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spk05: and welcome to the Solaris First Quarter 2021 Earnings Teleconference and Webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would like to turn the conference over to Yvonne Fletcher, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
spk00: Good morning and welcome to this hilarious first quarter 2021 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by our Chairman and CEO, Bill Dartler, and our President and CFO, Kyle Ramachandran. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you of our standard cautionary remarks regarding the forward-looking nature of some of the statements that we will make today. Such forward-looking statements may include comments regarding future financial results and reflect a number of known and unknown risks. Please refer to our press release issued yesterday along with other recent public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that outline those risks. I would also like to point out that our earnings release and today's conference call will contain discussion of non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings release, which is posted on our website at solarisoilfield.com under the News section. I'll now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Bill Dartler.
spk02: Thank you, Yvonne, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'm pleased to share another quarter of strong Solaris results with you today. During the first quarter of 2021, Solaris generated a 13% sequential increase in revenue to nearly $29 million, generated an adjusted EBITDA that increased 26% sequentially to over $6 million. We paid our 10th consecutive quarterly dividend. We ended the quarter with $55 million of cash and no debt on the balance sheet. The first quarter of 2021... showed continued economic and industry progress as oil demand continued to recover against a backdrop of disciplined U.S. and global supply. This improving outlook steadily drove oil prices back to the $60 barrel range during the first quarter, and prices have remained relatively stable in the $60 range so far the second quarter. Natural gas prices have also remained steady in the $2.50 to $3 range. As a result, we saw a continued increase in both completions and rig count activity that drove an increase in activity for Solaris as well. Our system count was up 24% sequentially in the first quarter, which reflected a stronger and quicker recovery than we anticipated. Many operators ramped up activity early in the quarter and have remained disciplined and steady. Looking into the second quarter, given the early surge we saw in activity during the first quarter, we expect a flattish activity level for Solaris in the second quarter. Our customers continue to focus on finding efficiency gains. We spoke about simulfracs on last quarter's call, and that continues to be a technique most operators with sizable programs are trying. Because simulfracs drive increased completion rates, the delivery and management of raw materials on location require technologies that can meet the demand for logistics and footprint requirements to ensure that cost savings from the simulfrac operations are actually realized. Last quarter, we introduced our latest disruptive innovation, which is a patent-pending technology that extends our traditional equipment from a storage solution to a hydrated delivery system and replaces a traditional blender. Our automated all-electric design eliminates many of the traditional blender points of failure and frees up both headcount and space on location to continue driving costs down for our customers. When used in conjunction with our automated sand, water, and chemical systems, we eliminate multiple steps from the traditional process, We believe we can reduce threat personnel on location by up to 80%, providing significant savings and safety improvements. In addition to our new blending system development, we spent the last few years developing and testing new safety and dust control enhancements for our equipment. These improvements include auto hopper, belt scales, dust collection, and equipment enclosures. Ultimately, we believe automation and remote operation are two of the best ways to improve well site safety and efficiencies for as the elimination of personnel saves labor costs, reduces the potential for silica exposure, and lowers the risk of other safety incidents. In March, we hosted a technology open house where we demonstrated our full equipment offering and ran simulated operations, including on our new blending technology, water silos, and chemical systems. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we received interest from multiple parties on trialing the full offering. Seeing Solaris' storage capabilities in person provided the visual context for the benefits of vertical fluid storage. This has led to several requests from customers, and we've already completed conversions of the older idle sand silo systems, resulting in five water systems currently in our fleet and deployed with customers. We see incremental growth beyond this and are in the process of converting additional sand silo systems into water systems, and we expect to be on our first well site trial of our blending technology in the second quarter. It's still too early to know what the ultimate market will be for these new offerings, as we are just beginning our first jobs, but we are excited about the opportunity to continue the efficiency push for our customers by creating built-for-purpose, innovative solutions. On the sustainability front, we recently provided support for a wind energy company at our Kingfisher Transload Facility for the transport and staging of wind power installations in Oklahoma. While the opportunity is small today, wind projects currently account for over a third of of the power under construction in Oklahoma, and we're pleased to be able to support the effort with our state-of-the-art facility. Our primary ESG goals will continue to focus on lowering the cost and carbon footprint for the benefit of our customers and the communities we operate in. But we will always consider ways to support the energy transition if it also allows us to put our capital to work at attractive incremental returns. I will now turn it over to Kyle for a more detailed financial review.
