Founder and President Greg Hodgson feels that Conquest’s focus on compaction equipment is what sets it apart from other rental businesses in the market, as the company sports compactors with a broad range of size, age, and type. “Compaction is our specialty,” he affirms, “but we also have excavators, dozers, loaders, and even more.” This assortment allows the company’s products to serve a variety of needs throughout its industry.

Conquest is rolling out more self-manufactured equipment like its new tow-behind compactor: the Wobbly CA1600, which was introduced officially in the latter part of 2019 and will continue to be presented in 2021, as will a new line of walk-behind compaction equipment. The ‘Wobbly’ is named because of its wheel design, which allows for even compaction on variable terrain types.

Since we last spoke to the company in 2019, Conquest Equipment has relocated from its facility in Oxbow, Saskatchewan into its new location in Estevan, some sixty kilometres west; in addition, the company has established another office in Abbotsford, British Columbia to aid in the further spread of its services across Western Canada. The moves have “worked out great,” according to Hodgson. He notes that the markets in Saskatchewan and BC are similar enough to pose no difficulty to the company’s development.

Its workforce recognizes the importance of establishing and maintaining connections with customers and suppliers alike. Hodgson believes that, on both sides of the client-supplier relationship, open and honest communication is key. “It removes the fear of the unknown,” he explains. “We are not a transactional business… We do not come along, sell equipment, and leave. We are here to build relationships with our clients.” Conquest always endeavours to be open with suppliers about its plans so that “everyone can come along for the ride.”

Complementing its belief in meaningful business relationships, Conquest’s unique, free advertising program advertises its customer’s equipment at no charge if they have surplus to move, either through its own website or on trade-related sites like Supply Post, Rock & Dirt, or MachineryTrader. The advertising program is a growing part of the business and has been a great help in developing the deep relationships that Hodgson endorses so heavily, and it saves customers the extra work of having to deal with buyers and sellers.

He laughs when asked about the company’s fortunes during 2020, noting that it has been “an interesting year for everybody.” Due to companies in the rental industry being deemed essential, Conquest thankfully avoided having to close its doors during the lockdowns, as many businesses were forced to. The company’s more aggressive plans for growth did slow somewhat because of the pandemic and were below early expectations for 2020, but it adapted by augmenting its already considerable cleaning regimen for its in-house operations and carrying on in the face of a challenging global situation.

Adding to the unforeseen issues of COVID-19 in 2020, was an unprecedented dip in oil and commodity prices. Hodgson remembers that “you could basically get oil for free,” when the price of oil went below $0 at one point in the year, because of a combination of overproduction and less transportation demand resulting from the pandemic. This had a huge effect on the energy industry, “even more so than COVID itself,” Hodgson says. The consequences were especially felt in both the Western Canadian and the Northwestern United States economies like North Dakota – one of Conquest’s most heavily served areas.

Dealing with energy industry regulation is an ongoing challenge for companies in this sector. Hodgson believes that the current Canadian government seems to be against the energy industry at times, as pipeline projects are constantly under regulation, and parts of the industry are even being phased out entirely.

Internally, Conquest is growing extremely rapidly, which also brings more challenges, such as how to bring on further staff in a timely manner, but Hodgson counters that the brand is becoming more recognizable in the industry and continues to adapt well to its changing circumstances.

After such an unpredictable year, Hodgson observes that the industry is beginning to improve again, and 2021 is on track to be a positive year. As oil prices have rebounded to a reasonable level, related large construction projects have also begun again, and a greater industry understanding of exactly what COVID-19 entails has led to many companies adopting effective safety measures.

Because the company has a lot of projects in the USA, the end of the presidential election will be positive for Conquest’s clients, regardless of the result. Hodgson observes that the uncertainty around the election always affects customer habits and the industry at large, so a concluded election means a welcome return to normalcy, apart from the lingering pandemic measures.

In 2021, Conquest Equipment is bringing a couple of new products to market including the Wobbly CA1600, which Hodgson teases will launch in a major way, very shortly. He adds that the company facility in Estevan will soon be offering a new repair service that the company is excited to introduce. These introductions, along with more mechanics being added to the staff, are leading to what the company regards as an exciting opportunity.

“We’re all about building a strong brand,” Hodgson says, indicating that Conquest will continue to offer the same high-level products and customer service for which it has become known for three decades and counting.

The post Ready for Company Changes and Industry Shake-Ups<p class="company">Conquest Equipment</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Creating a first-rate access control system has always been the top priority for SALTO Systems. But ensuring the inclusion of valued customer input, coupled with the end goal of complete satisfaction is the company’s ultimate aim.

“What’s unique about our customer service is how we do our product development based on customer input,” says Marketing Director Steve Burk. “We have data-on-card, so we also have data at the door, even in our wireless doors. Data is king right now. Our ability to quickly get data from any door whether it’s wired or not is a real key advantage for us.”

Founded in 2001, SALTO has not only created a superior access control system, but also a number of electronic security innovations, utilizing its online and real-time technology, along with SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) and its XS4 platform. The company’s software and hardware can be networked without wires on every door, providing real-time intelligence and immediate control, while also enabling integration with existing systems to enhance manageability and end-user experience.

From airports to government
The company has reformed access control globally in numerous sectors such as airports and healthcare, education, retail, multifamily dwellings, government and hotels. SVN provides flexibility for an access control system to grow from a small number of doors and users to a large number as required.

“We provide a complete line of access control both from an on-premise software solution to a Cloud solution,” says Burk, who adds that what really makes the company unique is how it manages and operates at a wireless or wire-free level. “Because we have data-on-card, our wireless locks have about 90 percent feature/functionality as a wired lock, however the cost is significantly less. If you think about the cost to run wire to a door, to drill it, pull it through existing drywall, hide it and install it, versus just a couple screws to take the current lock off a door and put a wireless lock on, there are tremendous savings of both time and money,” he shares.

“While our competitors focus on securing the outside perimeter, it is often very expensive for them to provide access control to interior doors.” SALTO solutions cost-effectively secure both the outside perimeter as well as interior doors. “And of course we integrate. There are a lot of companies we’re integrated with and our software and our solutions integrate very well across the industry.”

Every aspect, everywhere
SALTO also offers a full line of products, including locking hardware, readers, control units, and accompanying software.

Ranging from the largest of businesses to the smallest of residences, SALTO has 10 verticals it specializes in with unique value propositions. “For instance, we have a great solution for multi-dwelling units,” says Burk. “Apartments, condo complexes – you can outfit the whole complex with our solution – gates to common areas, secure lockers, secured package delivery, long distance readers to open garages, and of course the resident’s doors, all with one credential.”

Think of a credential as a key, he explains, which could be in the form of a wristband, or a little round credential that you carry on your key chain. It can also come in the form of a credit card you carry in your purse or wallet. And you can set it up so that the person has access to everything with the one credential. “It’s very flexible and very convenient,” he says.

From a landlord’s perspective it means the ability to audit information and know how often people are using a part of the facility.

“As you’re looking to make improvements to that facility or purchase additional facilities, you can analyze the data and know how often the cafeteria or workout room is being used, [for instance], and what’s more appealing to the residents. Therefore, when you build your next building you know to make that room twice the size – or half the size.”

Student housing is another perfect example of where SALTO is a good fit. Every year as new students leave and arrive, last year’s locks with the old mechanical key should be re-keyed for safety and security. This comes at a high cost. With the electronic locks, credentials can be added or deleted from the system with just a couple of keystrokes.

“Another great use case: the SALTO XS4 Original can be ordered with a keypad and based on time of day and/or day of week, the keypad can be required or not. As added security, the lock could be programmed to require both the physical credential and the passcode after, let’s just say, 8:00pm. So imagine a coed is out, someone gets her purse and steals the credential to her room. That person would not be able to access the room because they would not know the passcode. As a father of a couple of daughters, I really appreciate that added security.”

In a work environment, you never really know how many copies of the mechanical key someone might have made. There is added peace of mind knowing a terminated employee loses access to the building and all sensitive materials just as soon as you inactivate their credential.

Roadmap to satisfaction
Regarding future products, SALTO doesn’t generally pre-announce products, but Burk says as a private company it makes significant investments in its R&D. The company has a very robust product roadmap that’s constantly developing in-house, as well as looking for outside ways to expand the portfolio so it’s a full-service provider to customers.

“We have very dedicated support for our customers,” says Burk. “We’ve got salespeople across the country that are ready, willing and able to jump, listen to our customers, not just sell them something but solve a situation for them.”

It’s this ongoing dedication to customer service that has made a name and reputation for the company over the years.

