In late 2021, Ixom Watercare's Onsite Service Team was awarded Ixom's Team Excellence Award for their efforts to support our customers during the early portion of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ixom Watercare's Onsite Services Team is responsible for traveling across the US and Canada to service, troubleshoot, and install our water treatment equipment that we manufacture at our Dickinson, North Dakota manufacturing facility.  They are an elite group of people with a unique set of skills who travel on 3-week long trips to complete work our customers need.  They work in areas that often require significant risk assessment and strict controls, including working at heights, in confined spaces, over water, and driving long distances.  They also work with mechanical and electrical equipment that require lengthy training and more strict controls to ensure their own and our customers’ safety.  On top of all this, they interact with our customers directly acting as the face of the company.

Everything Changed In March 2020

When the Coronavirus pandemic struck the United States in March 2020, Ixom Watercare took all our field technicians off the road and halted scheduling any new service itineraries.  There were so many unknowns about the virus: Is it deadly?  How does it spread?  What will the business impact be?  What about our families?  Everyone around the world had fears about this novel virus including every Ixom Watercare employee, our customers, government officials, and our families.

Once a little more information on the virus was available, our Onsite Services Team made a plan to return to business and get our Field Technicians back out on the road as safely as possible.  Following Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, a disinfectant and social distancing protocol was developed.  We asked for volunteers amongst our Field Technicians...

Who is willing to get out in the world and test the proverbial waters? 

A few brave individuals agreed to be the first out.  We prepped, discussed and trained at length.  We also let the Field Technicians know that at any time, if they didn’t feel safe, they could come home.

These first few encountered a totally different world on their first trip back out on the road.  There were business closures impacting travel. Limited restaurants. Limited gas stations. Limited hotels. There were travel restrictions across state lines and across the Canadian border. Traffic stops were frequent with law enforcement officers questioning their every move. They encountered state-specific laws sometimes several times in one day. Our Onsite Service Team navigated these difficulties and got the job done for our Customers.

Our Field Technicians kept our customers at ease by ensuring all interactions with them were safe. We maintained distance, limited the number of people on site and wore masks while in proximity.  Some customers required strictly over-the-phone communication with our crew and no-touch policies at entry gates.  Our team worked with each customer’s needs to keep them comfortable.  They followed strict disinfectant protocol in their trucks, with tools, and on customer sites. They even provided documentation of the protocol for customers to understand what we were doing as a company to keep everyone safe.

These courageous first individuals got an up-close look at what the world was like after the pandemic hit. They shared their experiences and insight with the rest of the team. Armed with better knowledge of the world, the remaining team members were eager to get back to work. 

Customer Commitment

The Onsite Services Team maintained a high degree of flexibility throughout the pandemic navigating ever-changing State & Federal laws, customer requirements, and CDC guidelines.  During the height of the pandemic from March 2020 to March 2021, our Onsite Service Team covered 486,083 miles and completed 1,205 service calls. This enabled cities across the Unties States and Canada to maintain healthy water sources which were vital during the pandemic and beyond.

*Despite working in several coronavirus hot spots, no Onsite Service Team members were infected with COVID-19 while on the road.