Tubes n’ Hoses; Do You “Get It”?

My name is Gerald Ulmer.  I was first exposed to Tubes n’ Hoses at the 1998 MACS convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.  When I watched Allen build an a/c hose assembly, forming the delicate ends perfectly, I knew then I had to have a Tubes n’ Hoses system.

Shortly afterwards I flew to Dallas to attend a quick 2 day training class and became the proud owner of a Tubes n’ Hoses complete system of my own.  In the months to follow I was very happy with the return of investment the system provided because we were now able to make all our own a/c hoses and lines and began taking in a/c hoses for other shops and DIYer’s.  Our customer area grew at an astounding rate, providing an add-on income stream for our business…….it is said that “ignorance is bliss” how true……WHAT A FOOL I WAS!  I neglected an unlimited source of income by not utilizing the potential of my wonderful money maker and didn’t even realize it because I didn’t “get it”.

I’m now fast forwarding to last week.  I was invited to the beautiful town of Waxahachie, Texas by Allen and Tom to see their efforts in resurrecting Tubes n’ Hoses and take a tour of both the new training center and manufacturing facility as well as Allen’s shop in town.  What I saw opened my eyes!  At Allen’s shop, 30+ hose assemblies were taken in and turned out BEFORE NOON!  Not just a/c, every kind of fluid line you could imagine.  I began to think of all the lost sales I had carelessly ignored, I had a profound grief and anger.  I thought about the county of Brevard, Florida that I did a lot of work for and how many $$$ I didn’t get for their fluid line needs.  NASA, my largest account used more fluid lines than I could conceive, yet I never made one fluid line for them other than a/c.  Then there is the Port Canaveral boats that I serviced a/c for, but never tried to tap into their fluid line business.  My waking moment was when I remembered an episode about the local car was operator that closed down for 2 weeks waiting for a special hose for his automatic was machine, his car wash was across the street from my shop  and he told me about his costly down time over coffee at my shop, and I never even thought I CAN MAKE THAT HOSE FOR YOU in just a few minutes on my Tubes n’ Hoses system.  That hose cost him almost $5,000 in the cost of the fluid line and lost sales before it was over.  Yes, I did not GET IT, I do now.  I encourage all owners of a Tubes n’ Hoses systems to take a minute and step back from your daily business, whatever it may be and close your eyes and picture all the fluid lines in use just within a mile from you, now open your eyes and go after that business! Your system is the ultimate money making machine and if you are not utilizing it to you it’s potential, start doing so today.

Stop thinking of your Tubes n’ Hoses system as a hose crimper or a tube bender, it is a FLUID LINE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM, use it as such.

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