Burk also appreciates the company’s relationship with its employees, which he describes as very much embracing a work/life balance.

“We work hard and play hard,” he says. “We have very high expectations, we drive very hard, but we’re also very caring from the very top of the organization all the way down. The company’s very caring about each and every individual.”

Keeping close remotely
As with every other corporation, the biggest recent challenge of course has been the advent of COVID and ongoing battle against it. When the pandemic started, SALTO leadership announced it would do its absolute best not to let anyone go, asking employees to sharpen their tools and even add more tools to their tool belts so that when the pandemic was over they could come out, both as individuals and as a company, stronger than ever.

“That speaks volumes about the company and the leadership, because there just aren’t many other companies that said that, or were able to execute it,” says Burk. “We didn’t lay anyone off. Worldwide, we didn’t let anyone go.”

While having to deal with inevitable challenges like shipping delays, keeping employees safe throughout was top priority, with employees making the shift from predominantly office work to a remote work environment. An innovation the company found helpful throughout was something called Quaranteams.

“We created weekly meetings with teams via video calls with ‘get to know me’ sessions. Each employee over the course of a few months took 10 to 15 minutes to tell their life story, so we got to hear about – and hear from – people that in pre-COVID times you probably would never have talked to. It really helped us draw together.”

This is just one of the many aspects that Burk feels sets the company apart from others.

“I’ve worked for some very reputable companies, and far and away this is the most employee- and family-oriented company I’ve ever been with.”

This includes getting to know co-workers and customers better even though post-COVID days may bring permanent changes to the workforce.

“As a leadership team we’ve seen some of the benefits of more of a remote workforce, or a work-from-home force,” he says. “Certain jobs that might have been in the office five days a week, will probably be in the office two to three days a week, going forward. We still think there are advantages to the face-to-face talk, though. My boss likes to call them ‘collisions’ that occur within an office. You’re just walking by someone and it sparks a conversation. If you’re both working remotely, you don’t necessarily have that interaction.”

From a travel perspective, he sees more initial sales meetings being made remotely and a more hybrid working environment in the future, one that allows employees more say in where they work.

“Think about a single parent able to work remotely – it not only adds flexibility for them, but now they can potentially save more money because now they only have to pay for childcare two or three days a week instead of five days a week. There’s no additional cost to the employer to do that, but it’s savings for the employee. However, with that arrangement, it is incumbent upon the employee to provide at least as much value working from home as from the office.”

Coming through
From a Canadian perspective, says Burk, despite the challenging past year, SALTO hit the 2020 revenue target that was set pre-COVID.

“So in light of all the challenges we had, the team was tremendous at making sure they were staying in front (personally or virtually) of their customers, helping their customers through the difficult times, and I think that it paid off for us.”

The company is looking to sustain its impressive growth here and around the world.

“We’ve got really big growth plans,” Burk says. “We’ve got a tremendous product, tremendous solutions, and tremendous people. We have to tighten up on some of our processes and procedures, but I am very excited to contribute to making all of those targets a reality.”

The post The Key to 21st Century Security Is No Key At All<p class="company">SALTO Systems</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With more than 3,000 paying members and 1.5 million listings, Machinio.com is simply the best and most comprehensive site of its kind.

Founded in 2012 in Chicago – Machinio’s global headquarters – the company expanded to Berlin in 2017 to better and more efficiently serve clients around the world, with the Canadian team being established a year later.

“We built technology that aggregates listings of used equipment into a very comprehensive database, and that is Machinio.com,” explains Operations Manager for Machinio and MachineryHost, Laura Pereira. “We work with sellers, business owners and mostly dealers of used equipment, to list their equipment and expose it to the over 1.2 million unique interested buyers that visit Machinio.com each month.”

In mid-2018, the company was acquired by Liquidity Services, a publicly-traded company based in Bethesda, Maryland that includes Liquidation.com, GovDeals.com, Network International, GoIndustry DoveBid, IronDirect, Machinio, and Secondipity.com. The company has warehouses and offices throughout the U.S. and the globe.

The million mark
Today Machinio has 70 employees, and more than 3,000 clients from various industries, ranging from agriculture and construction to machine tools, lab, and medical. There are almost a million listings of used equipment on Machinio.com in North America alone.

“We had 100 percent increase in unique buyers year-over-year, so every year we increase the opportunity pool for our clients,” says Pereira.

“We like to describe it as the Google of heavy equipment – we go to Google when we need to find something or information about something, and Machinio has become that kind of presence in the industry for used equipment. Buyers looking for used equipment go to Machinio.com, and after conducting a vetting process, we connect them to sellers that are selling exactly what they are looking for.” As of 2021, Machinio has sent its client base more than 125,000 leads per month.

All-in-one
MachineryHost is the company’s second product, a SaaS solution, that launched just over two years ago. After working with sellers and dealers of used equipment for so many years, Machinio identified the need to have a system designed specifically for used equipment dealers that would allow them to operate their entire businesses and online presence from one platform. The industry was used to using other CRMs and programs that were not specifically intended for them, and these programs were not specific nor efficient.

“We created this all-in-one software solution for dealers of used equipment that provides them with an SEO-optimized storefront (website), paired with a CRM system with inventory management, contact database, invoicing, quoting, reporting, lead management and e-mail marketing functionalities,” Pereira says. “It has been a game changer, and all of our 300-plus clients that are on it have now been able to really scale due to the time saved and the lead influx after obtaining the software.”

The software also allows users that are Machinio clients to connect their CRM to Machinio, and their listings are automatically exported to the platform, no double work involved. “The overall plan internally is to continue to grow both products from the perspective of ‘what are the challenges that our clients are facing to sell more and how can we solve them?’” says Pereira.

“MachineryHost is designed to be self-intuitive, easy to maneuver, and something that won’t keep clients in front of their computers for hours, because the nature of their work has never kept them at a desk for hours,” says Pereira. “The platform has ways to ensure that they’re able to upload their listings in minutes, and have them show up immediately on their websites.”

Making it easy
“We’re in the business of facilitating and simplifying the day to day of really busy sellers who do not have the time to be managing complex processes,” she says. “We’ve come in with really simple solutions to make their lives easier and their profits higher. We’ve historically been problem solvers in the industry, and we’re happy to continue to bridge the gap between the Heavy Equipment industry and technology.” The used equipment industry is multi-generational and global, and at one point technology was not at the forefront. With a limitless world of opportunities online, Machinio and MachineryHost leverage their relationships with clients, continuing to gather real-life knowledge of how to help them advance their businesses, and ensuring they’re keeping up with the times.

And the focus for the next year or so? Pereira and David Orlan, Director of Business Development in Canada, answer: “Really, the goal in the next few years is just to continue making our sites the easiest way for buyers to find what they need, and the most efficient way for dealers to sell their equipment, sharing a little bit more of our industry knowledge and insights to educate clients and Industry leaders on innovative solutions, keeping everything as efficient as they can on their back end so they can focus on their business,” says Orlan.

“When it comes to equipment, our clients know best, but when it comes to technology, straightforward solutions and increasing sales, we are the experts,” says Pereira. “By bringing people the opportunity to have an easy-to-manage online presence, we know that the impact on their business can be pretty significant.”

Facilitating ongoing education is important, not only for the company’s clients but for industry leaders and for prospects who may not yet be clients, but need to continue so that they can fully understand how it’s going to benefit them. Especially as there can be a definite reluctance to move into the world of technology, for many clients, and to take on board an understanding of its importance.

“We leverage that knowledge when brainstorming and creating these solutions, because we know they directly impact our clients day-to-day,” says Pereira. “What clients do every day is really what’s going to make the results. In other words, our relationship with our customers is very collaborative and ongoing.”

“We work in a pretty old school industry overall,” says Orlan. “I think everyone would probably agree with that and it’s been the same way for a long time. Anytime anything new, disruptive and ‘tech’ comes along, there are going to be some people that are reluctant to go for it,” he says.

“The pandemic, specifically, has really helped more and more people understand the importance of being online. Even people that were used to going into dealerships and reading magazines and catalogues are really forced now to go to Google, go online, and search out what they’re looking for.”

Household name
It’s definitely still a challenge, but with the tech industry booming, Machinio is becoming more of a household name every year, he says.

“There are a lot of family businesses in the manufacturing and construction industry, and sometimes we see their family members or employees stepping in to demonstrate how things work online,” says Orlan. “The owners are still the ones making the decisions at the end of day, but we’ve seen a shift with a new generation of people looking for ways to show them that things are changing and ‘look how much easier this is than the way you’ve been doing it!’

