WHEN EVERY MINUTE COUNTS
How Going the Extra Mile Saved Reser’s Fine Foods From a Midnight Crisis
THE CHALLENGE: A CRITICAL BREAKDOWN AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME
It was 9:30 pm on a weeknight when a Maintenance Manager at Reser's Fine Foods' Topeka facility, got the call no one wants to receive. The wastewater treatment plant had gone down.
A 10-inch Schedule 80 PVC pipe had shattered, taking out multiple elbows and tees in the process. The plant was completely offline, and the clock was ticking. In roughly three hours, Reser's would have no choice but to bypass untreated wastewater directly to the city, a move that would trigger significant fines and burn through their limited allowance of "dirty run" days.
"We only get five days per year where we're allowed to run dirty to the city," the Maintenance Manager explains. "We'd already used three days earlier that month for a scheduled tank cleanout. I had two days left, and I really didn't want to burn them if I didn't have to. After that, it just starts costing you money."
For a major food production facility like Reser's, the stakes were enormous. Equipment sat idle. Production schedules were in jeopardy. The threat of using one of the facility’s few dirty run days and a host of fines loomed. Every minute of downtime meant potential losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Maintenance Manager was staring down a crisis with no easy solution in the middle of the night that he would have to tell the higher-ups about in the morning.
THE PROBLEM: NOBODY STOCKS 10-INCH SCHEDULE 80 PIPE
He quickly assessed what he needed: 10-inch Schedule 80 PVC pipe, multiple elbows, tees, and enough industrial-grade glue to complete the repairs. It was specialized material that virtually no local supplier would stock.
"No place in town would have that," he says. "You'd have to special order everything and rush it in the next day. Even if someone local had it, I'd be waiting until morning and we'd be down all night."
That's when he remembered something. Just a week earlier, he'd met Kyle Smiddy from MKS Pipe and Valve in Kansas City. During their conversation, Kyle mentioned something that stuck with the Maintenance Manager.
"Kyle told me, 'Let me know if you need anything. It doesn't matter, day or night.' I kind of chuckled, but he was serious. He said, 'I've had plants call me in the middle of the night because they're down and need something. I've been known to open up the shop, grab the parts, and bring them out to get them up and running again.'"
He had appreciated the gesture - and only half believed Kyle was even serious - but there was no better opportunity to put him to the test.
THE MKS APPROACH: ABOVE AND BEYOND DOESN’T BEGIN TO COVER IT
Standing in a disabled wastewater plant at 10 PM, he made the call.
Kyle answered. He'd been about to go to bed, but he didn't hesitate. "He said, 'Let me go check right now and make sure we have what you need,'" the Maintenance Manager recalls. "I said, 'You're going to the shop now?' He said, 'No problem. I've got keys, and I'll check our inventory. I should have everything you need.'"
About 45 minutes later, Kyle called back. He had every single piece the customer needed and he was already loading the truck.
"He asked if we had enough glue. I said, 'I don't think so, not enough to do this whole job.' He said, 'No problem, I'll bring some.' He thought of things I hadn't even considered yet."
Kyle made the hour drive from Kansas City to Topeka. But he didn’t stop there. Once he was on site, Kyle - who works in sales at MKS, not service - rolled up his sleeves and helped with the repair.
"This was only the second time I'd met Kyle," the Maintenance Manager says. "And there he was, right in there with us, helping us get the pipe glued and the system back together."
Less than two hours after Kyle arrived with parts, the wastewater plant was back online. Crisis averted.
The Maintenance Manager’s wife had dropped him off at the plant earlier that evening, and she was home asleep. "Kyle said, 'How far north do you live?' I told him, and he said, 'No problem, I'll run you home.' It was the opposite direction from Kansas City, but he took me all the way home and dropped me off so I didn't have to wake up my wife."
“This was only the second time I’d met Kyle,” the Maintenance Manager says. “And there he was, right in there with us, helping us get the pipe glued and the system back together.”