spk07: Thanks, Bill. To recap some of the numbers, during the first quarter, we generated nearly $29 million of revenue, adjusted EBITDA of over $6 million, and modestly positive free cash flow. We averaged 52 fully utilized systems deployed to customers, which represents a 24% sequential increase. Total revenue increased 13% sequentially, driven by an increase in activity, as well as an increase in last-mile services. though profitability was modestly offset by the winter storms that impacted most of Texas-based operations in February. Absent the impact of the storm, our profitability on a per-system basis would have been closer to fourth quarter 2020 levels. Over the course of the quarter, we deployed a total of 83 proper systems, which worked with varying degrees of utilization in the first quarter. Our calculation of 52 fully utilized systems reflects the number of equivalent systems that generated revenue every day in the quarter, which we believe is the best measured for modeling purposes. Operating cash flow was approximately $2.8 million and was impacted by seasonal first quarter working capital cash requirements, in addition to a buildup in accounts receivable as activity increased. Net of capital expenditures of approximately $2.6 million, our free cash flow was slightly positive at $100,000. We returned a total of approximately $5 million to shareholders in the first quarter in dividends, which was flat with the prior quarter. Since initiating our dividend over two years ago, we have returned approximately $78 million in cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We ended the first quarter with approximately $55 million in cash and $35 million available under our undrawn credit facility for a total of $90 million of liquidity. Turning to our outlook, Solaris systems deployed in the first quarter were up approximately 24% from fourth quarter 2020 levels as we began 2021 with strong momentum and experienced a minimal impact on fully utilized systems from inclement weather in February. Due to the early activity gains we saw in the first quarter, combined with continued public operators' commitment to capital discipline, we anticipate our activity to be flattish in the second quarter from average first quarter levels. Total SG&A costs for the first quarter were approximately $4.6 million, inclusive of non-cash stock-based compensation. For the second quarter of 2021, we expect total SG&A to be roughly $5 million inclusive of the normal quarterly expensing of non-cash stock compensation. Our typical maintenance capital spending requirements, including for system enhancements and upgrades for today's level of activity should run at approximately $5 to $10 million per year. Our capital expenditures for 2020 came in at the lower end of that range at $5 million due to lower activity levels and testing and several automation and dust control enhancements that we were not yet ready to deploy. For full year 2021, we now expect our capital spending to be in the range of $10 to $15 million, due primarily to new growth capital initiatives Bill discussed, including water silo conversions and continued system enhancements. We are excited about our new product developments and our continued push to add automation and efficiency to the low-pressure side of well sites. We also remain committed to deploying capital only where we believe we can drive incremental returns, and we remain committed to our dividend and strong debt-free balance sheet. With that, we'd be happy to take your questions.
spk05: We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your touchstone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question will come from George O'Leary with Tudor Picking Holton Company. Please go ahead.
spk08: On the The simulfrac side, you guys said you're continuing to see larger customers pursue simulfracs, and we continue to hear the same. I guess it seems like water has been one of the main constraints there. Is that adding to the demand that you guys are seeing to convert those sand silos to water silos?
spk02: Yeah, George, good morning. It's exactly what's happening. So the need for a buffer with hydrostatic head right at the well side avoids a lot of of localized pumping around between fracked tanks and having the system with the three-pack essentially for water provides a much more significant buffer at those high rates if they're pulling water off.
spk08: Great. That's helpful. And then just one related question, and then I'll have a follow-up. What's the cost of a conversion to convert a sand silo to a water silo?
spk07: Good morning, George. I don't think we're going to get into details of the conversion costs at this point, but we really like the idea of converting assets that are already on our balance sheet. When we built to 166 systems, there were probably close to 400 fractures running, so this allows us to redeploy those assets.
spk08: Fair enough. Thanks for that, Kyle. And then just one more. As you look out to the second quarter, it seems like BRAC activity is off to a good start. I'm sure you ended last quarter at a much higher point than where you started it. So kind of two questions in one. How much do you think the silo count was? We'll be up in the second quarter, and then just from a geographic perspective, it seems like additions have been more broad-based than just the Permian in recent months. So you seeing shots on goal across the board, or is it more basin-specific? Any color there would be great.
