Long Live the Wild Boars!

At Xylem, our people do incredible things every day around the world to help others and the communities in which they live. So it was only natural to jump in and support the effort to rescue the Wild Boars football team in Thailand over the past couple of weeks. I simply can't express how proud I am of how quickly our teams came together from across six countries to work in collaboration with the Thai government's pump operation. Not only would they work together to maximize the existing system, but also to develop a plan to completely empty the cave in the event Thai navy seal extraction efforts failed.

Working with the US and British embassies in Bangkok, and the US and Thai militaries, our first wave of support from Bangkok, Thailand and Singapore was allowed onsite. They provided a critical initial assessment of and information on the pumping system. Several conference calls later between the local Southeast Asia team and Xylem engineers and specialists from Bridgeport, NJ, USA and Zurich, Switzerland, it appeared there were several opportunities to accelerate the pumping. So a second wave of specialist resources was deployed to the site. Literally hours later, system experts from the US and Quenington, UK were on flights destined for Thailand.

Immediately after landing in Chiang Rai, our specialists met up with the their Southeast Asia counterparts in Xylem, and were escorted by Thai police to the cave. While there were plenty of electrical submersible dewatering pumps already onsite (including some Xylem brand), only four units could be used at a time. As the pumps were so deep in the cave complex, massive line losses sapped generator power, and limited how many pumps could be operated simultaneously. So the team went to work evaluating and proposing modifications to the discharge hose arrangement that would increase flow by up to 40%.

Returning to site the next day, the team noticed that the Thai pumping team had implemented their recommended changes overnight. Pumping had in fact been accelerated, and a number of chambers in the cave that had been slowly emptying for the past several days, were now free of water. Given dangerously low oxygen levels, oncoming rains and now significantly less water for the Navy seals and Wild Boars to dive through, the Thai authorities made the decision to begin the extraction process.

But our teams didn't stop working on developing a plan B in case the extraction efforts stalled or failed. If the entire cave complex needed to be emptied, then Xylem would need to bring different equipment to the site. The infamous U-shaped chamber deep in the cave complex was simply too small to pass the large, heavy submersible pumps existing on site. Divers would need several slimmer, lighter weight pumps if we were to empty the entire cave. Scouring our global rental fleet, the right equipment was found in Bremen, Germany. The German team worked around the clock to get the units and over 1km of hose ready in short order. A day later, that equipment arrived in Bangkok via Lufthansa.

Fortunately, that alternative pumping system to empty the remainder of the cave complex would never needed to be implemented. The Thai military's extraction was highly successful and the team was rescued. Xylem is donating those "plan B" units shipped from Germany to the Thai government's pumping team. Our specialists will provide training in the upcoming weeks so that they can operate these as effectively as possible.

As I said before, I simply can't express enough gratitude and thanks to all of the Xylem employees across the world who helped make this possible. And as I've learned throughout my career, it's not just about what you do, but also about how you do it and how you make people feel in the process. Throughout the entire ordeal, our teams remained professional and worked hand-in-hand with each other and the Thai pumping team on the ground. They had the emotional intelligence to recognize that the Thai team and authorities were in an incredibly difficult situation, under tremendous pressure with the entire world watching. To come in and be critical of their efforts to date or insist on wholesale changes would have been insensitive and counter to getting the job done. In true Xylem fashion, the team worked hard, fast and collaboratively to help others. I truly am privileged to work with all of you.

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