THE IMPACT: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS SAVED, A PARTNERSHIP FORGED
The financial impact was significant. By getting the plant back online that same night, Reser's avoided costly regulatory fines, preserved their remaining allowance of bypass days, and kept production on track.
"If we'd been down all night, it would have been big bucks," the Maintenance Manager says. "We would have gotten fines, and we would have burned another one or two of our allowed days. That's huge when you only get five for the entire year."
But the real impact went beyond the immediate save. That night established a partnership built on trust, reliability, and genuine care for the customer's success.
"There's nobody else that does that," he says simply. "That was definitely going above and beyond. And like I said, that was the second time I met Kyle. I'm sold on him. He's our supplier on a lot of things - piping, plumbing, steam and boiler stuff."
MORE THAN JUST EMERGENCY RESPONSE
While the midnight rescue is the story that stands out, it’s far from the only example of the MKS team delivering exceptional value to Reser’s.
UNMATCHED INVENTORY AVAILABILITY
"What makes MKS different is having everything in stock," the Maintenance Manager explains. "Kyle stocks things that nobody else keeps on hand. That 10-inch Schedule 80 pipe? Very few people would ever need that except for big companies, and MKS had it ready to go."
The breadth of MKS's inventory has proven valuable time and again. In another instance, Reser’s needed specialized sanitary seals for food safety compliance and had searched everywhere without success. Kyle found exactly what they needed through MKS's supplier network.
"I looked all over, got on Grainger, couldn't find them. Kyle set me up with these Pipetite brand flexible sanitary seals. He also found white rubber boots that are food-safe and chemical-resistant for the harsh cleaners we use every night."
KNOWLEDGE THAT SOLVES PROBLEMS
"Kyle doesn't just take orders, he helps you think through what you actually need," the Maintenance Manager says. "He'll tell you if you're about to make a mistake, or help you figure out a solution when plans change last-minute. That level of expertise is invaluable."
This proactive approach extends to product recommendations. When Reser’s needed tri-clover fittings for its sanitary stainless steel tubing systems, MKS was able to provide them at a fraction of the cost of major online suppliers due to its relationships with major PVF vendors.
"McMaster-Carr and Grainger were charging three times what Kyle could get them for," the Maintenance Manager notes. "MKS buys in bulk and passes those savings along. They're not just taking orders, they're actively helping you save money while getting better products."
SERVICE THAT BUILDS TRUST
For the maintenance crew at Reser’s, MKS's defining characteristic is simple. They go beyond providing parts and work with you to solve problems.
"I've had reps that give you their number and tell you to call at night if you need something," the Maintenance Manager says. "But most of them don't answer, or they say, 'Sorry, I'll see you in the morning.' Kyle didn't do that. He could have said he'd help in the morning, but he didn't. He said, 'I'll check now and make sure we have what you need.' That gave me peace of mind so I could tell my GM that we were handling it."
That reliability has made MKS the Topeka plant’s go-to partner. "I really can't say anything negative about MKS and what they've come through for us. The prices are affordable, the service is outstanding, and they genuinely care about keeping us running."
WHY THIS PARTNERSHIP WORKS
For maintenance managers and project leaders, suppliers are critical partners in keeping operations running smoothly. When downtime means hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, having a supplier you can trust becomes non-negotiable.
"To me, Kyle is MKS," the Reser’s manager says. "He represents everything they stand for. And what he's shown me is that they're not just there when it's convenient. They're there when it matters most."
ABOUT RESER’S FINE FOODS
Reser’s Fine Foods is one of the nation’s leading producers of fresh refrigerated foods, operating multiple production facilities across the United States. Their Topeka facility produces a wide range of products including mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, gravies, and shepherd’s pie.
ABOUT MKS PIPE AND VALVE
MKS Pipe and Valve supplies industrial pipe, valves, and fittings to mechanical contractors, maintenance engineers, and OEM manufacturers across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Oklahoma. With over 8,500+ stocked locally and 80 years of technical expertise, MKS helps customers avoid downtime and stay on schedule through first-time-right accuracy, rapid-response delivery, and value-added services including custom fabrication, valve actuation, and steam system consulting.