Personality Profile: Gary Bowers/Producers Supply Company

By: Mark Crawford
Jan/Feb 2010

 

Gary Bowers has called the hills and valleys of Appalachia home for 40 years. Raised in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, just north of the West Virginia border, Bowers grew up around heavy equipment — his father worked as an equipment operator in the coal fields and heavy construction. That healthy appreciation for hard honest work has never left him. Today Bowers is owner and president of Producers Supply Company (PSC), a full-service oilfield supply company headquartered in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.


Bowers is owner and president of Producers Supply Company (PSC), a full-service oilfield supply company headquartered in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

 

“PSC caters to drilling and well service contractors,” says Bowers. “We supply everything from a complete $15-million shale rig package to the smallest rope, soap and dope orders. Our employees answer the phones 24/7/365. We actually like the after-hours calls and emergencies because we are service people — if we also happen to make a profit, then that’s a bonus.”
 
After graduating from high school in 1987 Bowers tried several careers, including driving a concrete truck for a year. He was laid off during the winter of 1991 and hired on with PSC as a stock boy and warehouse helper at age 21.
 
“I started at $6.25/hour,” he recalls. “When I showed up the next morning my superior was nowhere to be found. After waiting an hour the owner arrived, gave me the door keys, said my boss had been let go, and it was all mine.”
 
After a few years with PSC Bowers realized he had found a career path he would enjoy for the rest of his life. In 1993 he bought a 50-percent interest in the company, with an option to purchase the balance over time, and today owns the entire operation. “My business card says president, but I am whatever I need to be,” states Bowers. “I can be in a suit flying to Houston or I can be in Levis and work boots pulling orders at midnight to get out to a rig — whatever it takes. I try to lead by example and it has worked pretty well, I think.”
 
Finding opportunity
In the early days Bowers made sales calls whenever he could, including before and after work. “If I saw a rig I would stop and introduce myself and see if there were any needs I might help with,” says Bowers. “At that time we had a dominant coal industry. It was deep mining that used a process referred to as longwall mining, where they basically block out a section of coal about 1,000 feet wide and sometimes miles long, and then cut that entire block. Any existing wells in the block had to be plugged to 200 feet below the coal. Unlike a typical P&A job, all the casing in these wells had to be pulled and the hole cemented to the surface because of the methane gas in the coal seam. If they cut into a casing during mining, it could spark and cause a catastrophic explosion.”
 
The company that was doing most of this plugging was Lang Brothers out of Bridgeport, West Virginia, owned and operated by Andy Lang. “They were running duplex pumps and it was big business to sell a set of liners and pistons every few months,” says Bowers.

In the early days Bowers made sales calls whenever he could, including before and after work.

 
An entrepreneur at heart, Bowers recognized an opportunity to provide the Appalachian oil and gas market with another source for drilling fluids and solids control (at that time drilling fluids were supplied by Baroid/ Halliburton and an independent). He partnered with Andy Lang and Mitch Ring and together they presented a business plan to Bob Tilley at MI Swaco/Federal Wholesale in Houston. Tilly liked the idea and agreed to let them be the exclusive distributor for the northeastern U.S.
 
In January 2000 Lang, Ring and Bowers founded North East Mud Services Company LLC. The initial operation consisted of a rented warehouse, two employees, a rented forklift, two pickups and a Mack flatbed. Over the next eight years the company rapidly expanded to become the dominant provider in the Northeast for many years, eventually being acquired by Baker Hughes in December 2008.
 
The borders of PSC’s territory are ever-changing. “Our territory is designed by our customers, and we go where they need us to be,” says Bowers. Bowers learned that from his father, who would travel 600 miles roundtrip once a week to service one rig for a customer. Most of PSC’s work is in southwestern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, with weekly routes into areas as far north as the Finger Lakes region of New York.
 
Producers Supply Company’s product lines represent about 50 different manufacturers. “We have been working closely with a few manufacturers such as GEFCO, on packaging the Speedstar 1100K rig,” says Bowers. “This rig is rated to 300,000 pounds, 1100 hp, and is carrier-mounted for easy mobilization in Appalachia. The first rig is in the field right now and if it continues to perform as expected, we have orders in for three more and several quotes out.”
 
Prompt attention to a customer’s needs is the cornerstone for PSC’s reputation for quality and customer satisfaction. “My employees have the ability to make a decision on the spot, I back each one of them 100 percent in every decision,” says Bowers. “They know what I would do and what I expect, so there is hardly an occasion we differ. It is always about how to best take care of the customer in the most timely and cost effective manner — I will not settle for anything less. I am all about image. We run a clean and neat operation, from the floors in the facility to our trucks. The fleet is washed every Saturday, no matter what. I never want to see a white-and-orange truck going down the road that’s not presentable.”
 
Looking forward

Gary Bowers joined AESC’s Appalachian Basin Chapter after meeting Kenny Jordan at a coil tubing trade show in Houston in 2003, and values the services AESC provides. “The AESC allows me to network with other vendors and manufacturers and provides access to a broad group of customers throughout the country,” he says. “Just like the industry itself, the AESC has a group of folks like no other. You will not find better camaraderie anywhere else.”

Bowers is convinced the Marcellus Shale (and other shale gas deposits) will transform the industry in the near future. “The Marcellus is no longer an exploratory play,” he says. “They are development drilling now — when we see an increase in commodity prices, they will ramp up in the Marcellus more than other areas, because all the majors have entered this market. If we have a pricing margin over the Rockies or Henry Hub by any substantial amount, why would they drill anywhere else? I think we are in the right place for the long term. The only downfall for me is that the Marcellus is no longer a secret. For 20 years we were one of only a few supply companies here; now we are one of many.”
 
The industry will continue to see some fallout in 2010 and 2011 from the consolidation that has occurred over the last four years, Bowers believes. “It is a cycle,” he stresses. “When times are good, corporate and Wall Street want all these M&A deals. Then times get lean and the big guys cannot operate like I can as an independent. I think the next few years will be better for the smaller guys than the past few years have been.”
 

The best piece of advice Bowers ever received was from his good friend and mentor Jim Lang. “Jim told me that the fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise are often poor, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives; it is all decided by chance, being at the right place at the right time — plus a lot of hard work’” says Bowers.
It’s not easy seizing opportunities when they come along — it takes a lot of getting up early and staying late. “I have spent many days in the office until the wee hours of the morning, going home for a few hours, showering, and then I’m back at it again,” reports Bowers. “Sometimes that is what it takes and I still do it as needed.”

 
Since his first day with PSC his life and career have been consumed by the oilfield. “It still excites me to be driving along at night and see a rig off in the distance with lights shining,” he says. “I’ve basically held the same job my entire career. I think the only thing that has changed has been the relationships I’ve made along the way that have given me some wonderful opportunities. It’s easy to get up at 4:30 in the morning and go to work when you enjoy what you do.”