spk02: I'll address the first half and answer the second half. I think that we saw a ramp up a little earlier than we expected, and so I don't know whether we've got momentum kind of going out of the first quarter and the second quarter, but I don't think we're forecasting a massive leap in activity levels in the second quarter at this point. So I think that's why we're sort of indicating flattish for the quarter because we're We sort of thought we'd see a steady ramp through the quarter, and really, you know, mid-January, things picked up pretty quickly.
spk07: Yeah, the other comment I'd make is, you know, obviously when we look at the rate count, there's been a significant increase in a lot of the privates. And that work, it depends, you know, private by private, but some of that work can be a little bit spottier with more white space in the calendar. So we've got to be careful when we just look at peer rig counts or peer quoted frack counts in different areas. The way we report our fully utilized systems, we're taking into account that potential white space in those sort of non-large public operators. And then if you look at the sort of 80-plus systems we reported working in the quarter, that's really the effective.
spk08: Bill.
spk05: Our next question will come from John Hunter with Catwin. Please go ahead.
spk04: Hey, good morning. Good morning, John. So on the last call, you know, we discussed the potential for EMPs to pull 22 spend or activity into the second half of 21 if the commodity price remained constructive, which it has around the $60 level. So Where we sit today, is there any indication that, you know, public E&Ps may pull 22 spend into the second half? Or do you see any potential activity increase in the second half really only driven by the privates?
spk02: No, I think that theory still holds. I mean, I think we're seeing that it takes a little longer for the larger publics to get ramped up, and I think we're seeing them getting ramped up, and it's sort of third, fourth quarter activities. Once the ball gets rolling, it takes a while to get it rolling, but it keeps rolling, and I think we're seeing that in their planning cycle for the fourth quarter, probably in activity mostly.
spk07: The only comment I'd add to that is if we look at M&A and the impact of consolidation and what that does. So one of our indirect customers has been a consolidator, and they're looking at high-grading the pro forma portfolio. Yeah. they're not necessarily keeping all the activity of the acquired companies on a net basis. That consolidator could show a reduction in activity if you look at A plus B. So that's sort of a bit of a headwind in that piece.
spk04: That makes sense. Thanks for that. And then my follow-up is on the margin. If I heard correctly, I think you said that margin would have been in line with the 1Q20 level absent the weather impact. So, you know, first, correct me if I'm wrong there. And then secondly, you know, that level would be around a million bucks of gross profit per system. So, you know, I'm curious if you see any upside to that level later this year or on a normalized basis going forward.
spk07: Yeah, I'll kind of try to address the first quarter. Obviously, we alluded to or spoke directly to the impact of the storms, which didn't necessarily impact our utilization, but did impact a little bit on the profitability side. The first quarter always is going to have a bit of a step up in costs as you're resetting some of your annual costs that by the end of the year, you're no longer accruing. The other piece that I think we addressed on the last call was we did have a bit of a lag in ramping up our rehiring in the field in the fourth quarter relative to the activity pickup. So we did do that in the first quarter. So that had a little bit of a headwind. But, yeah, I think what we've provided so far this morning is guidance around expecting Q2 profitability to look more like Q4. And then, you know, the other piece, just when we look at it on a net basis, on a margin percentage basis, we've got to consider is last mile. And so that will obviously drive the margin percentages up or down, depending on the relative amount of activity there, but ultimately shouldn't impact negatively the dollars of margin contribution.
spk04: Understood. Thanks for that, Kyle. I'll turn it back.
spk05: Our next question will come from Ian McPherson with Simmons. Please go ahead. Thanks.
spk09: Good morning, Bill and Kyle. I'm curious on the water system conversions. Is that something where your value to the wellside is really demonstrated when you're packaged together with your sand and water systems together? Do you need that combination to deliver value, or can this be a discrete and separate service that's sold separately to the customer from the sand systems?
spk02: No, it can function completely independent. I think it does fit nicely when we have the blending technology out there. But from a sand silo perspective, the water can be used into a traditional mixing system just like anything else. Actually, it provides the same head benefits and the same simplicity and same buffer performance. than it would with either our stand equipment or somebody else's.
spk07: Yeah, one small anecdote on that. Recently we got it from a customer. They're using different water storage on location, and it requires an individual to be out on location 24 hours a day running a manual pump, depending on sort of the operations at the current time. So by using our system and by locating it right next to the blender –
spk09: Okay. Now, it sounds like this is still fairly early. We're not seeing material accretion from it in your second quarter guide. Do you think that this is something, an opportunity for EBITDA accretion on flat frack activity from Q2 into Q3?
