N e w D e v e l o p m e N t s i N s y N t h e t i c R o p e t e c h N o l o g y

FEATURE: Ron Bryant Celebrates 50 Years in Rope ...............1

A Few of Ron’s Favorite Applications ......2

SPECIALITY APPLICATION: NASA Testing .....................3

SAMSON WINS: .......................4 Safety and Customer Service Awards

CURRENT NEWS: .....................5 Samson in ActionBehind the Lion

Ron Bryant, right, today.

Entrance to the new ITC.

Continued on next page

Last September, an alert notified those in his LinkedIn network that Ron Bryant, Samson’s plant manager in Lafayette, Louisiana is celebrating a work anniversary—50 years. Ron is considered the unofficial company historian at Samson—with good reason: he’s spent the last five decades working in the industry.

Starting the year he graduated from high school in St. Louis, Missouri, Ron got an entry level job at the St. Louis Cordage Mills, a division of the American Manufacturing Company, Inc. (AMCO). He started as an “office boy”—wrapping packages, making deliveries, and picking up lunches. It wasn’t long before he was moving into jobs with more responsibility. Inventory control was the first step.

His value to the company was soon recognized and when an opening for the assistant to the plant manager came up, Ron was offered the position along with company-paid tuition to further his education. It was about this time that he met his wife Sharon, also an employee at the St. Louis plant. Ron jokes that Samson has given him great jobs, a nice series of embroidered shirts, an education, and a wonderful wife.

Moved iN wiTh The equipMeNT… ANd STAYed In 1976, the St. Louis facility was moved to Lafayette. Ron says he traveled right along with the machinery to be one of three employees to make the move. By now the plant was fully dedicated to synthetic fiber ropes. They extruded some of their own fiber and had developed the copolymer extrusion process in-house. The merging of Samson Rope Technologies with AMCO in the early 90s brought together two of the powerhouses of US cordage manufacturing—with a commitment to research and development that is second to none in the industry.

Lafayette plant Manager Ron Bryant Celebrates 50 years in the Rope Business

oveR The LAST 50 YeARS, RoN hAS SeeN eNoRMouS ChANgeS iN The CoRdAge iNduSTRY Today, Samson’s Lafayette manufacturing plant boasts one of the largest 12-strand braiders in the world. Using high-performance, ultra-high modulus fibers like HMPE, Samson produces ropes that outperform steel-wire ropes on all levels. They’re stronger, lighter, safer to handle and last longer than the steel-wire ropes they replace. It is an incredible leap in performance from the vegetable fiber ropes (manila and sisal) that were the high tech fibers until World War II. Ron points out that without Samson’s commitment to research and development, many of the advancements the industry enjoys today may not exist. The emphasis has gone from bulk rope manufacturer to specialty solutions provider. Ropes are custom engineered to the exacting specifications of some of the world’s most demanding industrial applications.

With more than 50 years behind him, Ron is looking forward to retirement in June. But in classic Ron form, he’s also planning to be available when and if needed on a part-time basis to head up projects that may require a little of his vast experience.

Ron is a trusted and respected member of the Samson team. He’s contributed greatly to the success of the firm and approaches every challenge with what can only be described as a can-do attitude. “My biggest fear is that people will find out just how much I’ve enjoyed this job. I’m not really working, I just come in and enjoy myself everyday and they pay me for doing it. It’s been a great ride.”

Ron Bryant, left, circa 1978.

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COVER STORY: Ron Bryant Celebrates 50 Years in the Rope industry

It is people like Ron who have helped Samson create “The Samson Advantage.” That advantage is the embodiment of the hard work and commitment to quality products and superior service that Ron and the team he’s helped to mentor bring to the plant everyday.

Over the past 50 years, Ron has seen Samson capitalize on its position as an engineering-based manufacturing firm engaged in providing unique solutions to demanding industrial applications. Today, Samson maintains one of the most advanced research and development organizations in the industry and develops custom engineered solutions using the latest fiber, coating, and construction technologies. The list of high profile projects Samson has been involved in is extensive and boasts some of the most impressive engineering projects.

