A legacy of growth Sisters continue path established by late brother at Washington Rotating
Washington Rotating Control Heads owners Denise Johnston, left, and her sister, Joyce Mayernik, stand in a room near the company’s machine shop where flags represent the many countries where the company does business.
Operations manager Rick McKinney, right, and quality manager Josen Mitchell discuss the repairs needed on one of the company’s rotating control heads. The new head in the foreground will be shipped to Africa. In the background of the production facility are lead machinist Charles Neitzelt, left, and Zep Chemical Co. salesman Scott Santomo. Washington Rotating manufactures, repairs and rents rotating control heads for the drilling industry.
The logo of Washington Rotating Control Heads Inc.
Washington’s Springfield Avenue can be a little deceiving.
Along its row of well-kept older homes, the mostly residential street also includes a small but global company, one that’s doing business in about 30 countries.
Washington Rotating Control Heads Inc. may not be a household name, but for decades it’s built a reputation for itself with its rotating control heads and diverters for oil, gas, water and geothermal drilling around the world.
The product performs a vital service. As the drilling operation forces air or fluids to clean the drill path, fluids returning to the surface are directed through a diverter to a containment area, keeping the drilling area clear of cuttings and keeping workers safe.
Like a lot of small, family-run businesses, the company has continued to find ways of staying competitive in a global market, but like many businesses its size, it has had to scramble to keep up with unforeseen changes that can challenge even the best-run operations.
The business, founded in 1973 by Bob Johnston, took off a few years later in 1976, when a driller brought a seized-up rotating head to Johnston’s machine shop. Johnston and his employees told the customer they had some ideas that might solve his problem, and a week later, Bob showed the driller a new idea in rotating control heads with thrust bearings and better lubrication seals.
The word got around in the drilling industry and soon Johnston was making control heads and diverters for drillers throughout the Appalachian region.
Later, when Johnston turned the business over to his children, it was his son Vaughn who expanded the company’s product line and turned it into a leading global manufacturer for oil, gas and geothermal drilling.
Vaughn Johnston also designed and marketed a similar device for water well drilling, a product that remains in the portfolio today.
When Vaughn died of cancer at age 57 two years ago, his sisters, Joyce Mayernik and Denise Johnston, took over, but both acknowledged recently they came in knowing little about the ins and outs of the business.
“We attended the quarterly business meetings,” said Denise 61, adding that she was a registered nurse, while Joyce, 56, had operated an interior design business for 15 years.
While it was a shock for the sisters to lose thier brother, “it was very uprooting for employees losing a boss who they totally trusted, looked up to and admired,” Joyce said.
Another problem was that their brother, who had a knack for designing and selling equipment that kept the company at the forefront of its industry, also retained much of the information about the business in his head.
The sisters solved that part of the knowledge gap through the purchase of an enterprise resource planning system, a software program that integrates internal and external management of information including finance and accounting, manufacturing, sales and service.
Joyce also noted that they had the company’s website redesigned, and by the end of the year Washington Rotating’s operations will be certified by the American Petroleum Institute.
“Because of changing markets, we’ve had to up the standards,” she said, adding that the company also was recently certified as a women-owned shop by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
While the sisters inherited the operations of a business that had a well-recognized name in the drilling industry, the biggest asset they realized they had was their employees, many of whom have worked there for decades.
“A big advantage was the people we had here,” Denise said. While acknowledging that while they would have to come up to speed on how the business operated, they knew they could tap into their employees’ knowledge.
Another major advantage was that Washington Rotating had already sold its equipment to drillers working in unconventional shale plays in Texas and Oklahoma. As those rigs moved east to the Marcellus Shale play, many were already equipped with the company’s rotating drill heads.
Joyce and Denise acknowledged that having a product that already had earned a reputation in unconventional shale drilling out west helped to build more business as horizontal drilling grew here.
The extra business has meant growth for Washington Rotating, which over the past year has hired three new machinists, three press operators and three more people for inside and outside sales. The company now has a staff of 25.
The sisters also saw another business opportunity when they learned from their customers working in the Marcellus that many prefer to rent equipment as opposed to buying it.
As a result, Washington Rotating recently launched Arch Rentals, which enables drillers here to rent the rotating heads and other equipment they need.
When the heads wear out, they’re returned to Washington Rotating’s repair shop for rebuilding and returned to service.
Denise pointed out that the only difference in the product line is that the Arch rentals are painted orange, while Washington Rotating’s equipment for sale continues to be painted in its classic blue color.
On the global front, the company will continue to expand its reach, with an upcoming visit to Moscow to meet with representatives of the U.S.-Russia marketing group.
Washington Rotating is also establishing several master distributorships for its products in major oil and gas markets across the U.S.
“We have a very strong product,” Joyce said. “It’s been in the market for 30 years.
“We want to grow bigger.”