spk02: Yeah, we think we'll be deploying a few more of these throughout the quarter. We've got demand for them. We're making conversions as we speak. So we do see that beginning around. I don't think it's going to be massively meaningful in the overall scheme of the EBITDA, but it's creative.
spk07: It's driving towards Solaris as the comprehensive low-pressure equipment supplier, so that's water, sand, chemicals, and the new blender.
spk09: Yeah. And then last one for me on the new blender is the timeline. There's still development and trial throughout this year and then commercial next year. I mean, I thought that the comment you made about up to 80 percent personnel reduction sounds obviously hugely transformative. So just want to get a sense of when that that rollout is scheduled at this point.
spk02: We're scheduled to go on the first well site, and we've done extensive testing at mines and in the facility. We expect to be on a well site here in the next couple weeks and run that through the quarter. We have, through all of our trials, identified a few little tweaks that we're going to make. We have began to look at ordering some of the long lead items, which we think are consistent between Unit 1 and Unit 2. So I think it still is a back half or fourth quarter this year. 2022 transformative event for us. Not really much this year.
spk09: Got it.
spk05: Thanks, Bill.
spk02: Thanks, Kyle.
spk05: Our next question will come from Stephen Gingaro with Steeple. Please go ahead.
spk10: Thanks. Good morning. I have two things. I apologize if you addressed these earlier. I joined a little bit late. But first, When you think about sort of the incremental profitability per fleet as we sort of model in activity changes going forward, on a gross profit basis, I think sort of the target is probably close to an annualized number of 900,000 to a million. Is that a reasonable way to think about it as we go forward here?
spk07: Yeah, I think pricing has been consistent from a cost perspective. I think I described just a few minutes back that we did have a lag in some pickup in costs in the fourth quarter. So we kind of caught up in the first quarter on that from a direct field technician standpoint. So I think those profitability targets remain consistent.
spk00: And I would add one more bit of color to that. I think because of seasonality, you may not necessarily see it in a quarter or two, but you would see it on a full year basis. I think that's still the right target on a full year basis.
spk10: Great. Thanks. And then my second question, just when you think about the competitive landscape on the sort of on the frack sand system side, I mean, if we go back a year and a half, you know, people were talking a lot about competition and it seems to have died out. And you guys seem to, you know, kind of remain sort of the big leader on the silo side. Are you seeing any change in the competitive landscape? Are you seeing any, anything evolving either recently or over the last year? And how do you, how do you think about just the competition as it pertains to your business on the sand side? And maybe if there's any commentary on price around that, it'd be helpful.
spk02: I think one of the evolutions will be the payload capacity of trucking sand and the addition of using our non-pneumatic system or other ways of filling the silos. So I think we're seeing, and some of this is driven by shortage of truck drivers and other issues that we're seeing continued maybe push for additional belly dump capabilities and really as a As a trend, trying to increase payloads per truck up, especially means when drivers are scared. So we're seeing that that continue. You know, there's a little bit of wet sand here and there trials there. They're going on and we've worked on our R&D around some of that as well. So. You know, it's a competitive market. It always has been. And, you know, our goal is to stay ahead of the competition with our R&D efforts in trying to maintain the net delivered costs to our customers over time, which means reliability is a key factor in that calculation that we deliver a product that helps our customers be more efficient.
spk10: Great. Thank you.
spk05: Our next question will come from Samantha Ho with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.
spk01: Hey, guys. Question about this well site trial that you have lined up. Is that for an integrated system combining your track sand water silos with the hydrated delivery system? And if you could actually talk about how long the trial will run, that would be helpful.
spk02: It is with the combo package, if you will. We're targeting doing this on some smaller pads, single wells. Obviously, it's a trial, and trials sometimes don't go perfectly, so we don't want to be in a position where we're risking much for our customer, but we have a lot of confidence in all of the testing we've done on it so far. But it will be a combo system, and we're not going to do this on a massive pad simulfrac operation for test one.
spk07: And the way we're looking at it is developing a queue of trials, if you will, with multiple operators and multiple bases.
spk01: And is it just sort of like one system, one water system per trial? Can you talk about maybe the pace of the conversion from the prop and fleet to the water system?