“A key point with both Machinio and MachineryHost is that we’re really just trying to let our technology do the work and save people a lot of time from the way they’ve been doing things,” he adds. “It’s really just saving time, creating a lot of efficiencies within their business so that they can really focus on selling equipment.”

There’s also a huge misconception about the complexity of technology in the Industry, adds Pereira. With multi-generational companies, there are people that have been around much longer than Machinio and its technology. “Some people have been doing things in a certain way for 30-plus years and here we come with something that says you can run your entire business from one platform,” she says. “At times, there’s a misconception that it’s going to be difficult to change, transition or embrace something new, and we have seen multiple clients be very surprised by their experiences – how it saves 50 percent or more of their time, how easy it is – and they wish that they had transitioned into it sooner. We offer the ability for them to have that kind of efficient, easy way to be introduced to technology and be able to have all the information that they need at a glance. Machinio and MachineryHost continue to be the one-stop shop in the industry.”

A primary place
Once you become a MachineryHost client – and a big chunk of Machinio clients are MachineryHost clients as well – MachineryHost basically becomes the place you primarily function from, offering integrations with external platforms that may save hours and hours of listing equipment online.

The front-end websites are designed to be SEO optimized, so not only are clients getting attention on Machinio with more than 1.2 million unique buyers coming to the platform, their own websites are also ranking higher on Google because the right technology is behind them.

“The best thing about us – and why sellers love us so much – is that buyers love us, and that’s really what we’re optimized for,” says Orlan. “We want to make it the easiest-to-use platform for end-user buyers. That’s why these dealers want to get their equipment up as well.”

With travel being a challenge at the moment, Machinio offers both buyers and sellers a unique ability to buy and sell internationally from the comfort of their home, opening up a much bigger pool of potential.

“We continue to be tapping into the $400 billion machinery industry,” says Pereira. “We work with more than 3,300 clients between Machinio and MachineryHost, but there are thousands more that we could be working with.”

Simple and collaborative
With the success of both platforms, the intention continues to be to keep it simple, concise, efficient and also applicable to every industry.

“Our relationship with our customers is very collaborative,” says Pereira. “We’re getting real feedback from real people doing this every day to make improvements and get the product where it needs to be.”

Continual client feedback allows Machinio to bring more clients on as it addresses those challenges.

“That’s probably one of our strongest features as a company – that we’re always trying to be really adaptive,” says Orlan. “We know the industry is changing all the time. We’re still very much run like a startup in the sense that we shift gears quickly and stay ahead of the game, even though we were acquired, and we’re having to be customer service-centric,” he explains.

The post Making the World a One-Stop Shop<p class="company">Machinio</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The history of the company reaches back to Lower Saxony, Germany in the early years of the First World War. At the time, Carl Kaefer was making his living by selling peat moss and had found a fair amount of success in that venture. After a few years of learning about and working with peat, he realized that he could sell it as an insulation medium for industrial ships. By the end of the war, he decided it was time to go into business for himself, and in 1918 he did just that.

In the 1940s, the company had expanded from insulating ships to insulating industrial plants, and its propensity to grow has continued ever since. Today, after more than one hundred years in business, KAEFER is world-renowned as an innovator in the field of insulation.

KAEFER Canada specializes in industrial and commercial insulation with a focus on thermal and acoustic insulation, which is designed to limit the transfer of both heat and sound. Recently, the company has been working to expand the capabilities of its Canadian branch to include additional services such as scaffolding, painting, coating, and fireproofing. Outside of Canada, these services are already central to the company, so the expertise and experience are already developed.

“Our customers benefit from our reliability, experience, quality, global presence, and aggregated technology on a combined multiservice solution. That’s what we bring to the market in Canada. We hear the same from all of our sites, that we always bring more value to our customers in terms of tech and innovation,” says Chief Executive Officer Rafael Machado. He is a relatively new addition to the KAEFER Canada team, having come on board in September of 2020 after fourteen years working in several countries with the KAEFER group.

The company is made up of a small but efficient group of fifty specialists who work across more than ten sites, including a head office in St. Albert where it has a small prefabrication shop. It invests heavily in technology and has a competent team of expert engineers. A team of senior estimators and senior multidisciplinary project managers can manage both insulation and scaffolding. There are also business development experts, controllers, administrative staff, and a health, safety, environment, and quality (HSEQ) team.

KAEFER provides its services to a diverse collection of competitive markets. To distinguish itself, the company has invested a great deal of time and money into refining the overall effectiveness of its operation using lean site management methodology and digitization initiatives.

“We are investing hard in lean management and digitization to improve our management capacity and bring value to our customers. During COVID, this has become more and more important, because with people working from home, you need ways to inspect your site and know what’s going on even when you can’t be there. We’ve invested in digital solutions to manage the job remotely. KAEFER is in the vanguard of that,” says Machado. The company has been on what it calls its ‘lean journey’ for more than eight years, and it is now on a digital transformation journey as well.

KAEFER aims to be much more than a service provider. On any job site, the company’s goal is to build a deep knowledge of the specific needs of the project. This ensures that the team can apply their experience and expertise toward helping the customer meet intended targets. Once its team of specialists understands a client’s exact needs, they can engage not only the local team but also the company’s global personnel resources toward finding the perfect solution to the given problem.

As an ISO-compliant company, KAEFER operates with the highest quality standards. As a result, it has built a strong and solid reputation across all sectors in all the countries it operates within.

Over the last two years, the company has made some substantial changes to how it is approaching the Canadian market. First, management made the strategic decision to concentrate its operations in Western Canada, closing all of its branches on the Atlantic side to focus on providing its services to customers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. Currently, the company is expanding investment into multiple services beyond insulation into scaffolding, painting, coating, and fireproofing.

Further, the company is making the necessary preparations to provide support to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market in Canada. KAEFER has a solid background in the LNG field, with a long list of successful projects throughout Europe, Australia, Asia, and the United States. An Australian organization under the KAEFER umbrella specializes in LNG projects and is being called on to impart its expertise to its Canadian counterparts in this sector.

This new LNG focus may enable the company to expand into Kitimat, British Columbia. “Expansion into Kitimat is a natural path as we are looking to support the LNG business in the region. We want to expand and support other clients in that region as well. We expect, depending on the volume of business, we might even be opening a new branch there,” says Machado.

With a long history of working on LNG projects throughout the world, KAEFER can apply its international resources toward building a leading Canadian LNG solution. That level of expertise sets it apart from any other company in that sector in Canada.

LNG plants are made up of many modular components, and typically those components are built in other countries and then shipped to North America where they are first insulated and then installed. KAEFER has developed a system where all the pipes can be pre-insulated and installed in the module at the manufacturing plant so that, when it arrives in Canada, the receiving team can focus solely on installation.

This maximizes more than just the speed and efficiency of this process. Since the product is constructed in a controlled shop environment, there is much less risk of water ingress and moisture-related damage. This greatly improves the quality of the insulation and the component, and it is a major differentiator for the company, as it is a technology exclusive to KAEFER.

Several issues arise when equipment is not properly insulated, or when it corrodes underneath the insulation. Pipes and equipment surfaces can get hot enough to cause burns if a worker gets too close or comes in contact with it, plus you lose your process integrity and you pollute the environment.

KAEFER offers an energy auditing service that enables customers to recognize how they can increase the sustainability of their operation, advance safety in their facilities, and reduce their carbon footprint. An energy audit is between 80 and 100 pages, and the company has performed more than 200 of them worldwide. Often plant operators are surprised to find out how great the energy and CO₂ saving potentials are and how short the payback time is (usually less than two years).

During an energy audit, KAEFER thermographers will visit a client’s site to take thermographic pictures and measurements. KAEFER will assess the facility and provide a report with actionable advice on how to properly insulate their equipment. It includes not only the exact amounts and types of insulation they require but also an estimation of how much it will cost and how quickly it will pay off.

One of the most critical issues around insulation is a phenomenon called Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI). Due to the insulation itself and the cladding around it, you often cannot see when a pipe is corroding underneath. KAEFER offers a CUI health check service. During the check, the company will assess a number of key aspects of a business that have a direct correlation to the monitoring and handling, as well as perform risk mitigation of this problem. In order to give advice for improvement, KAEFER will analyze the customer’s internal processes, how technically competent their organization is, and how the company handles data when it finds anomalies.

“You try to find out why it’s happening, why it’s happening so often, why it’s happening in this area rather than another, and what do you do to prevent it in the future? So, we compare the inherent risks you have with the capabilities of your organization,” says Thomas-Peter Wilk, KAEFER Chief Technical Officer and Head of Corporate Innovation and Technical Excellence from the KAEFER Group headquartered in Germany. This assessment will help a company know how best to detect and handle CUI.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on KAEFER Canada. The company is closely tied to the oil and gas industry, as a significant portion of its customers are either in or are connected to that space. In 2020, many of its projects were postponed or cancelled entirely and earnings dropped significantly. Luckily, 2021 has shown more promise with an increase of nearly thirty percent compared to 2019 but still far from the levels it was at before the pandemic.

