At HOSS we take our promises seriously. It’s personal to us. Most of our employees have worked for other horizontal pump providers, often in an environment where personal commitments are difficult to honor even with the best of intentions. I use the word “provider” intentionally. Very few of our competitors solely focus on horizontal pumps, and most don’t manufacture the majority of their system components. By and large, the industry has become a sea of “me-too” equipment packagers.

Oilfield conglomerates relentlessly pursue “cost-out” efforts. Their management applies continuous pressure to generate ever-higher profits, often forcing horizontal pumps to compete against other oilfield businesses for capital and personnel. As you can imagine, the ESP companies that offer horizontal pumps think of these products as “portfolio fillers” that dilute their overall profit percentage. Horizontal pump product lines are then left to operate with shared resources and business processes designed for ESP sales and service (not a highly engineered project business).

At HOSS, we’ve learned from the mistakes of the past. We are an autonomous, independent company operating within the Extract Companies. We have dedicated people, customized processes, and a complete focus on the horizontal pump market. This singular mission allows us to run our business without distraction and without sacrifices. We don’t shy away from expectations of high quality, superior service, and quick deliveries. Every process, procedure, and decision is made for the exclusive benefit of horizontal pump customers.

So how do we do it? How did HOSS grow substantially in 2018, while achieving 99% on-time delivery? It comes down to execution, communication, and good project management fundamentals.

Execution and communication sound simple, but both require experienced personnel up to the task. Every member of our management team has been in the horizontal pump business for at least 10 years. We have all worked at other providers and have learned the most important lesson: how not to do things. Mistakes can be instructive, and we’ve seen them all (usually repeated over and over again). Things like matrix management, “one-size fits all” ERP systems, inadequate facilities, lack of inventory, etc. Once these systemic barriers to success are removed, communication can naturally flow between capable people. And most importantly – to the customer.

Good project management is not complicated. But it takes careful process design and open dialogue between every function. At HOSS, we’ve developed an online business system called “HD”. Every quote, every order, and every service ticket are tracked in HD. Changes are instantly visible and communicated to all employees assigned to a project or service. Every member of management, sales, service, and manufacturing attend coordination meetings twice per week to discuss progress and make decisions. New orders are reviewed as a group, with a full project scope checklist clarified and documented before proceeding. Then we execute in parallel. Components are ordered, engineering begins, new part numbers are created, and manufacturing proceeds.

At HOSS, we know from experience that simplicity is a best practice. Simple isn’t easy though. It takes discipline and self-awareness to guard against bureaucracy. Rest assured, the members of our team will continue to work together as we grow, continuously refining our business so that every promise made is a promise kept.