spk07: Yeah, and typically a water system, we think of it as three silos. So when we convert a sand system, which is six silos, it creates two water systems, if you will. Now, that being said, as the silo fractions kind of continue to take share, we are seeing demand for more water storage capacity on site. So some of the work that we've got in the queue is contemplating six packs where we actually put five water silos out, and one either acid silo or one of our chemical compartments with our chemical silos with two separate compartments. And we're sort of referring to those as combo packs. And, you know, when we looked at the chem system in the early days, we were trying to optimize volumes with three silos. And depending on the completion design, it may make more sense for operators to want more water storage and just a little bit of the chem storage. So we've been able to be flexible there, and I think that's been helpful and received pretty well in the market. So those combo packs are an interesting way to put this together.
spk01: Okay, that is interesting. Quick question about the transporting business. You highlighted providing transport for wind power installation in Oklahoma. I'm just kind of curious if this is sort of like early in the installation phase of the project, because I think there's been some orders for some just like really massive projects out in that area. So curious if this is just sort of like a ramping up of something that could be sort of a long project.
spk02: We hope you're correct. I mean, we believe that their customers there have said that they have a growing need for it. We've obviously got a significant rail capacity there and easy switches, and so we see it growing. It's not a large component of the business, but we do see using that facility that way is going to make a contribution.
spk05: Our next question will come from J.B. Lowe with Citi. Please go ahead.
spk03: Hey, good morning. Kyle, Yvonne, how are you doing? Just wanted to just clarify something. So you think activity will be up in 2Q, but some of the costs from 1Q should be rolling off. Does that mean you think EBITDA 2Q will be up?
spk07: Yeah, I'll try and clarify. I think what we described activity was being flattish. Now, I think we get a little bit of a pickup from not having this winter storm from a margin perspective, but no, I don't think we see any costs rolling off. Gotcha. So EBITDA also flattish? I think that's probably right.
spk03: Okay. On the water system, is that kind of You know, converting sand silos to water silos, is that a way that you could potentially pick up some customers, I guess some new customers that potentially have been traditionally box users? If you offer them, you know, a silo system on the water side, is that something that could open up, I guess, a new customer base that you haven't necessarily... Yeah, the water silos will work in conjunction with any other system.
spk02: So we're prioritizing the rollout of those with our sand silo customers, but... because we're making them as quick as we're getting them in the field. But certainly they will function well, and we have no problem, you know, expanding the market, you know, with them where they fit.
spk03: Cool. Kind of a follow-up to that. On kind of your market share on the SAN systems, have you guys been – I mean, obviously you track Crack Crews probably closer than anybody. Have you seen any significant shift in your market share – of the sand system, you know, silos versus boxes, or you guys versus some of your bigger competitors. Have there been any major shifts kind of coming, you know, as the recovery has kind of picked up here? Any significant shifts on that front?
spk07: I wouldn't say necessarily major shifts. I think consolidation, both on the pumper and operator side, has had implications to market share for everyone. You know, some days you're benefiting from consolidation. Some days it's not helping.
spk02: way we run our fully utilized group count versus what was active in the quarter, it ends up being when you have white space inactivity, it becomes more dramatic than when everyone's steady. So if you look at the difference between the 50-ish and the mid-80s, that would indicate that there's some spottingness in the market today that hopefully as we see the bit of the major stepping back in, things get a little bit more programmatic and a little bit more stable, steady. And you get a closer match between the fully utilized count and the actual systems used.
spk03: Gotcha. Okay. Last one just on the wind project in Oklahoma. Is this using the old Kingfisher facility site?
spk02: Yes, that's correct. So using the rail facility and the landfill.
spk03: Okay, so is it more that are people actually, you know, bringing rail cars in with supplies for the project, or is it just kind of using that land as a staging area or both?
spk07: Yeah, it's more the latter at this point.
spk03: Gotcha. Okay. Cool. Thanks, guys.
spk05: Thanks. Our next question will come from Chris Boyd with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.
spk06: Thanks. Good morning. Just curious on the water silo systems. How do those get factored into the count? Do they count as half a silo system for next quarter? I think you said you have about five right now. So just curious how you're going to count them. And then on the pricing side, is it kind of half the revenue of a sand silo? Just curious if you can help on that.
