Reel sales gains

Hose reels are used in virtually every industrial setting, making them a terrific add-on sale for distributor salespeople.

by Rich Vurva

The next time you walk into a plant with welding hoses and air hoses scattered on the floor, stop and watch what happens. Notice how much time workers waste laying out the hose, untangling it, and coiling it back up after they’ve completed the job. Even worse, if they leave the hose on the floor, see how long it takes before someone trips on it or crushes it with a forklift.

You just witnessed the key reasons why nearly every industrial facility needs hose reels.

“Virtually every manufacturing setting has applications for hose reels. It’s important for distributor salespeople to understand that so they don’t walk past money-making opportunities. They’re not high-ticket items. It’s a great add-on sale, and they require very little service after the call,” says Rex Larkin of reel manufacturer Reelcraft based in Columbia City, Ind.

Unfortunately, many distributor salespeople walk past easy sales opportunities every day.

“I’ve been with some distributors where they’re selling a customer an overhead, pneumatic hose reel and, on the way there, we stepped over some washdown hose and vacuum hose. If they use a reel in one application, there are usually other applications in a plant. Don’t limit yourself,” says Ed Rash of Hannay Reels in Westerlo, N.Y.

Hose reels offer multiple end-user benefits, including improving safety, lowering costs and increasing workplace efficiency.

Reels improve plant safety. OSHA says slips, trips and falls constitute the majority of general industry accidents, which cause 15 percent of all accidental deaths, and are second only to motor vehicles as the cause of workplace fatalities. Getting hoses and cords off the floor can greatly increase workplace safety.

Reels cut hose costs. A hose on a reel will last five times longer than hoses left on the floor where they can be stepped on, run over by forklifts and other vehicles. Damaged hoses also cause downtime, delaying production while waiting for a replacement.

Reels increase workplace efficiency. A reel keeps hoses where they are needed in the workplace and stores them when they’re idle. Reels increase productivity because a clean workplace is an efficient workplace.

Application help available
Reels come in a wide variety of types and sizes, so it’s important for salespeople to help end-user customers determine the proper reel for the application.

Reelcraft developed a reel specifications worksheet that salespeople can use to help customers choose the right reel. It’s a useful tool to find out the intended application (air, water, oil, grease, fuel or oxygen/acetylene). The worksheet also records pressure ratings, temperature considerations and the inside and outside diameters of the hose to fit on the reel.

Hannay provides a “How to Order Worksheet” for reels and accessories in its Ordering and Accessory Guide that’s available on the company’s Web site. It is used by salespeople and by end-users to spec reels.

Coxreels offers customers a full-color, user-friendly catalog in print and CD format that’s easy for end-users to navigate and specify products by application. The company’s Web site follows a similar easy-to-use format.

“We like to keep it as easy as possible for users and resellers to specify our products. When the correct reel is procured, everybody’s happy,” says Coxreel’s Steve Dein.

Spec the right reel
Manufacturers classify reels as either live or storage reels.

A live reel stores hose and allows fluid to pass through the hose and reel without taking the hose off the reel first. This is possible through the use of a swivel joint, which permits the reel to rotate freely while connected to the fluid source.

Storage reels store hose but don’t allow fluid to flow while the hose is still on the reel. While less expensive than live reels because they have fewer components, they’re also not as practical in most industrial settings.

The basic reel types include manual or crank, spring-driven and motor-driven (electric, air or hydraulic). The most popular in the industrial environment, spring-driven reels are commonly used to retract hoses connected to air tools and hoses that transport fuel and lubricating fluids, or for washdown hoses. Spring-driven reels are typically used with hoses less than 100 feet long.

“With longer and larger hoses, when the hose is fully extended, the spring is wound so tight it’s difficult to pull on the hose. In that application, it’s better to use a motor-driven reel,” says Larkin.

Frequency of use also helps determine if it’s more appropriate to use a power-driven reel.

“If you use a certain hose line during the day and put it back at night, a power-driven reel isn’t necessary,” says Rash. “The more frequent the use, the greater need for a power reel.”

Design in flexibility
End-users often feel tempted to buy the smallest reel possible. They may not consider where the reel is mounted and how far the hose must stretch. Or, when an end-user changes hose suppliers, if the new supplier uses a thicker shell or different bending radius, it may not fit on the reel. Rash urges customers to think carefully before limiting themselves to a reel with too little capacity.

“A primary mistake people make is getting a reel that just meets the minimum capacity criteria. If you replaced an existing 50-foot hose with a 75-foot hose, you may not have enough room on the spool to hold it all,” Rash says.

When space permits, suggest a reel with greater hose capacity than needed. This allows users to rewind the hose with less care and still keep the hose protected even if it’s not wound in uniform coils.

Product innovations
In recent years, the market started demanding reels specific to the application, lighter weight, with varying price points that are easy to install and service. Responding to changing end-user requirements, Reelcraft developed the ReelTek reel, which it describes as a quality reel at a lower price. It uses a hybrid design with an engineered composite spool combined with the strength of a structural steel base and arm.

“The customer wants choices when making a purchasing decision. As manufactures and distributors, we must listen and know what those customer needs are,” says Larkin.

In some applications, safety may be a special concern. One hose reel manufacturer developed a retraction system to control recoil speed.

The Coxreels EZ-Coil Rewind Safety System slows recoil speed, which greatly increases operator safety because it eliminates the high-speed whipping action that results from a conventional spring-driven reel.

“Our Safety Series line of spring-return reels featuring EZ-Coil retract up to 80 percent slower than traditional spring-driven, auto-rewind reels,” says Dein. “Controlled retraction on a spring-return reel is essential in eliminating unnecessary accidents and injuries that happen everyday in shops and plants.”

Also consider how the customer plans to mount the reel, so the reel manufacturer can provide the correct mounting brackets, base plates and the proper guide arm angles. A reel suspended from the ceiling requires more cranking power to retract a hose than to pull the same hose across the floor. This demonstrates why it’s useful to know how the customer will mount the reel.

By asking the right questions to determine how end-users plan to use a reel, and working closely with your suppliers to make the correct product recommendations, distributor salespeople can achieve real sales gains.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2004 issue of Progressive Distributor magazine. Copyright 2004.

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