client to ensure everyone had the correct information. NEST provided pictures for each location of the installed materials, while corporate reviewed and signed off on each location’s completion.
The Results
NEST Project Manager handled project oversite from start to finish. Their involvement helped eliminate project reschedules, ensure efficiencies were leveraged including machine rentals, product deliveries, etc., and allowed retailer employees to focus on their daily operations requirements. The fixed cost method provided price stabilization across the country and ensure the client stayed within budget and all 800 stores had the installation completed within the retailer’s timeline. With this new helium system, corporate can evaluate helium usage per store in real-time and immediately remedy a leak.
