Layne Inliner Is Making 2012 an Exciting Year

2012  is barely six months old and yet the news coming out of Orleans, Ind., would reflect a year’s worth for most companies. Reynolds Inliner — now officially known as Layne Inliner — is buzzing with a new name and signature colors, as well as a new partnership company officials are thrilled to add to its stable of services.

“We are in growth mode, which is kind of unusual for our industry,” says Layne Inliner vice president Denise McClanahan. “We’ve got a lot of different product mixes and are continuing to look for more growth opportunities. We just came from a meeting with Layne Christensen Co., [its parent company,] and they want to know what we’re going to do next. We’re excited and we’ve got a lot of enthusiastic and busy people. Our world is good.”

First up is the name change. Purchased by Layne Christensen Co. in September 2005, Reynolds initially kept its highly recognized company name. Today, Layne Christensen is rebranding all of its subsidiaries with the Layne moniker and colors to emphasize being of one large and global company. So out is Reynolds Inliner with blue and tan and in is Layne Inliner with black and green.

“After seven years, it’s time to embrace the Layne brand and honor the new history we are writing together,” McClanahan says. “Layne has provided us with the opportunity to not only grow through acquisitions and territorial expansions but also to advance in the products and services we provide — products like Janssen structural renewal and most recently the ability to offer an ultraviolet, light-cured CIPP product.”

Layne Christensen’s rebranding initiative is called “One Layne,” with all of its companies carrying the common brand name of Layne. “This is to get us all to not only function together like we have in the past but to also be recognized under the same brand for the entire company,” McClanahan says.

The Reynolds name has been known in construction circles since the 1930s and it was hard to let that go but the transition has been pretty seamless with customers. “The Reynolds’ name has been out there for a really long time but the transition to Layne Inliner has been relatively easy,” McClanahan says. “We’ve really been Layne for the past seven years so this is just a matter of transitioning to the name. We have talked with our customers. Layne recognized and respected our Inliner brand and allowed us to keep that as part of our name.”

“Layne is proud of our Inliner team. The pipeline rehabilitation business is crucial for modernizing our country’s extensively decayed infrastructure. Layne Inliner consistently exceeds our clients’ expectations, and has been rewarded with high customer loyalty leading to profitable growth,” said Layne Christensen president and CEO Rene Robichaud. “Our people deliver these impressive results while focusing on continuous improvement in safety and sustainable business practices.”

Company Background


Reynolds Inc. established its Inliner division in 1991 to meet the growing need to renew aging underground infrastructure in the United States. A few years later, Reynolds acquired cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) company Inliner Technologies and its sister company Liner Products, a liner tube manufacturer. Today, Layne Inliner  has installed 14.8 million ft of CIPP, of which 10.3 million ft is the Inliner product.

Publicly traded Layne Christensen Co. acquired the entire Reynolds family of companies — Reynolds Inc., Reynolds Inliner, Inliner Technologies and Liner Products — in September 2005 for $112.5 million, a deal that doubled its business in the water and wastewater market. The deal was beneficial to both parties as it increased revenue for Layne Christensen, and opened the door to new services, products and territorial expansion for Reynolds.

“[Layne Inliner] has more than doubled in size since being acquired,” McClanahan says. In 2011, Layne Inliner’s revenue was $132 million up from $116.6 million in 2010. Since becoming part of the Layne Christensen family companies, Layne Inliner has made acquisitions and partnerships of its own that have expanded its service offerings, as well as its geographic area.

McClanahan notes that since the acquisition, Layne Christensen supported and encouraged more work in research and development, which had led to the expansion of steam-curing capabilities and increasing its installation capabilities. Of note, Layne Inliner recently completed a 90-in. liner install of a culvert in Indianapolis and has the capability to do 120-in. installs.

Emphasis on R&D has also led to the development and patent of a new installation process and device used by Inliner Technologies’ certified installers. The process, developed as the result of a collaborative effort between Doug Beck of Inliner Technologies and Ralph Bonanotte of Kenny Construction Co., involves a pressure vessel equipped with a gasket that is designed with a curved arcuate slot — the key feature of the invention. The new technology is most appropriate for midrange diameter wastewater pipes, from 18 to 36 in.

Service Range Expanded


While it focuses on its Inliner CIPP, Layne Inliner is a full-service rehab system with in-house capabilities for complete mainline and lateral structural renewal using the Janssen method, sliplining, traditional excavation and replacement, U-Liner fold-and-form, manhole renewal with cementitious and Raven epoxy products and other rehabilitation methods.

The moves Layne Inliner has made over the last seven years reflect its philosophy to expand its reach across North America. To date, the contractor has 13 offices located from Maine to Colorado, with five strategically located wetout facilities.

Acquisitions have increased Layne Inliner’s market share as a top trenchless rehabilitation/CIPP contractor. The contractor acquired American Water Services Underground Infrastructure Group, a major provider of CIPP services, in 2006. In 2011,Wildcat Civil Services, a CIPP pipe group operating in Colorado and Kansas that now gives the company footprint in the Rocky Mountain area, was acquired.

Layne Inliner’s most recent partnership with SAERTEX was just finalized: adding the fiberglass and ultra-violet (UV) cure capabilities to its services.

“We have been looking for a UV cure process for three years and we looked at a variety of options,” explains McClanahan. “In the end, we felt that SAERTEX had the best product.  The partnership helps us both achieve goals that might not be possible if we would work independently… This is the most exciting thing we have going on in years.”

McClanahan says that unlike SAERTEX’s other U.S. installers, Layne Inliner will be purchasing dry product from Saertex and constructing its own wetout facility to saturate the liner they use. “Right now, what Saertex does is sell fully saturated tube from Germany and have its installers install it. Our partnership with SAERTEX allows Layne to bring installed tubes to market more efficiently by putting more control of the product in our hands.”

Inliner Technologies also recently expanded its North American network by adding its first Canadian certified installer, Ontario-based Clean Water Works. In addition to Clean Water Works, other certified installers are Layne Inliner, Indiana; Kenny Construction Co., Illinois; Lametti & Sons Inc., Minnesota; and Western Slope Utilities, Colorado.

“Layne [Christensen] has been very good to us and has pushed our research and development and has made us think about being more than just a contractor from southern Indiana,” McClanahan says. “They are making us think on more North American and global scales.”

And it is that kind of support that has Layne Inliner thinking about its short- and long-term future. “We would like to expand our pressure pipe capabilities,” McClanahan says. “And we would like to eventually get full coverage in the United States. We aren’t quite out to the West Coast yet and we would like to do more in the Southwest. Right now, we’ve got our arms wrapped around the SAERTEX partnership and bringing that to market. We will continue to expand where and when we can.”

Sharon M. Bueno is managing editor of Trenchless Technology.
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