As the market grows more competitive, companies will need to seek novel, technology-driven solutions to increase efficiency and reduce costs, and KAEFER’s commitment to providing competitive, high-quality industrial services continues to push it to the front of Canadian industries.

The post Innovative, Technology-Driven Solutions in the Field of Industrial Services<p class="company">KAEFER Canada Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

When Dave Anna founded Resolute Building Company in 1984, he brought to it a considerable body of education and expertise as the holder of two professional degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, in building sciences and in architecture, plus several years’ experience of project management for other general contractors.

But over and above education and experience, Anna brought a certain quality to his company, summed up by the name he chose for it: Resolute.

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines the adjective resolute as “determined; decided; firm of purpose; not vacillating” — all desirable qualities in a general construction company, as well as in a person. “Standing strong in the community is how Dave Anna wanted to present himself and the company and why he chose ‘Resolute’,” says Tony Jordan, the company’s Director of Business Development and Safety.

The first order of business for Anna was to build a strong community in-house for Resolute Building, something he did with key players Vice President David Lent-Bews and Past President, Kim Vrana, who have been at his side since 1987. But it’s not only Lent-Bews and Vrana who have been with Anna for over 30 years; Jordan says there are many other long-termers, as well as some personnel who are the children of Dave Anna.

The company also builds and maintains strong relationships with local and regional subcontractors, relationships – some that have existed since the inception of Resolute Building – that are crucial to its continued success.

Family and community
Ensuring the future stability of the Resolute community is a well-thought-out succession plan involving Dave Anna’s sons, Bryan and Mark.

Bryan is currently working with Jordan in marketing and business development, going out in the project management field this year, while Mark is working as an assistant project manager. Like Bryan, he’s working his way through the different offices of operations. Says Jordan, “They are going to be getting their feet wet so they can both understand all the tasks in every area of construction.”

The word ‘community’, in the context of Resolute Building, is intentionally all-inclusive and extends beyond the in-house staff and the valued subcontractors. Within the business community, Resolute is proud that throughout its 37-year history it has used the same bonding company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, where it maintains a strong bonding program.

Resolute also made its mark within the larger construction community when it received the Building Star designation in 2017 through the North Carolina Department of Labor, OSHA division, for its Carolina Star quality safety and health programs.

“We are very fortunate and appreciative to be a member of Building Star,” Jordan says. Most of the organizations who win this recognition are large national-regional companies with hundreds of employees, unlike Resolute with its staff of 48.

Across three states
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional stress on the safety and health programs, led by Jordan. “We are considered essential workers,” he says, “which allowed us to continue work last year with all precautions in place. We also strengthen our understanding about what we have to do through weekly conversations with Building Star representatives, with our subcontractors, and with our community.”

With regards to other construction community involvement, it should be noted that Anna is the former president of the General Contractors Association of Durham and active in the Carolinas Association of General Contractors, while CFO Ken Chiccotella is the former national chair of the Construction Financial Management Association.

Even though the company is licensed to work in three states, North and South Carolina and Virginia, most of the work it does is contained within an hour’s drive of Chapel Hill, because, as Jordan told us, “we want to be a client-based company and not a project-based one.”

The result of Anna’s early decision to establish the company as a mid-size regional one created yet another community, one composed of satisfied clients who are happy with the personal touch that Resolute project managers and superintendents provide, becoming repeat customers because they are treated like family.

Then there’s Resolute Building’s determination to be good stewards of the community, through officers and employees serving on the boards of various local non-profits, while supporting them with gifts in kind and /or monetary contributions. Among the beneficiaries of the company’s generosity are Habitat for Humanity, Read and Feed, Freedom House, Chatham County Arts Council, and SECU Family House.

And finally, there’s Resolute Building’s dedication to sustainability and green building construction principles.

The company employs several LEED accredited professionals, and has completed buildings to Platinum, Gold and Silver LEED certification, although Jordan says there has been decreasing interest in LEED certified buildings in recent years, mainly because of the associated costs.

Nevertheless, Resolute does work with owners who want to incorporate sustainable design elements without pursuing LEED certification. Additionally, it is common to send construction waste to a separation facility, where materials can be recycled.

First, the foundation
It’s a bit of a cliché that any construction is only as strong as its foundations, because it’s so clearly true. As an analogy it applies equally to construction companies. A solid foundation of long-term professionals and a strong underlying principle of always acting in the best interest of the client – whether private, corporate, or one of the levels of government – inspires confidence and provides satisfaction.

Attesting to Resolute Building’s strong foundation is a project portfolio that spans a number of market sectors including faith-based, senior living, multi-family, multi-use commercial, health and recreation, civic and cultural, educational, retail, and office facilities. Additionally, the company performs renovations and re-use, as well as fit-ups.

Despite the presence of the pandemic for the last year, Resolute Building completed a number of projects, and continued to work on others.

Among those completed in 2020 were: Willow Oak Montessori School, a 39,050 square foot charter school in Northeast Chatham County; The Wharton at Penick Village, a three-story, 20-unit building with oversize balconies and multiple exposures set on a 36-acre property in Southern Pines; Foster on the Park, a 164-unit residential building with five levels of wood framing over two levels of concrete podium in Durham; South Brooklyn Apartments in Raleigh, which are two-story duplex wood-framed apartments with garages; 800 St. Mary’s Street, a four-story, 130,000 square foot luxury apartment complex; and Fairweather Condominiums, a 120,580 square foot building with ground-level retail in Raleigh.

Being completed later this year is Bull City Commons, a negotiated co-housing community with 23 customized units, in Durham.

Still under construction are: the Wake Tech Facilities Operations and Warehouse Complex in Raleigh; Purefoy Road Apartments, two buildings with seven four-bedroom suites within walking distance of the University of North Carolina Hospital and Campus in Chapel Hill; a 14,605 square foot expansion at the United Methodist Church in Pittsboro; and the renovation of the old Durham County Courthouse, which will meet LEED standards.

Take-off at Fayetteville
As if all those projects weren’t enough to contend with in the midst of the pandemic, Resolute Building is currently working on Phase Two of the Fayetteville Airport Terminal. The company completed Phase One in 2019, which involved the replacement of Concourse A with interior renovations, replacement of TSA systems and jet-ways, and a rotunda waiting area.

“We had to tear down Terminal One and rebuild it,” Jordan says. “It was a ground base terminal, so we put it up on pedestals to accommodate jet bridges. Because the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) was in that area we had to move all the radar and x-ray machines.”

He describes how the original was a V-shaped structure, “so Terminal One, which we tore down and replaced, is like the left arm, and where it meets the second arm is the rotunda, and we built that as a waiting area and café.”

Phase Two, slated for completion in the spring of 2022, was also designed by architect Gordon Johnson and will include complete renovation and expansion of the main terminal building as well as a renovation of the Terminal B wing. “It will be a whole facelift,” says Jordan, “with new front entry, new baggage handling system, new parking area, offices, sitting, and lounge area.”

And by the spring of 2022 when work is completed, the pandemic will be less obtrusive – we sincerely hope – and passengers will be flying in and out of Fayetteville, appreciative of the fine work done on their behalf by Resolute Building, as will the owners and tenants of all the other buildings currently under construction.

The post What’s in a Name? In This Case, Everything<p class="company">Resolute Building Company</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“Our goal and focus have always been about doing the right thing by the customer first. That’s how we built the business,” says owner and Chief Executive Officer Seth Weisberg. And it keeps growing. Following prudent and sustained growth, it recently opened a second office in Ontario, California and is looking to expand into Mexico, Atlanta, Chicago, Illinois, and Texas.

Every client’s project is treated as a unique opportunity to shine. The approach has paid off in several ways. The company appeared on Inc. 5000 magazine’s 2017 list of fastest-growing companies, followed by achieving eleventh place in weekly business journal NJBIZ’s list of fifty fastest-growing companies in New Jersey, which was no mean feat in a year like 2020.

The company’s service portfolio is as diverse as its customers’ needs, and its e-commerce solutions are fast becoming popular. “While we’ve always provided e-commerce, today, we find that our greatest value to our customers is helping them understand that automation and technology don’t need to be expensive,” says Weisberg. Investments in entry-level e-commerce technology need not break the bank and such investments deliver considerable improvements in effectiveness, speed, and accuracy.

