This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of Pest Management Professional magazine.
Article
Termite Battles: On efficiency and effectiveness
Arrow Exterminating plans for business growth with upgrade to Trelona ATBS.
Tom Jordan, general manager for Long Island, N.Y.-based Arrow Exterminating, no longer needs to troubleshoot the development of an effective termite management service. Instead, he has the luxury of viewing termite management as an opportunity for business growth.
Jordan, who has worked for Arrow Exterminating for more than 21 years, says the company is “achieving total elimination” of termites with the use of Trelona Advance Termite Bait System (ATBS) from BASF. Arrow Exterminating, a longtime BASF customer, began using Trelona ATBS a year ago.
“We have used BASF products to solve some of the most extreme pest infestations,” says Jordan. “Because of the excellent results we have seen, we felt confident in choosing Trelona ATBS for our termite customers, too.”
Finding What Works
Since adopting the baits, Arrow Exterminating’s customer callbacks have been “greatly reduced,” according to Jordan. He credits the effectiveness of Trelona ATBS — and its ability to attract termites quickly — to the system’s large size.
Trelona ATBS was designed with a large size for faster discovery by termites, and also features maximum soil contact and unique vertical slots to create a termite-friendly environment. BASF offers Trelona compressed termite bait, with the active ingredient Novaluron, to use in the bait system.
Optimizing Operations
For Jordan, maximizing the productivity of his technicians is a huge priority. With Trelona ATBS, he’s found multiple ways to boost the efficiency of operations and accomplish more.
“Being able to space the stations 15 ft. apart instead of 8 to 10 ft. apart means we are using half the amount of bait stations, which means it is taking half the time per installation,” says Jordan. This allows his Arrow Exterminating technicians to complete two to three more installations per day. “Of course, more production per day means more profit,” he says.
BASF offers another means to increasing efficiency. With Trelona ATBS, pest management professionals can conduct inspections of bait stations at either 120-day or one-year intervals. The option to conduct yearly inspections gave Jordan the flexibility and savings he was looking for; Arrow Exterminating recently upgraded its Trelona ATBS installations.
“Because the label calls for a yearly inspection,” says Jordan, “there are cost savings in every aspect of doing business: labor, overtime, gas used and truck maintenance.”