The Industrial CapitalistField terms.
Plain-language explainers for the words used on the pad, the shop floor, the job site, and at the bank. Written by people who use them, for people who are about to.
Terms, by desk.
EnergyCapital & FinanceManufacturingInfrastructure & ConstructionPowerDefense
Energy
Oil and gas, pipelines, and the services around them.
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Oilfield services and rentals, explained
Most of the people on a pad work for a service or rental company, not the operator. What those businesses are, how they are paid, and what it takes to build one.
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Upstream, midstream, downstream: what the words mean
Upstream finds and produces oil and gas, midstream moves and stores it, downstream refines and sells it. A plain guide to the three segments and who works in each.
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What is dewatering and drying?
After a hydrostatic test, the water has to come out and the line has to be dried to the specification the product needs. How dewatering and drying are done with pigs, air, and nitrogen.
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What is a frac fleet?
A frac fleet is the set of pumps, blenders, sand and water systems, and crews that hydraulically fracture a well. What makes one up, why it costs what it does, and how the work is priced.
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What does a wireline company do?
Wireline companies run tools into a well on a cable to log, perforate, set plugs, and retrieve equipment. What the work is, what the equipment costs to run, and why the business is built on crews.
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What is hot shot trucking in the oilfield?
Hot shot trucking moves urgent, smaller loads to the pad on a heavy pickup and gooseneck trailer. How it works, why it exists, and what the economics look like for an owner-operator.
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What is a well pad?
A well pad is the cleared, engineered site where one or more wells are drilled, completed, and produced. What sits on a pad, who works there, and why ‘from the pad’ means what it does.
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What is pigging?
Pigging sends a device, the pig, through a pipeline under pressure to clean it, remove water, separate products, or inspect the wall. The basics of pigs, launchers, and receivers.
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What is hydrostatic testing?
Hydrostatic testing fills a pipeline or vessel with water, raises it above its working pressure, and holds it to prove it will not leak or fail. Here is how a hydrotest actually runs.
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What is nitrogen purging?
Nitrogen purging displaces air, oxygen, or hydrocarbons from a pipeline or vessel with dry, inert nitrogen gas. What it is for, how it is done, and what the numbers on the trailer mean.
Capital & Finance
How industrial businesses are financed, valued, bought, and sold.
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What is a personal guarantee?
A personal guarantee puts the owner’s own assets behind the company’s debt. Why nearly every industrial loan requires one, what it covers, and how owners eventually get out from under it.
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Equipment financing and leasing, explained
Trucks, pumps, machine tools, and generators are rarely bought with cash. The difference between an equipment loan and a lease, what lenders look at, and what the fine print costs.
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What is an EBITDA multiple?
Industrial businesses are usually priced as a multiple of EBITDA. What the number means, what moves it up or down for a service company or shop, and why the add-backs matter.
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What is a seller note?
A seller note is the part of the purchase price the seller lends to the buyer. Why it appears in most small industrial deals, how it is structured, and what it signals.
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What is an SBA 7(a) loan?
The SBA 7(a) is the loan most small industrial businesses in America are bought and equipped with. How the guarantee works, what lenders look for, and where it fits.
Manufacturing
Shops, plants, and the people who make things.
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What is a job shop?
A job shop makes parts to order, one job at a time, rather than running a product line. What that means for how it quotes, schedules, and grows, and why so many machining and fabrication businesses…
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Fabrication shop and machine shop: the difference
Both make metal parts to order, but a fabrication shop cuts, forms, and welds plate and structural steel while a machine shop removes metal to tight tolerances. What each does and where they overlap.
Infrastructure & Construction
Heavy civil, contracting, bonding, and public work.
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What is prevailing wage?
On public construction, contractors must pay wage rates set for each trade in each area. What prevailing wage is, where it applies, and what certified payroll means for a contractor.
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What is a surety bond in construction?
Surety bonds guarantee that a contractor will finish the work and pay the people who did it. What bid, performance, and payment bonds are, and why bonding capacity decides how big a contractor can grow.
Power
Generation, the grid, and the equipment that keeps the lights on.
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Megawatts and megawatt-hours: the difference
A megawatt measures how fast energy is delivered; a megawatt-hour measures how much was delivered. The distinction that trips up most conversations about power, generation, and the equipment on a job site.
Defense
Working for the Department of Defense and its primes.
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