CONROE, Texas, May 20 TX-Shumate-Hemiwedge
CONROE, Texas, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Shumate Industries
(OTC Bulletin Board: SHMT) announced today that its Hemiwedge Valve
Corporation division has achieved several milestones:
As previously announced, the Hemiwedge Valve Corporation ("HVC") has
established several new sales representatives arrangements in the United
States. Along with the addition of Brock Easley LLC of Centennial, Colorado,
in March for the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States, HVC has also
signed a distribution agreement with The Dale Prentice Company of Oak Park,
Michigan for coverage in the Midwest. The year 2008 marks the 82nd
anniversary of The Dale Prentice Company, who is a pioneer in application of
new technology valves in the oil and gas production and process industries in
the Northern Central Area of the US. The Dale Prentice Company is a leader in
the supply and service of critical service valves, instrumentation, automated
valve services, over-pressure protection products, as well as other process
capital equipment. Sales coverage includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
Minnesota, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
HVC continues discussions with other potential sale representatives in the
United States, including the anticipated signing of additional companies based
in the lower Midwest and Gulf Coast areas to seek further penetration in oil
and gas production, process, and pipeline industries.
In addition to the new domestic sales and distribution relationships
discussed above, HVC is also pursuing representation in Canada. The Company
is currently focused on oil sands in Western Canada and offshore production
and onshore process facilities in the Canadian Maritimes. HVC has applied for
Canadian Registration to allow sales of Hemiwedge(R) Cartridge valve in all
provinces, and expect to receive approval in the second quarter of 2008. The
Company has approached representatives in Canada to sell our Hemiwedge(R)
Cartridge valve product upon receipt of the necessary approvals.
Ken Chickering, President of HVC stated, "The current level of quotation
activity for the Hemiwedge(R) Cartridge valve has increased significantly in
the past month, largely resulting from the addition of new sales
representation, coupled with the acquiring API 6D product certification in
late March. The anticipated conclusion of the fire test to API specifications
later this week will complete product approvals for our target markets." Mr.
Chickering continued, "The recent increase in customer inquiries has been for
automated and manual critical shutoff valves within the gas processing,
offshore production, chemical, gas gathering, gas storage, pipeline, and
petrochemical processing industries."
Additionally, the Company has retained The Fury Group, LLC of Houston,
Texas, who has been named as HVC's marketing management firm. The Fury Group
is working alongside Tribe Design, also in Houston, and Marketects, located in
Kingwood, Texas, to provide a complete marketing program for HVC. In addition
to the development of a solutions-focused website (soon to be released), The
Fury Group is implementing a CRM-based touch marketing program to include
targeted messaging via diverse media to strategic market segments.
Additionally, they are creating a new profile piece outlining the attributes
of HVC and the Hemiwedge(R) Cartridge valve and a Product Dossier for
submittal to major corporations worldwide to make it easier for engineering
and procurement groups to evaluate the technical and manufacturing
capabilities of HVC for approval as a supplier.
The Fury Group, working with Marketects, has already had a significant
impact with HVC including key advertising campaigns in Hydrocarbon
Processing(R) Magazine, beginning with the May 2008 issue, and Hydrocarbon
Processing(R)'s 2008 Gulf Coast Turnaround & Maintenance Services Directory,
to be released in mid-May 2008. The industry has taken notice of the valve
technology's innovation, and because of this, both the May issue of
Hydrocarbon Processing(R) and their 2008 Gulf Coast Turnaround and Maintenance
Services Directory include the Hemiwedge(R) Cartridge Valve prominently
featured on the front cover. Hydrocarbon Processing(R) magazine, a
publication of Gulf Publishing Company, is the premier magazine providing
professionally-oriented information to technical and management personnel in
petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical, chemical and
engineer/constructor companies throughout the world.
Hemiwedge(R) Cartridge valves have been supplied for installation in a
critical gas processing and handling application and for a pair of critical
shutoff applications within refineries. All of these installations are
anticipated to be followed up with technical papers. And lastly, HVC has been
accepted to present a technical paper on flow-related valve torque comparisons
at the Valve World Conference 2008 in The Netherlands in November, 2008.
About Shumate Industries, Inc.
Shumate Industries, Inc. is a Texas-based energy field services company
that incorporates new technologies to bring products to market leveraging its
existing infrastructure, expertise and customer channels. The Company
operates through two wholly owned subsidiaries: 1.) Shumate Machine Works, a
contract machining and manufacturing division focused in oilfield tubular
products, and 2.) Hemiwedge Valve Corporation, a proprietary new valve
technology division. The Hemiwedge division commercialized its Hemiwedge(R)
Cartridge valve product line targeting oil, gas, process and power markets in
early 2007 and is in prototype development of its Hemiwedge(R) sub-sea high
pressure valve product line and a Hemiwedge(R) down-hole valve product line
which it intends to commercialize via corporate partners. For additional
information on the Company and its products, please visit
http://www.shumateinc.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains discussion of items that may constitute forward-
looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected
in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can
give no assurances that its expectations will be achieved. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ from expectations include, but are not limited
to, customer concentration risk, difficulties in refinancing its debt,
difficulties in consolidating the operations of the Company's operating
subsidiaries, difficulties in accelerating internal sales growth, volatility
of the energy business and its effects on the Company's business, difficulties
in new technology acceptance within the energy industry, restrictive covenants
in our existing credit facilities, fluctuations in metals prices, general
economic conditions in markets in which we do business, extensive
environmental and workplace regulation by federal and state agencies and other
general risks related to its common stock, and other uncertainties and
business issues that are detailed in its filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. All information provided in this release and in the
attachments is as of May 20, 2008 and the Company undertakes no duty to update
this information.
SOURCE Shumate Industries, Inc.