Along the way, there have been some interesting opportunities (and not a few quirky requests). Here are a few:

‘Cattle Scratcher’ Rope This one goes back a way, but is still an interesting solution. Cattle on the range need to have a way to scratch their backs. This simple act removes parasites and is usually accomplished with low hanging tree branches. But not every range has the luxury of a stand of trees, so the Cattle Scratcher Rope was born—two poles with a length of 2-5/8" sisal rope stretched between and just high enough to allow the soothing scratch. Soaking the rope can also be a convenient way to administer medication when needed.

A Few oF RoN’S FAvoRiTe AppLiCATioNSiceberg Towing Rope Every year, icebergs spawned from the glaciers of Greenland threaten shipping and oil installations off the coast of Newfoundland. Oil rigs contract with ice management firms to monitor the movement of the ice and alert rigs in their path. The iceberg is then towed to alter its path, keeping the rigs out of harm’s way.

Samson supplied an 8-strand floating rope that is attached to a small buoy. With the buoy

dropped, the towing vessel then circles the iceberg and picks up the end of the rope, lassoing it for the tow.

Towing icebergs takes a long time—because of the enormous weight, it can take 10 hours to reach one knot of speed. It can take as long as three days to move the iceberg a sufficient distance so that wind and currents will move it safely past the rig.

Fast Ropes Picking up troops and special operations units from hostile territory with a helicopter calls for quick work —there often isn’t time to safely land and load an entire unit one at a time. “Fast Ropes”—a length of high strength, lightweight rope with handholds along its length—are deployed so an entire unit can grab hold and be dropped or lifted quickly out of harm’s way.

Artillery Lifting Slings A Samson rep visiting a military installation observed helicopters moving artillery pieces using steel wire rope slings. The static charge that the helicopter built up during the operation would discharge through the slings—and often through the handler and the load—on its way to grounding in the earth. Synthetic slings not only isolate the load and the handler from the static charge, they speed up the process, reduce the total payload on the helicopter, and increase safety during the operation.

Subsea to Shore pull-in Line For a pull-in application in the Middle East where 3.5 miles of rope was required—there were only 3 weeks to deliver the goods to Scotland. Not only was the rope custom-engineered for the application, a special reel had to be devised to fit the rope yet still be shippable on a 747 cargo plane or within a standard shipping container.

extended Shelf Life As part of the Gulf of Mexico blowout response protocol mandated after the Macondo incident, Samson was asked to develop a rope to help deliver a control system to the blowout preventer (BOP) at the well head. The rope would be stored with the response system until required. Testing was conducted to confirm a shelf life of 20 years without loss of critical characteristics.

“If there is anything I would want people to know about Samson, it is that this company is more than just a business; it is also a family.” Ron says. “Our core values were generated from who we are, not what we want to be. We really do respect each other and do what we say we will do.”Thanks, Ron.

NASA Calls on Samson John Glenn’s 1962 Friendship 7 capsule was retrieved from the sea using Samson ropes, and a piece of the Samson 2-in-1 Nylon used to hoist the Apollo capsule onto the deck of the recovery ship is proudly displayed on the walls in Samson’s corporate offices. NASA has called on Samson ropes to move the articulated arm that handled cargo on the first shuttle missions, operate the cargo bay doors, and provide resistance to exercise equipment on the International Space Station for a good workout. Lately, Samson has supplied ropes used to test the LSDS (Low Density Supersonic Decelerator) system—very large parachutes designed for landing safely on the surface of Mars. The tests use a rocket sled to simulate the forces expected to be encountered by space craft on entering the Martian atmosphere.

Mushroom Rope A specially spliced rope was ordered by mushroom farmers to help stir manure—helping to cool it and prevent combustion. It’s one of the only times Samson specified

“no returns” on an order.

Fast Rope

3.5 miles of rope on one reel

Friendship 7

it is people like Ron that have allowed Samson to build such a thing as The Samson Advantage

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SPECIALTY APPLICATION: NASA Testing

Tech-12 used in a test to replicate the conditions of a spacecraft entering atmosphere of Mars

watch the video, use the links below

NASA uses Tech-12 Rope for Rocket Sled parachute design verification Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) came up with a novel way to test the parachutes that are part of the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) system for landing craft on Mars. We’re happy to report that the system relies heavily on high-modulus Tech-12 rope from Samson.

