Christian Plastics

Patenting New Products Help Christian Plastics Recover From 2005 Hurricanes

Company Profile:

Christian Plastics, Inc. is an injection molding manufacturer located in Houma, Louisiana. The company makes various plastic parts for use in the oilfield, utilities, pest control industries, as well as making custom products for clients. The privately-owned company was founded in 1990, employs four people, and has a national customer base.

Situation: Due to flooding in Southeast Louisiana caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one of Christian Plastics' clients, BP Subsea Production, had their entire drill riser string damaged by saltwater intrusion. BP requested a quote for new end covers using their current design for each riser joint. After reviewing their design, Christian determined that the piece only protected the outside bevel of each joint, and would not protect the interior of the pipes for an extended period.

Christian Plastics looked at several designs of end protectors currently in use by the offshore drilling industry. It soon became apparent that no one provides an end protection system that covered the central and auxiliary pipes on drill risers.

Solution: Christian Plastics seized this opportunity to develop a full encapsulation drill riser end protection system. At this point they contacted MEPOL with regard to patenting the new design. Project Director Wynn Landry arranged a meeting with Ted Anthony, a local patent attorney and MEPOL third party provider, to review the information. Anthony agreed to work through MEPOL to provide services to apply for a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Results: Christian Plastics approached BP's purchasing and engineers with a proposal to supply the new full encapsulation system for use on the stored "ThunderHorse" drilling risers.  They accepted the proposal and the end caps were successfully delivered and installed on time. Since the delivery almost 2 years ago, the new system has be accepted and used on numerous drill riser strings by deepwater drilling contractors, Global Santa Fe and Noble Drilling, generating a thirty percent increase in additional revenue.

Testimonial:

"Thanks to MEPOL's services and their third party's assistance, we were able to save thousands of dollars in expenses at a time when we needed it most."- Jerry Baker, President

Hebert Honored with National MEP Award
The Grand Ballroom of the Marriott World Center in Orlando was the stage for Cecile Hebert, marketing coordinator for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana (MEPOL), to garner a national award at the MEP National Conference, held April 26-30, 2008.

Hebert took home the Newcomer of the Year Award out of a pool of 16 nominees from across the United States. This is the second year in a row a MEPOL employee has received this prestigious award.