Asahi/America opens new fabrication facility
Asahi/America opened its newly constructed Louisiana-based fabrication shop in Paulina with customers, partners, employees and local government officials in June. The new facility focuses on large-scale thermoplastic pre-fabrication and is known as Asahi/America — PPI, a division of Asahi/America. Construction of the 59,000-square-foot facility finished in late 2022 and will add over 36,000 additional square footage and will improve efficiencies of large-scale and complex prefabrication piping projects. Asahi/America initially expanded its fabrication capabilities and operational capacity during the acquisition of Performance Plastics 2018.

Mazzei Injector and Heyward team up
Mazzei Injector Co. has chosen Heyward Inc. as its manufacturer’s representative for the municipal water and wastewater markets in the Carolinas. Heyward has been serving those markets since 1908. 

Michael Nicholson joins Ecoremedy
Michael Nicholson, a 33-year veteran of the water and wastewater industry specializing in biosolids and organic residuals management, has joined the leadership team at Ecoremedy as vice president of sales and business development. Previously the director of The Denali Technology Group at Denali Water Solutions, Nicholson will be responsible for all activities related to sales and development of Ecoremedy’s renewable energy gasification technology. He is a member of the Water Environment Federation and U.S. Composting Council as well as multiple regional associations in wastewater, biosolids and recycling.

infinitii ai announces five-year contract in Canada
infinitii ai, a developer in AI-driven predictive analytics software for Smart City water and Smart Industry infrastructure applications, announced a sales contract with a large Canadian municipality. The new five-year $1.472 million contract with an existing customer adds infinitii auto i&i, infinitii auto qa/qc and infinitii face pro machine learning products to a previous license for infinitii flowworks data monitoring software. The company’s customers include the Smart Cities and municipalities of Toronto, Seattle, Miami-Dade County, Boston, Dallas, Region of Peel, Vancouver and Los Angeles County, among others.

Anaergia appoints Brett Hodson as CEO
Anaergia has appointed Brett Hodson as chief executive officer succeeding the company’s founder and chairman, Andrew Benedek. Benedek will continue to serve as chairman of the company’s Board of Directors. Hodson was the president and CEO of Corix Infrastructure, a utility infrastructure company. Following his tenure at Corix, he founded Sunshine Pier Capital, a consulting and private equity firm.

CWA receives investment from Ohio
The Cleveland Water Alliance received a $4 million investment from the state of Ohio to build out the next phase of its test beds and further develop its water economy workforce. With this funding, CWA has secured over $10 million from state, local and federal partners to generate innovative answers to global freshwater issues and accelerate the Great Lakes region’s water economy. Over the last two years, funding from the State of Ohio, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Cuyahoga (Ohio) County supported the building of the physical infrastructure of CWA’s telecommunications network. 

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Val‐Matic welcomes Sandra Diaz as director of planning and forecasting
Val‐Matic welcomed Sandra Diaz to its team as the director of planning and forecasting. She will provide leadership to improve supply chain and planning processes, expanding on the strengths of current coworkers in both areas. Diaz began her career on the customer service side and eventually crossed into inventory and supply chain management. Over the years, she has held positions such as director of purchasing and director of manufacturing in the PPE  manufacturing industry. She entered the supply chain side twelve years ago and has grown her skill set in that area, gaining responsibility in each role.

Stantec selected by SFPUC to design new facility
Stantec was selected by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to lead design for a new water resource recovery facility on San Francisco’s Treasure Island. The island has undergone decades of geotechnical improvements to make it habitable for businesses and residents. The constructed island was first developed for the World’s Fair in 1939 and later became a U.S. naval station. It currently has a small wastewater treatment facility to serve a population of nearly 2,500 people. With projections for future development and growth to about 20,000 residents by 2032, SFPUC wants to expand capacity with the new facility.

Franklin Electric names Greg Levine VP and president, global water
Franklin Electric announced that Donald Kenney, vice president and president, global water, will be retiring after nearly 32 years with the company. Kenney was a driving force behind Franklin Electric’s Global Water growth and strategy over the last decade. Greg Levine joined Franklin Electric in July from Nidec Corp., where he served as president of the motion control and drives business for the past six years. Before working at Nidec, Levine held senior engineering roles at Emerson for 15 years. In his new role, Levine will be responsible for Franklin Electric’s global water systems business.