The LDSD system is responsible for slowing the craft upon entering the planet’s atmosphere to a level that will allow a “soft” touchdown. Parachutes are among the first part of the system to be deployed. At over 110 feet in diameter, the parachutes have exceeded the size limitations of the largest of the wind tunnels available, yet need to be tested at the loads expected during the entry phase of the landing. A new test methodology was necessary. Since these guys work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that the solution included the use of both a rocket sled and a Knighthawk helicopter.

The parachute and its rigging lines were attached to a long (800 m) length of Samson Tech-12 rope. The Tech-12 was fed through a large canister that was in turn attached to a 400 m length of small diameter rope terminated to a 300 hp winch mounted on the rocket sled. The small diameter rope was led through a pulley attached to a fixed tripod mounted astride the rails for the rocket sled.

The Knighthawk helicopter lifted the bagged parachute, the Tech-12 and the small diameter rope vertically over the tripod and pulley, to its full extent. The winch was activated, pulling in the small diameter rope and releasing the parachute from its bag. With the parachute fully deployed, the small line brought the Tech-12 to the sled and the rockets were triggered, pulling the Tech-12 through the pulley as the sled sped away. The parachute was pulled down towards the tripod under a load calculated to closely resemble that of a spacecraft on entry to the atmosphere of Mars.

The rig worked as designed. Videos posted to YouTube show the entire sequence and describe the rig they came up with:

The LDSD test video http://youtu.be/xQCgs6Upu_E

The rig for the LDSD test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1NtQJ59kM

After discussing strengths, safety factors and temperatures, Samson’s Tech-12 (1-5/8" in diameter) was a good fit. This 12-strand, 100% Technora® fiber single braid has the strength of a high-modulus Aramid fiber combined with the extreme heat resistance of Technora®. The critical temperature for this high-performance fiber is 520°F (272°C). Samson spliced a one-foot long eye at each end before shipping.

Testing continues on the LDSD system, and the original Tech-12 rope is still in use. An additional rope has been delivered. It serves as a backup for the time being.

A few of The numberS from The TeST SeTup:> MH-60S Knighthawk Helicopter> 4,000 ft drop altitude> 135,000 lb rocket sled> 100,000 pound force of pull thrust (peak load in the

video—94,475 pound force)> 50,000 lb tripod structure> 2,000 lb pulley

> 2,000,000 lb concrete anchors> 300 hp winch> 2,600 ft (800 m) —1-5/8" (40 mm) diameter

Samson Tech-12, rope break strength: 221,000 lbs MBS

> 6,562 ft (2,000 m)—1/4" (6 mm) diameter PTS-12 Nylon (possibly used for winch pull-in rope)

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There’s a lot riding on your

mainline…

…and your bottom line.

INSTALLATIONS INSPECTIONS TRAINING DOCUMENTATION RETIREMENT CRITERIA

Delivered with every Samson towing system is a service package that ensures long service life and low total cost of ownership.

We call it The Samson Advantage. Our customers call it peace of mind.

samsonRope.com

Dyneema® is a registered trademark of Royal DSM N.V. Dyneema is DSM’s high-performance polyethylene product.

SAMSON WINS: Safety and Customer Service Awards

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Samson has been selected as the winner of the Associated wire Rope Fabricators (AwRF) Standard Safety Award in 2012, 2013, and 2014AWRF is a collection of fabricating distributors that work with wire rope, chain, synthetic rope, round slings, and associated equipment. Manufacturing suppliers such as Samson are permitted to join. Many of our distributors are members and these meetings serve as a forum to discuss industry trends and to introduce new technologies.

Every 18 months, AWRF holds a membership meeting in conjunction with a product and information exhibition. For these meetings, all members are asked to submit safety records. Samson provides combined safety statistics from both of our locations.

Samson also celebrated two outstanding safety milestones in 2014. The Lafayette facility celebrated four years with no time loss claims and the Ferndale facility celebrated two years with no time loss claims.