Its clean-slate approach to warehousing and distribution is both novel and refreshing. As a result, its consultation process is thorough and considers goals, challenges, and the ultimate goals that it must render perfectly functional in the end-product. The design process is also inclusive as its team works closely with the client to ensure that every aspect is covered. This process is followed with estimation, after which engineering, implementation, and permit expediting follow before the project is signed off.

Its services are extensive with a host of design services for distribution centers, e-commerce fulfillment centers, and conveyor systems complementing automation integration, project management, and installations. It also offers preventative maintenance programs and conveyor repair together with office construction and expansions, plus rack removals and purchasing. For buying warehousing racks, clients are treated to two very nifty calculators on its website: one to establish the number of racks they need and another to confirm how much warehouse space they need.

The company has a long history that started by serving the fashion industry. From here, its client base grew into third-party logistics companies that were later joined by foodservice firms in need of refrigeration and food-specific warehousing. Today, the company is an expert in food storage legislation and Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) guidelines as well as the local and national code requirements that accompany the sector.

The company’s success is rooted in its relationships. “We believe that everyone has choices. In order to be different in today’s world, the level of customer service needs to be real. It needs to be something that’s ingrained in [our] company culture,” Weisberg says.

His father built the company to record annual revenue of $1 million in 2003. Then, after several medical emergencies, the father and son worked together. Initially, this was a temporary situation, but eventually, Weisberg Junior decided to resign his position at Price Waterhouse Coopers and join the company’s ranks permanently. The duo developed a strong bond in the process and implemented modern systems and technologies based on Weisberg Senior’s experience. The collaboration also proved a brilliant move financially for ABCO Systems, Inc. as, by 2019, its annual revenue had grown to $14 million.

In its role as a garment-on-hangar systems supplier to the fashion industry, the company continues expanding its selection of products to keep its clients ahead of the latest trends in warehousing and distribution. Some of its services to this market include slick rail systems, center-supported garment rails, hanging garment sorters, flat goods sorting tools, as well as commercial laundry solutions.

As the company expanded over the years, it strengthened its capacity to adapt and develop alongside its customers’ needs and volume demands. And, while business by definition is about profit, this firm puts service and its clients’ satisfaction before profits. “If we lose money on projects for different reasons, as long as we’re doing the right thing, I’m okay with it. The focus is on the relationship,” says Weisberg, and he means it. After all, ABCO Systems is known for client relationships spanning decades.

In distribution, as in most businesses, time comes at a premium, and the cost of shifting merchandise and materials from storage spaces onto shelves or into processing and shipping lines has become prohibitive without technology. Considering the sheer scale on which large companies and distribution centers operate in the twenty-first century, ensuring efficiency through automation and technology has become vital to sustaining success.

And, as the value of industrial land, labor, and other resources continue to skyrocket, the importance of investing in top-quality automation is unlikely to change. “When you have companies like [big multi-nationals] putting so much energy and time and money into development, it’s necessary for all companies to start automating their systems in order to compete,” says Weisberg.

ABCO makes it a priority to assist clients in problem-solving whenever possible, making it a critical partner in contributing to the health and wellbeing of America’s supply chain as well as the economy. With this undertaking comes its commitment to providing more employment and helping its clients grow and create safer and more resilient enterprises throughout the country.

The company notes that the effects of the 2020 shelter-in-place measures brought about permanent changes in the third-party logistics (3PL) landscape. To keep distribution running smoothly, ABCO Systems, Inc. has seen sharp demand for its automation services that deliver guaranteed growth through savings gained from replacing outdated manual systems with infinitely more efficient conveyor automation, print and application systems, inbound and shipment sorting, order fulfillment picking automation, and much more.

The company also reports via industry-leading publication 3PL news that automated warehouses are significantly more space-savvy, utilizing thirty-nine percent less space than traditional storage facilities. ABCO Systems, Inc. suggests products like push-back storage rack systems, pallet flow conveyors, automated pallet storage, and other similar systems to help reduce costs when transitioning from standard warehouse systems to automated outfits.

Adapting through technology is only one way in which the company helps its clients mitigate the pressures of the current economic climate. As more companies improve the automation of their distribution and warehousing processes, ABCO Systems increasingly becomes the partner of choice for state-of-the-art design and technology. The times ahead may appear challenging but Weisberg remains positive.

“It is ingrained in our culture that success is not built overnight or even over a few years, but rather through constant repetition of doing the best job we possibly can with the highest levels of integrity and a focus on customer service,” he says.

The post The Warehouse Automation Experts<p class="company">ABCO Systems</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Re-branding itself over a year that’s been unlike any other, the newly unveiled Supreme Steel promises to continue in its role as one of North America’s largest steel fabricators and erectors, providing quality materials and championing bold new construction methods.

Approaching its 50th anniversary, Supreme traces its lineage to founders John and Sally Leder, who established a small steel company out of the back of a pickup truck. Through expertise, professionalism, and, above all, compassion, the business expanded to dominate in the Canadian steel industry.

Today, Supreme encompasses six divisions across Western Canada and the Northwestern United States, operating satellite offices in Saskatoon, Delta, Washington, and Edmonton in addition to its Acheson headquarters. In total, Supreme is capable of manufacturing over 1,000 tons of steel weekly – over 52,000 tons annually.

Power to perform
In addition to production totals, Supreme’s size also bolsters its project management abilities.

The company is able to level-load multiple projects simultaneously, managing all project aspects including detailing, engineering, logistics, construction, maintenance and inspection. With this ability to keep an entire project in-house, Supreme is the natural choice for projects too large for smaller fabricators.

The company has confirmed this distinction by being part of some of the area’s largest construction projects. Calgary’s Bow Tower, the Seattle Central Library, and the Vancouver Convention Centre are just three in which Supreme has participated. These projects exemplify Supreme’s ability to provide custom-fabricated components on a massive scale for especially ambitious endeavours.

A major recent achievement was the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle, completed in late 2018.

Comprised of three conservatories as opposed to the traditional ‘tower’ structure, the project required over 2,600 individual glass panes supported by 650 tons of steel rods, all custom-fabricated by Supreme.

Thanks to advanced 3D Building Information Modelling software (or BIM), Supreme manufactured over 25,000 pieces designed to accommodate the delicate weight distribution of the spheres’ unique design. The company also produced nearly 300 shims as potential replacements, but used only three – confirmation of its precision engineering capability.

SpeedCore revolution
Currently, Supreme is finishing a marquee project that demonstrates a bold new construction technique.

The company is a primary supplier for Rainier Square Tower in downtown Seattle. Rising 850 feet (260 metres) above the skyline, the tower is the city’s largest residential building and the second-tallest structure in town, after the famous Space Needle.

It provides over one million square feet of office, retail and residential space, with a 1,000-vehicle capacity underground parking garage. Designed by Seattle-based firm Magnusson Klemenic Associates (MKA), Supreme is providing all steel panels required in the tower’s construction.

In addition to its sheer scale, Rainier Square Tower serves to demonstrate another of MKA’s ideas – the revolutionary new technique of SpeedCore. By using prefabricated steel plates in lieu of traditional rebar and concrete, SpeedCore provides high structural support while utilizing less space. MKA estimates SpeedCore shortened Rainier Square Tower’s construction time by a conservative 20 percent.

Supreme, for its part, is championing this method across North America as a truly inventive construction method for the 21st century. “It’s an innovative technology, for sure,” says Director of Estimating David Fritz. “It’s fast, and I think we’re going to see a lot more of it in the industry because it results in high-rise towers going up quicker than with traditional methodologies.”

At a crossroads
This focus on new ideas in steel mirrors Supreme Steel’s decision to return to its roots.

Fritz remarks how this reorientation is hardly a retreat but a response to a changing market and industry. Although Supreme had, in the past, branched out to modular construction and pipe spooling, such endeavours provided were a shift away from Supreme’s core competency, steel. As he relates, Supreme was at a crossroads. “It was a reflection on ourselves: what are we really great at, and who do we want to be in the construction industry?”

With this return to form, Supreme can also remain truer to its founders’ original intentions. This will enable it to better serve a market that is, in Fritz’s view, more competitive and fast-paced than ever before.

With tighter budgets and shorter turnaround times, he says, there’s no place for amateurs in this challenging industry. “There’s no room for someone to be ‘okay’ at certain aspects of their business,” he remarks. “You’ve got to be great at it, and we’re great at steel. That’s the bottom line.”

To better facilitate this change, Supreme is continuing to develop its strength in both large- and small-scale custom steel fabrication and production. This includes using its impressive storage capacities as off-site storage. By focusing only on steel fabrication, Supreme can pre-assemble more structures in a safe, controlled environment, thereby ensuring quality at minimal health risk.

