July 2018

92 93 seal. A steel tank in the fuel industry has our name on it and the steel logo decal applied.We know that it has good quality, good engineering. It’s a consen- sus standard that a lot of fabricators work together on in our committees to develop for the good of the industry. It’s not just one company’s unique thing.” STI/SPFA has a staff of 12. “A few of those people are 30-hour, part-time,” says Bruce. “But the longevity of our employees speaks for itself as a dy- namic industry good to work in.We have an engineering staff, one of whom is a professional engineer, and each of whom works closely with organizations THE STEEL TANK INSTITUTE/STEEL PLATE FABRICATORS ASSOCIATION like Underwriters Lab and Southwest Research Institute, and regulatory bodies all over the coun- try– state and federal level. Our staff provides a liaison to the members in important organi- zations such as Petroleum Equipment Institute, American Water Works Association, American Petroleum Institute, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and countless others.We advocate, like most trade associations. That’s a bedrock activity. We’re always advocating on behalf of steel tanks, steel pipe, steel water towers, high standards, safety, quality–we’re always advocating on be- half of those issues and we have a staff structure that supports that.” Geyer talks about a current item on the Asso- ciation’s advocacy agenda: “Our pressure vessel members build really big towers, columns, reac- tors, and process vessels for petrochemical facil-