Samson Awarded Circle of excellence by National Business Research instituteSamson has again received the Circle of Excellence award from the National Business Research Institute (NBRI). This prestigious award is given to companies earning the distinction of Customer Satisfaction Excellence from NBRI.

In 2014, NBRI conducted a survey on behalf of Samson to measure customer satisfaction. NBRI has more than 30 years of experience in conducting scientific research for businesses and has identified issues and survey topics that are universal to all organizations. The institute provides survey results that reveal trends unique to Samson customers and also benchmark survey results against other companies within an industry classification.

To qualify for the Circle of Excellence award, Samson had to score at or above the 75th percentile when measured against NBRI’s Benchmarking Database. NBRI conducted a similar survey on behalf of Samson in 2011. The 2014 survey

showed an overall 5% improvement in customer satisfaction, with 97% of respondents indicating that they would recommend Samson to others.

Tony Bon, Samson CEO, says, “we are once again pleased to receive this recognition and to be rated so highly among industry peers. we continue to be most interested in how we are measuring up to the expectations of our customers. we are committed to providing the best customer experience in the industry and we are grateful to our customers and survey respondents for providing feedback to help us improve. our goal remains continuous improvement and we are always striving for 100% customer satisfaction.”

97% of respondents indicated that they would recommend Samson to others

in 2014, Samson celebrated no time loss milestones at both facilities:

4 YeARS at the Lafayette plant

2 YeARS at the Ferndale plant

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Current News from Samson

S A M S o N i N A C T i o N U p c o m i N g e v e N t s

See Samson at these upcoming events:

B e h i N d T h e L i o N

Samson offers an educational Assistance program that reimburses employees for tuition for either undergraduate or graduate level work

C o N T A C T S A M S o N

EMAIL: CustServ@SamsonRope.com

ONLINE: SamsonRope.com

PHONE: 1.360.384.4669

FAX: 1.360.384.0572

MAIL: 2090 Thornton Street Ferndale, WA 98248 USA

SAMSoN SuppoRTS AdvANCed eduCATioN FoR eMpLoYeeSIn an effort to encourage employees to continue their professional development, Samson offers an Educational Assistance program that reimburses employee’s tuition expenses for either undergraduate or graduate level work.

“education is expensive; but completing my mbA was something that I always wanted to do to advance my career. Samson’s education assistance program helps make the degree a little more affordable.” — Rob Brooks

“The Samson education Assistance program helped me pay for classes when I was in school for my bachelor’s degree. obtaining my bachelor’s is an achievement that I am very proud of and it has been instrumental in advancing my career with Samson.”

— Alex DeCoria

Currently, there are several employees taking advantage of this program:

raquel hansen Currently pursuing Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership and HR Management—expected to graduate June 2015

bob Stallo Post Production Lead—Received Master of Arts in Leadership, Summer 2013

Alex DeCoria Customer Service Lead—Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, July 2014

rob brooks Master in Business Administration with a focus on Supply Chain Management, May 2014

Chase muder Bachelor’s Degree in MIS and Finance—expected graduation date Fall 2015

GO DEEP SAMSON hIGh-PERFORMANCE WINCh LINES

Perdido Spar Project: Lightweight traction winch on a cantilevered deck holds 9,200 feet of 2-1/2" diameter Quantum-12 and lifts up to 90,000 pounds.

STRONG RELIABLE EFFICIENT

Samson high-performance winch lines go deeper than steel wire: > 85% lighter than same > Greater capacity in size steel wire ultra-deep water

> Reduces deck weight > Neutrally buoyant

Talk to the experts at Samson and put their experience and extensive testing to work on your next winch line or heavylift project.

Dyneema® is a registered trademark of Royal DSM N.V. Dyneema is DSM’s high-performance polyethylene product.

visit us at oTC, Booth #8207 iN The ReLiANT AReNA

ArborIST > International Tree Climbing

Championship March 20–22: Tampa, Florida

mInInG > SME

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June 16–18: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

offShore > Subsea Tieback

March 3–5: New Orleans, Louisiana

> OTC May 4–7: Houston, Texas

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