The company also continues to invest in local management software firms, such as Vancouver-based Procore, to provide strong project administration. This enables Supreme to better compete in a modern construction industry universally challenged by both higher material costs and shorter turnaround requirements.

New world, new focus
Supreme is also leveraging its company history to pivot smoothly into a world marked by a downturn in major construction.

With the rise of telework even before COVID-19 reached full pandemic status, Supreme is able to focus less on large-scale office buildings in order to focus more on industrial, bridges, infrastructure, and commercial – hence large projects such as the Amazon Spheres and Rainier Square Tower.

Infrastructure to support home-based work may also very well prove to be the way forward, a development that Supreme has already identified. “Ten years ago, no one was putting up a big data centre,” Fritz says. “But now, those are some of the biggest projects on the horizon.”

And with the added benefit of bold new techniques like SpeedCore, Supreme is working to continually hone its craft in steel fabrication and stay in the lead.

“We think we can be a great resource for designers and owners who are thinking about the SpeedCore solution, since we’ve been there and done it,” Fritz says. “We think we can do a lot of good things with that technology.”

With Rainier Square Tower nearly complete, Supreme is now setting its sights on newer ways to showcase SpeedCore in future business.

A question of people
Supreme is also facing the perennial problem of a dearth of skilled workers in its industry. As automation becomes more common and more workers approach retirement age, Supreme is attacking the resulting labour shortage on two fronts. Not only is the company leveraging more automation in its prefabrication efforts, but it is also reaching out to Indigenous community in Western Canada.

Through an established plan, Supreme hopes to not only forge labour partnerships with Indigenous people in Canada but at the same time ameliorate damage to traditional treaty lands as a consequence of runaway industrial and economic development.

“We’re really, really excited to have that type of opportunity in front of us,” Fritz remarks. “We think it’s a big benefit to us, and it’s a big benefit to the province as a whole if we can engage a larger workforce.”

In addition to this development, Supreme continues to be a proud union contractor in both its shops and in the field. Workers gain skills through internal training and membership in the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust, or IMPACT.

By having a labour force focused on continual development, and with these resources able to help achieve precisely that, Supreme will not only contribute to the wellbeing of its labour force but also foster the capacity to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

“It’s great to have a labour partner who values its members and wants them to succeed in their careers and lives,” Fritz remarks. “It results in contractors like Supreme having a very capable and motivated labour force.”

Still steel at the core
With Supreme’s rebranding now complete, Fritz rejects the possibility that the company is turtling. “It’s getting back to our core, which is steel. I think it makes a ton of sense,” he remarks. “It’s about efficiency with the work that we’re already doing, and getting great at that.”

With the company’s recent revamping, and its growing capabilities as it embraces new technologies such as SpeedCore, Supreme Steel is doing everything right to enhance its industry-leading steel fabrication and installation across North America.

The post Coming Full Circle – Supreme Steel Returns to its Roots<p class="company">Supreme Steel</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“We are cautiously moving about our business, doing what we are good at, and focusing on those projects where we excel,” says Nick Miller, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Miller has spent 28 years at this company that’s been setting standards for over 40 years. “We want to grow, but we’re not trying to force growth,” he says. “We’re trying to find the opportunities that make sense for the company with the talent we have, keep doing what we’re doing, and grow as the economy allows.”

COVID-19 has presented the long-time business with some surprises. A year ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, LPR expected the market for medical-based structures to skyrocket – but the exact opposite happened.

Elective surgeries went down, and surgery clinics earned less and so tightened their belts on construction projects. As a result, some projects were delayed or canceled. This saw LPR pivot quickly, and dedicate much of its time to pre-qualifying projects and understanding opportunities.

The company believes that the coming months will be key indicators for next year, and for ’23, ’24 and beyond, and is fielding plenty of questions concerning the immediate future of COVID-19 and construction. One of the most frequently asked is, how are structures being built, with staff working from home?

“We’ve kind of adapted to this,” states Miller, “and because we’re national, we’ve been remote for years, so doing this kind of communication isn’t new to LPR.”

A better kind of client
With over four decades of experience and a passion for building, LPR’s portfolio reads like a Who’s Who of major construction projects.

In aviation and aerospace, LPR successfully erected giant steel hangars to accommodate the air force’s new KC-46 Pegasus at the McConnell Air Force Base, and test stands for NASA, built tough to withstand the awesome power of massive, heavy-lift rockets.

In sports and entertainment venues, LPR projects include the Sioux Falls Event Center, and steel erection for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which opened to great fanfare last July.

Sports stadiums, event centers, and amusement parks and other structures all have something in common – steel. A lot of steel.

The two test stands LPR created for NASA – one of 85 feet in height (25.9 m), the other 211 feet (64 m) – required 3,000 tons of steel, and about eight miles (almost 13 km) of structural welding. Enormous, complex projects are all in a day’s work for LPR Construction.

Another construction – the massive 128 foot (39 m) tall, 800 foot-long (244 m) trusses for Norwegian Cruise Line in Miami, Florida – measures 166,500 square feet, and weighs 7,400 tons, with several columns weighing over 50 tons apiece.

Erected during the state’s hurricane season, the trusses were built in the shop and needed to be transported by barge via the Intracoastal Waterway to Miami. As there was no crane between the construction site and the water, the barges had to be unloaded on the cargo side of the port.

Service and safety
Created in 1979, LPR Construction continues to uphold the collective vision of its founders Larry Boyd, Peter Carner, and Rocky Turner.

Forming “LPR” from the initials of their first names, the three founders were Indiana residents with experience in areas ranging from construction to the iron industry and to teaching shop in high school.

In time, the trio relocated the company to the City of Loveland, Colorado. In October 2018, Rocky Turner stepped down from his role as LPR’s Chief Executive Officer, with his son, Linc Turner, succeeding him as CEO.

“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished as a company, as community members, as a team,” says Rocky Turner. “We’ve delivered years of consistent growth, led the industry in championing employee safety, and built a strong, enduring culture tied to our values. And, we’ve also developed leadership that can ably take us forward.”

Owned by its employees, LPR today is a non-union shop company, with between 400 and 450 staff and field workers. Recognizing that project schedules and deadlines can be challenging, the company is a big believer in creating a good work/life balance, including time off after large-scale jobs. And since steel erection can present workplace hazards, safety and training is fostered at all levels within LPR.

A core value of the company’s is that employees never walk past potential safety hazards, but report them to the safety professionals present on all job sites. Every week, employees get on a call and talk about any incidents, near misses, and how they can learn. Sometimes, these even include fender benders on the highway, not actual accidents.

“We talk about every single incident, and try to make everybody aware of what’s going on, how to manage and mitigate, and make sure things don’t happen over and over again,” says LPR’s Chief Operations Officer Peter Radice.

With an unwavering focus on safety at all stages – from eliminating hazards during the pre-construction phase to training, mentoring, continuous improvement, planning, and accountability – LPR is recognized across America for its safe work initiatives.

Last May, the company was presented with a Safety Excellence Award from The Steel Erectors Association of America (SEAA) acknowledging its exceptional safety training and practices.

For the past two decades, LPR has been the longest-running steel erector in the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) in Region 8, which includes Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. A designation with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), the VPP sees the company adhere to requirements in management leadership and employee involvement, worksite analysis, safety and health training, and hazard prevention and control.

With LPR for almost 21 years, Radice knows firsthand the importance of job site safety. A few years ago, he was approached by a VPP auditor who said he had been on few job sites in this potentially dangerous industry where he saw fathers and sons working together – where the father actually felt safe enough to bring his son to work with him.

In fact, some employees have left the company for other businesses, gotten married and had kids, then come back to LPR “because safety is important, and so is knowing that a company actually cares that you are going to go home safe,” he says. “That’s a huge deal, and something that we offer. I think every company talks about it, but we truly do mean it.”

Workplace culture
The company’s reputation for operating with the utmost attention to safety while also providing workplace opportunities for advancement, is why many come to LPR construction, particularly ironworkers.

Taking on projects across America, LPR employees have plenty of opportunity to select the way of life that works for them: stay close to Colorado, or travel to Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia, Florida, Virginia and other locations.

“Some people want to stay in one area, and other people want to travel all over the place,” says Radice. “That is something we offer that is probably different from a lot of other steel erectors that concentrate on one area. And when you look at the demographics of how many people have been with the company for over 15 years, and even over 20 years, it’s pretty strong.”

Another factor in the company’s retention of staff, says Radice, is simply that, “We build some fun stuff.”

Never dull
From soccer stadiums to arenas, and from hospitals to giant towers for some of the world’s best-known aerospace companies, life at LPR Construction is never dull.

