Marv Filas
Sales Engineer
248-528-4122
The year started in fluid management: 1981
Certifications and Training:
- Crane Deming Pump Training
- Tranter Advanced Rep Training
- AODP Pump Training
- Giant High-Pressure Pump Training
- Gardner Denver Air Compressor Sales Training
In July of 1981, I started out in shipping and receiving at Giant Pumps. From there I moved into pump repair and testing. When the President of the company would come out to the repair department, he commented on my personality. I think he even used the word sparkling. LOL. And he liked my knowledge of the pumps. So he asked if I would be interested in getting into Inside Sales. I did. And then he told me I had to get a haircut and shave off my beard. The Hell’s Angels look had to go. I’ve got to tell the truth, that was a tough decision at the time, but I decided to do it. I eventually moved into outside sales and got to see a lot of this beautiful country! I have since worked for several other pump distributors in Ohio and am happy to have joined up with Great Lakes Pump & Supply Co. in 2014.
Unique Experiences
No one will believe the time I sold a 4” Wilden AODP pump on a skid to a local automotive plant to pump excess water and solids out of their sumps. Shortly after delivery, I received a call from the customer saying that the pump was not delivering any liquid. The customer had installed hoses on the suction and discharge of the pump. I figured maybe the balls were sticking in the valves of the pump, I proceeded to open the pot ball covers to see if there was any liquid in the manifold. It was dry so I figured we had a priming issue. Seemed to me that something was clogging the suction line. After removing the suction hose, it turned out that the customer hadn’t removed the red cap plugs that were installed in the suction and discharge ports when the pump was shipped. We couldn’t believe it and we all had a good laugh!
One thing I seem to encounter over and over and over is mechanical seal failure on horizontal pumps. It’s the nature of the beast I suppose but it still blows every time it happens.