spk07: Yeah, so if you look at frack tanks today, I don't know, they're a couple hundred bucks a day. They're very, very cheap, or maybe even cheaper than that. So the calorie count, if you will, on the water silos is going to be quite small relative to what we have on the sand system. So at this point, you know, we're not really breaking it out because of the small size of it. And then from a go-forward system count, you know, when we report systems, we're talking about sand.
spk02: But your assumption is correct. It is three silos for a water system, not six. So that is correct.
spk06: Okay. So in the near term, we'll just kind of be layered in a different bucket. Okay. That's helpful. And then just curious to check in on chemicals, any traction there in terms of additional uptake, tests, et cetera? Yeah.
spk07: Yeah, I think that, again, in the context of the blender that's driving demand, that also in the context of these hybrid combo models of water and some mix of acid and chems. So the way we've kind of looked at that is an a la carte menu and sort of some of the parts from a pricing standpoint. So if you've got a full chem system, you're looking at X, and if you're using two-thirds or a third of a chem system and a little bit of water, we come up with a hybrid rate.
spk06: Okay, got it. And maybe one last one. On integrated last mile, is that growing or shrinking at this point?
spk07: You know, I think every day it's sort of in flux. I would call it in the quarter, it was probably flat quarter over quarter from a peer tonnage standpoint. But we may have run more jobs. So it just sort of, it depends on who you're working for, how intense they're their jobs are. But I think from an inbound request standpoint, it continues to be very strong. And we continue to develop and enhance our offering there. We haven't talked about it, or we didn't talk about it this morning, but we're continuing to enhance our software offering around that. Historically, we have had a lot of the inventory piece and a lot of the supply chain, and we're getting deeper into a full comprehensive solution there for a full last-mile software offering. So that's sort of an edge and a differentiator there that helps drive activity. And then from a personnel standpoint, we've increased our internal capacity to handle that business as well.
spk05: Great. Thank you. Again, if you have a question, please press star then 1 to be joined into the queue. Our next question will come from Sean Mitchell with Daniel Energy Partners. Please go ahead.
spk11: Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking my question. Just a quick one for me. As activity is ramped in North America, we've heard some guys in the oil field are facing some challenges with labor. I know, Bill, you mentioned truck drivers being somewhat tight. Are there any other issues you guys are seeing from the labor side, or maybe can you –
spk02: continue on a little bit more on the dialogue with the truck drivers and what you're seeing there i think labor is is tight um it's tighter than people want to admit sometimes right now and and you know we've done our best to recruit we we recruited you know as kyle mentioned the fourth quarter where system count sort of grew a little quicker than we added we've been able to add and catch up in the first quarter um you know not without its difficulties the labor rates are are reasonable at this point. We don't see massive inflation. Drivers have been attracted by lots of other industries and or not wanting to work. And so the pneumatic drivers versus the non-pneumatic drivers with their back, the cycle times can be shorter. with the loads. And so we've seen it, you know, it get tight. It's, I think we've seen that across every industry right now in the country.
spk07: Yeah, I think, you know, kind of a tip of a hat to our team, both at a field management standpoint, but certainly the guys on the front lines. Our average tenure in our field employees is over three years. That is significantly higher than any other oil field services business I'm aware of at the sort of scale that we're at. So, And I take that back. There's definitely some competitors out there that would say differently, but I think when we especially look at sort of the trucking side of things, you're going to see much higher turnover. So we've been able to demonstrate a career path for folks, widening skill sets, and also being around a business that's got continuous new technology, new offerings. It's sort of an exciting place, I think, to work for people. And the other Big piece on that is obviously everything we've done has been oriented around automation and where operation is required, doing it remotely. So historically, you had an individual that would... sit above the blender hopper and run the sand system. And today a lot of those guys are running that system using our auto hopper system and doing it in the data van, taking somebody off the hard hat zone, so to speak, and they're sitting in a chair in a comfortable air conditioning environment. So those are some of the ways we're trying to help the industry address the inherent challenges around labor.
spk11: Thanks for the call. I really appreciate it.
spk05: our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Bill Zartler for any closing remarks.
spk02: Thanks, Matt. I'd like to finish by thanking all of our employees and partners for your perseverance and adaptability. These results would not be possible without you. You helped get Solaris off to a great start in 2021, and we're well positioned to continue helping our customers drive innovation and efficiencies on the well site. Thank you all and stay safe. Have a great day.
spk05: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
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