About Me

BIO

Ken Loucks
Regulatory Compliance Manager
Schier Products Company
9500 Woodend Road
Edwardsville, KS 66111
913-951-3300 office
360-540-0570 cell
LinkedIn

My occupation centers on creating partnerships with pretreatment professionals around the U.S. and Canada to facilitate the creation of or improvement to fats, oils and grease (FOG) abatement programs. I provide research and analysis on the issues relating to grease interceptors to educate, inform and sometimes entertain colleagues. I also interface with code bodies and standards committees on amendments or changes to content that affect grease interceptors. I am currently a member of the ASME A112.14.3 sub-committee tasked with updating the standard and a member of the 2015-2017 IPC Code Committee for the 2018 International Plumbing Code.

I have worked in the plumbing industry since 1989 in wholesale distribution, as a manufacturer’s representative, and directly for manufacturing. For the past several years I have worked specifically on codes, standards, ordinances, bylaws and policies as they affect the products we manufacture across the United States and Canada.

I have extensive experience dealing with grease interceptors, the standards that govern them and the codes that adopt those standards. I have worked with jurisdictions across the United States and Canada to understand the codes and standards that they have adopted and the specific application of those standards and codes as related to grease interceptors. I also have extensive experience dealing with formally adopted ordinances, bylaws and policies relating to fats, oils and grease (polar and non-polar) abatement.

The Interceptor Whisperer
You might be wondering where the name "the Interceptor Whisperer" came from and why I am using it as the name of this blog.  Let me give you the background so you won't think I'm some kind of narcissist.

Apparently I get a little passionate about the world of grease interceptors, governing standards, plumbing codes and pretreatment ordinances (bylaws).

The first nickname I got was "The Preacher" by a pretreatment official in the Seattle area after I did a couple of presentations at The Grease Summit held in 2011 in Bellevue Washington.

The title "Interceptor Whisperer" was given to me later by a colleague in Canada.

Lorne Reitenbach of Equipco Ltd. thought the energy and passion I brought to his Province (Alberta) was effective, enjoyable and helpful in dealing with local pretreatment compliance and plumbing code issues, inspiring his creation of the tongue-in-cheek nickname.

I thought the title was funny and I shared the story behind the title with our sales and management team.  It didn't take long for someone at Schier to come up with this modified DVD cover broadcasting my new "title" and of course my co-star Lorne Reitenbach.

Though its hard to live up to a nickname like that, I try my best.


My Background
I first started working in the plumbing industry in 1989 working for a wholesale distributor.  Over the next 14 years I worked as a warehouseman, driver, inside salesman, outside salesman and finally branch manager.

In 2003 I went to work for a manufacturer's representative to learn how to "sell" products based on their features and benefits.  I learned to review the products I was representing, how they worked, what made them different from competitors products and how to overcome obstacles in order to generate sales.

In 2008 I started my own manufacturer's representative company and almost immediately was hired by Schier Products (www.schierproducts.com) to represent them in the Pacific Northwest.

I studied the plumbing codes and standards that govern grease interceptors and began working with contractors and engineers throughout the area.  I quickly realized that there was a lot of confusion about how to size grease interceptors and even how interceptors actually work which led to many incorrect installations in the field.

A common question that I repeatedly got was "is your interceptor approved in (fill in the blank)'s jurisdiction?" This began my education on the role of municipal pretreatment programs and how they differed and in most cases superseded plumbing codes. I started focusing a lot of time and energy on understanding the needs of these Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) and working to help them achieve their pretreatment goals.

Schier Products has been learning right along side of me and in January of 2011 asked me to join the Schier team full time.  As we continue to learn and grow as a company, we want to serve stakeholders such as the pretreatment community as much as possible.  It is this desire which led to the creation of the position I now hold - Regulatory Compliance Manager.

In this role I am focused on working with municipal pretreatment programs, plumbing codes and standards committees to help create more effective FOG abatement programs and a landscape that favors products that are more efficient, have more capacity and have proven performance.