Many countries in the world celebrate Labor Day in May. Americans celebrate it on the first Monday in September and more than anything else, it signifies the end of summer. The Tuesday afterward means back to school and back to work.

And this year, the Wednesday after that happens to be the first Wednesday of the month – Sept. 3 – and we’re getting back to networking with our monthly social event, sponsored this month by Headhunter.

Did you know this 20-year-old company not only services heads, but buils its own patented brand? Take a moment to learn a bit about Headhunter and if you are in Lauderdale, stop by the shop to meet Vice President Mark Mellinger. We gather from 6-8 p.m. (same as always) and there will be a tent to fend off the heat and rain, a steel drum band, and yummy munchies and beverages.

For photos from last month’s networking event – our second annual poker run and mini trade show that drew about 500 people – turn to pages C18-19.

Q. I have to begin with your name. In Corporate America, a headhunter is someone who finds good workers and recruits them away for another company. I know marine toilets are heads. But why Headhunter?

Headhunter was founded in the early 1980s. At that time, the company provided on-board service primarily installing and repairing marine toilets and associated systems, aka heads. We were hunting for heads to repair! And it’s a catchy name. The "heads" at that time were not our own.

Q. Your company started as a service provider, and broke into manufacturing. It’s usually the other way around, isn’t it?

We started in service, and we remain firmly engaged in on-board service today. Reliable on-board service is the lynch-pin to delivering a successful experience with our products. It cannot be over emphasized. The positive aspects include direct feedback on the history of our products to our production engineering staff, delivering boat builder support for their installations, and fostering good-will amongst the captains and crew who will eventually specify our products later in their career.

Q. So how did you get into manufacturing?

In the mid-80s, we were getting tired of call backs to repair other companies’ heads that had been recently serviced. Being customer-focused meant that it was difficult to charge for repeat head repairs, but that was the nature of those old mechanical clunkers. They’d break just sitting still.

We decided to make something more reliable to reduce call backs. Water jet heads had been around from people such as Vogel hardware store here in Florida, Raritan in New Jersey, and Poole Chaffee in San Diego. We studied all of these products, incorporated their strengths, and refined or eliminated their weaknesses into our own toilet, originally called the Royal Flush. Today we make four models (in several colors) of further refined derivations of this original toilet. The technology used today is recognized as unique enough to be covered by three different recent patents.

Q. Do you manufacture anything other than wastewater systems?

We also make water pressure systems, some of which have won awards at trade shows, and tank level indicators.

Q. And you work in more than just the yachting industry, right?

We supply equipment packages for yachts, offshore supply boats, tug boats, patrol boats, mobile offshore drilling platforms, fixed offshore drilling and production platforms, FSOs and FPSOs (which are basically tanker ships converted to storage and production storage in the energy sector), mini-cruise vessels, luxury bus conversions, and many other unique applications.

We did some tank monitoring packages for the toilets on the Alaskan pipeline a few years ago. It saved them a lot of money. They kept overflowing their sewage tanks. Every time the tank overflowed it turned into an international incident because of the permafrost damage and the permitting required to mobilize a clean-up crew.

Q. How much service should captains/engineers perform on their water/wastewater systems?

With our toilets and fresh water pumps, very little maintenance is required. All water pumps should have a suction strainer that’s visually inspected periodically and cleared when necessary. The toilets should be cleaned with a suitable cleaner.

With our sewage treatment systems the service can vary depending on the type of machine. We make several different models and use two very different technologies. To keep it short, there should be daily visual checks, weekly fluid refills, and semi-annual service to be expected.

Q. Do you have any advice for captains/engineers on handling their wastewater systems?

The biggest current issue we see today is food waste. Food waste should never be introduced into a ship’s tank. It will putrefy, the grease collects on the surface of the liquid and collects organic material and eventually causes serious odor problems.

– Lucy Reed