One of the company’s projects presently under construction is the Nashville Soccer Club Stadium. Slated for opening in 2022, LPR is playing a key role in the steel structure of the new building.

“It’s going to be a nice addition to a very busy city,” says Miller of the work. “Nashville has had a lot going on in the last several years, and this brings them another element.” On a 38-week long schedule, LPR expects to complete its $8 million portion of the work by September, and ramp up its crew from about 25 to 40.

Once completed, the 30,000 seat stadium will boast 27 suites, seven premium areas, a safe-standing Supporters’ Section, and be the most concert-ready venue of its kind in Major League Soccer.

On the hospital side of the business, LPR’s recent projects include the MIHS Acute Care Replacement Hospital in Phoenix. Having passed the halfway mark in late January, it will cover about 670,000 square feet when completed, and require 4,700 tons of steel.

Another recent work for the company is an addition to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. About 700,000 square feet, the clinic is a design-assist project for LPR, a type of work that’s steadily growing. “They finish the design process, we offer input, and try to help the project maintain its budget and make it more economical,” says Miller.

Stepping in with design-assist
Over the years, designs and briefings provided by clients have tended to become less complete and prescriptive, which is where LPR likes to step in and help. The reasons for the change to design-assist are convincing.

By getting LPR involved in projects at an early stage, their experts can contribute far more and add to the practicality of the design, making it more efficient and more economical than by just having a designer or architect working alone. An example, says Radice, are the steel connections previously designed by engineers. Since steel fabricators are set up differently, they may use different connections – as long as LPR is aware of and able to meet load requirements, other connections can be used.

“We are not designing, or stamping drawings, or anything of that nature. We are helping influence the design and the outcome of the project,” says Radice of design-assist, the use of which has increased over the past decades with rising labor, material and equipment costs. By getting involved early, at the design stage, LPR provides valuable input and asks the right questions.

“What is most important for the owner: speed, or costs?” asks Radice. “If speed isn’t the main point, how can we make it cheaper? You have the opportunity to create your own destiny.”

Along with stadiums and hospitals, the company is busy on other works, including SK Battery Phase II in Commerce, Georgia. A Korea-based oil refiner moving into the electric vehicle (EV) market, the new phase represents a capital investment of some $2.5 billion for SK, and the single-biggest foreign investment in the state.

Sometimes projects are extremely complex, like the new ride for Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah. Literally a mountain of about 8,000 erected pieces, the structural complexity “required our team to build odd-shaped and very light modules,” according to the company. Along with color-coding pieces within modules, the seven month-long job occupies 55,000 square feet, and required 900 tons of steel.

And on the resort side of the business, LPR was entrusted with Gaylord of the Rockies, a massive project of 1,500 guest rooms resembling a Rocky Mountain resort. The project sprawls over a whopping 1,200,000 square feet, which includes 865,000 square feet of convention space and 70 meeting areas. It took 7,150 tons of steel and 24 months to construct.

Personal touch
Looking forward to a post-COVID world, LPR continues to market itself through its website, and through online media such as Facebook and LinkedIn. With sales people in strategic locations in Louisiana and Alabama, they can drive to meet clients, instead of flying.

Welcoming new workers into the company by partnering with Colorado-based MSC Safety Solutions and working with the National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER), LPR believes in giving back.

For last year’s National Apprentice Week, the company spotlighted apprentices on social media, and sent thank-you letters to all for being part of the apprenticeship program. Some apprentices went to lunch with company executives who had themselves started and worked their way up at LPR years earlier, proving that at LPR, it’s the personal touch that matters.

The post Strong as Steel<p class="company">LPR Construction</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Since its founding in 1975, Coreslab Structures and its 17 sister facilities across the United States and Canada have advanced the dual fields of precast and pre-stressed concrete in bridges and highway overpasses as well as large commercial and residential structures, including multi-story storm shelter structures.

We first spoke with Coreslab (OKLA) Inc.’s team last year, when the company was putting the finishing touches on a marquee project: a state-of-the-art headquarters for Oklahoma City’s KFOR news channel. The building not only provides highly efficient broadcasting capability but is also designed to withstand winds and debris from an EF-3 scale tornado.

The news headquarters reflects Coreslab’s growing mastery of precast tornado shelters. Thanks to the advantages of precast concrete, Coreslab’s engineering team is able to custom-build structures which incorporate tornado construction into their design. This places the company’s products far ahead of traditional custom-built tornado shelters, which largely sit unused or are used for storage.

Now, the company is placing its sights on even higher goals – literally.

School safety goes up
While the majority of tornado shelters have been high-capacity single-story, Coreslab is in the process of completing its second two-story structure designed to withstand EF-5 tornados. Two school buildings, both in the company’s home state of Oklahoma, are receiving new two-story building envelopes, the first such buildings in which Coreslab has participated in the design and construction.

Designed to keep the entire building envelope safe, as opposed to a single purpose-built shelter, the new projects herald a new age in precast concrete construction.

Engineering Manager Sean Morris relates how the idea grew out of a resistance to the complexity and expense of custom-building traditional, separate tornado shelters. “It turns out to be an expensive proposition, and it usually requires the client to make a lot of concessions,” he says. He adds that these concessions generally involve less usable space and considerably higher costs. More capacious structures require correspondingly larger shelters, which exacerbate the problem.

Precast concrete, by contrast, offers both more space at affordable prices and remarkably quicker construction. Project Consultant Coleman Harrison makes the point that construction can proceed in virtually any weather, since most components are manufactured in Coreslab’s factories under cover.

“We’re taking that front-end time that the other trades can’t utilize, because they have to wait for the site conditions to be right before they can begin,” he says, speaking of Coreslab’s typical gymnasium projects. “We already have our components fabricated, and when the contractor is ready for us on site, we have the structure erected typically in two or three days.”

More practically, tornado shelters for large structures such as high schools and office complexes must have higher occupancy standards to accommodate large student and worker populations. Two-story shelters, only possible thanks to the versatility of precast concrete, can double as classrooms or offices, helping clients recoup their investments and improve building efficiency. “These have been a very helpful way to go,” Morris says, “and they’re not a budget buster.”

Structurally, the second floor provides additional engineering support rather than vulnerabilities. Harrison points out that the additional concrete slabs form a stronger structure than previous single-story shelters that have often doubled as gymnasium structures. “Now we’ve got the second floor to help brace those walls, by cutting the clear span of the wall panels in half.”

Morris agrees. “All the second floor has to do is brace the mid-height of these wall panels that were already designed to clear-span 30 feet, so it does nothing but help our precast concrete wall panels resist the loads even more easily,” he says. “The only thing required at that second floor level is a concrete slab to provide the rigidity needed to resist those tornado-force winds.”

Living with safety
As a bonus, incorporating tornado survivability standards into building envelopes, rather than building separate shelters, helps normalize emergency drills and reduce stress during storm conditions.

Harrison tells of positive feedback from clients, who say they are able to carry on normal operations during severe storm events thanks to this new design. “There is a calming effect to walking into a building that you use every day, as opposed to using a shelter only when a storm is around,” he says.

Most significantly, Coreslab Structures enables clients to add tornado protection while staying within modest budgets. While it is true this might add some additional costs to a construction budget, Morris points out that the cost of the precast scope of work is minimally affected, compared to what would be required for normal building code design.

“Besides the precast/prestressed concrete components being slightly more robustly reinforced, there might be a little bit more cost in some dowels and additional connections around the perimeter of slabs, because of the tornado-force winds, but it’s fairly negligible.”

Not only do the two school projects provide new options in storm survivability, they continue to prove the viability and practicality of precast concrete.

“Precast concrete also automatically offers a tornado-debris resistant shell as well as a fire-resistant shell, and the pre-stressed members allow the long clear spans required of buildings as large as gymnasiums or theaters that typically double as tornado shelters for schools.” Comfort of occupants is another advantage; concrete provides thermal mass benefits as it reacts slowly to changes in outside temperature, thus reducing demands on heating and cooling.

Real advantages
The Coreslab team looks forward to these projects advancing the inclusion of precast and pre-stressed concrete in new construction. In an era of shrinking budgets and timetables, the value of precast – and Coreslab’s expertise in it – reflects the company’s ability to swiftly adapt to changing markets.

So as a rapidly constructed and cost-effective medium, precast brings real advantages to any modern construction project.

Additionally, the Coreslab team hopes the marquee success of these projects will provide new possibilities for larger precast buildings. The company is set on bringing this technology to schools and universities across the Midwest.

“We’re constantly looking for ways that the tornado shelter structures that we produce out of precast can accommodate the client as much as possible,” Morris says. “It won’t just be the gym – it can be media centers, classrooms, band rooms, auditoriums, libraries and so much more.”

Data centers and casinos also present strong opportunities. Coreslab already has experience working with casinos, having built a shelter to protect all in-house equipment for a major Oklahoma City-area casino.

The company’s own hard-won expertise in precast is possible thanks to its large number and wide variety of “casting” beds, with lines throughout to allow many pieces of the same dimensions to be produced simultaneously. While every Coreslab project is custom-engineered, the company’s close involvement with each project in its planning stages ensures it has the resources and tools to do the job.

“We know what our plant is capable of doing, and we also know how to produce it economically,” Morris says. “We’re trying to eke out every nook and cranny of economy, while at the same time having a safe and code-compliant custom-engineered product as the end result.”

Contractors and architects alike attest to the team’s professionalism and attitude; on one job, the company replaced embed plates at no cost when the originals were laid out of place, by another Trade.

Coreslab’s involvement in its projects, even in the planning stages, further reflects the company’s custom-design business model. Using Revit software and building information modeling (BIM), the team can present clear models to architects, including budgeting and exact estimates of materials. Once a design is approved, the company’s plant can begin fabricating concrete components to specifications.

Outwitting the weather
The ability to produce precast members off-site is a particular advantage in Oklahoma, which, like many Midwestern states is prone to frequent temperature fluctuations and changing weather patterns.

“We’re really in an area of the country where curing conditions for concrete are not ideal,” Morris notes, but Coreslab’s factory renders the Sooner State’s high winds, low humidity and temperature swings moot. While on-site jobs must be protected or halted, Coreslab’s 150,000 square foot manufacturing facility allows for 24/7 fabrication ability.

Although tornado shelters make up a sizable percentage of projects, Coreslab is equally experienced in sustainable building. Coreslab uses a proprietary ‘New-Tie’ system that utilizes wave-shaped fiberglass rebar for the construction of precast concrete insulated sandwich panels, reducing thermal bridging concerns.

“That allows the panels to be energy-efficient,” Morris explains, “while at the same time being tornado debris impact-resistant and able to resist the wind pressures associated with a tornado, which can be ten times the amount of wind pressure that a typical wall is designed for.”

Coreslab is able to integrate this sustainable technology into its tornado-resistant panels, thereby providing environmentally-friendly protection.

With precast concrete now part of two-story buildings, the company has set its sights on leading the way into this new construction era. “I think these two-story storm structures are something we’re going to be doing a lot more of,” Harrison says.

With the company’s long and innovative history in precast, Coreslab is the natural candidate to advance the science of precast into the future.

The post Better Engineering for a Stormy World<p class="company">Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With a population of over seven million, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington region in north Texas is the fourth largest metropolitan area of the United States.

The region began its growth trajectory 75 years ago, at the same time emerging as a leader in the technology industry. That was when, in 1946, Eddie Shahan founded the commercial painting contracting company, positioning it to take advantage of the real estate development that accompanied the growth in technology.

Among the services offered on any size commercial, industrial, or institutional job are joint treatment of sheet rock, painting, application of wall coverings, special coatings and floor coatings, along with the most critical service for any contractor – customer service.

In addition, the company established a separate department dedicated to servicing tenant finish-outs, remodeling and maintenance. Because of the excellent service record it maintained from the beginning, much of the company’s work is repeat business.

By the time Eddie Shahan’s son Howard took over the business in the 1960s, Dallas was on the cusp of another major building boom that lasted through the 80s and 90s, grinding to a halt when the dot-com bubble burst in 2001. Fortunately, it did not last long and by 2004, there was an economic turnaround and real estate development continued, and along with it an opportunity for Shahan & Son Painting to expand their painting business, securing contracts as large as $5 Million.

Company President Brian Shahan, the third generation at the helm of the family-owned company, took over in 2009, and now it is his turn to maintain the extraordinarily high level of customer service that has become synonymous with the name of Shahan.

“I think one of the main things that sets us apart from competitors in North Texas is how we do customer service,” he says, emphasizing that the company’s mission of doing the job right and making the customer proud applies even if it costs money. He says his team has not finished the job and will not stop work until there is 100 percent customer satisfaction.

Moreover, once the job has been completed to the customer’s satisfaction, Shahan does not walk away, because he believes it is important to continue to provide support. If clients have concerns or questions after the job is done, they know they can call and someone in the office will pick up the phone.

Sometimes customers will call years later, wanting to know a color number or type of paint that was used, or they might call about a service the company doesn’t offer, in which case they will be pointed in the direction of another reputable company that can fill the request.

Shahan sees his role as one of helping people and that has never been more important than during this time of pandemic. “People are worried, and they are not comfortable about the future. They feel that if they’re going to pay someone to do a job for them, it’s even more important to do it right, do it on time, and on budget. So, I take care of those people, and we haven’t slipped up one bit on our standards during the past year.”

Shahan & Son Painting has come through the pandemic without laying off any of the 100 employees. There has been enough work lined up for the company to stay busy and manage cash flow, even though there were a few projects put on hold.

He admits that moments of this past year were scary, as no one had ever lived and worked through anything like this. He recalled how, in the beginning of the pandemic, he struggled to get PPE and hand sanitizer for employees.

Since most of Shahan’s clients are general contractors, it fell to them to take the lead on safety on the job sites, which included implementing temperature checks and questionnaires before entering.

Even so, COVID-19 is a sneaky virus, and in spite of the best efforts of safety managers, there were outbreaks. Every large project Shahan worked on since last March had a COVID-19 outbreak, meaning the job sites had to be shut down and disinfected, pushing schedules back. In addition, each time this happened, everyone had to be tested for COVID-19 to make sure it was safe to return to work.

Some COVID-related shutdowns began before Shahan painters were even on site, while others occurred just as they were trying to finish. “There’s no good time for a shutdown,” Shahan says, “and it happened at all phases.”

In order to complete the job including the tape and bedding process, which makes sheet rock panels into one solid surface, and the application of paint or vinyl wall covering, the team worked staggered shifts, day and night. By doing that, they could accommodate the timeline, even though painters are always the last trade to begin work. Not only that, Shahan painters invariably created a finished appearance that exceeded the client’s expectations.

During the past year and a half, Shahan & Son Painting completed work on two huge projects, along with a number of smaller ones.

The first, completed just before the pandemic took hold, was the largest development built in Texas at the time – a 10-story, 1.2 million square foot office complex which formed the regional headquarters of Pioneer Natural Resources, an oil and natural gas company.

Next, came the interior finish of a five-story, 300,000 square foot office complex for the giant hospital corporation Baylor Scott and White.

This was one of the projects which involved some really tight scheduling, as a result of the pandemic. “We had to work at night,” Shahan recalls, “while trades worked during the day. That was different for us and took some getting used to.”

Currently Shahan is planning for what he says will be some great projects, but which haven’t been formally announced, so he’s not able to talk about them. However, he did hint at several high-rise commercial projects that will change the Dallas skyline and that have been budgeted for, and also several educational projects that are under contract.

The local economy is resilient, he says, however, he concedes that it has not been an easy ride for all companies.

“Having a healthy business before the pandemic hit really makes a huge difference,” he says, reflecting on his good fortune to be leading a company with a three-quarter century history and comparing it with the difficulties newly established companies are facing. “If a company was struggling before COVID-19, it would have a really hard time to survive after it.”

Being able to adapt is essential, he believes, citing examples of painting contractors who converted paint spray rigs into sanitizing machines and are making a success out of cleaning entire offices after they experience an outbreak.

We asked Shahan about the industry in general and he spoke about the elimination of toxins like lead and asbestos, and the role science has played in the last twenty years, allowing paint to be formulated with a latex or water base, so there are zero VOC’s (volatile organic compounds).

He also spoke about the infinite variety of color and shade that his two preferred paint suppliers, Sherwin-Williams and PPG Industries, are able to achieve. “They always get the color right,” he says. Clients also have a choice of commercial wall coverings, made of thick 54”-wide vinyl, “definitely not your grandmother’s kitchen wallpaper,” which are available from a large number of suppliers, too many to list.

Ever since its founding, Shahan & Son has been a member of the Painting Contractors Association – formerly known as the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America – a national professional association, and for the past two years Shahan has been president of the Texas chapter.

“It’s a forum for competitors to get to know each other, network, and figure out solutions to common problems. I have really gained a ton of knowledge from belonging to it and that’s something you can’t put a price tag on. It’s invaluable.”

He goes on to say that if a general contractor or building owner anywhere in the U.S. is looking for a commercial painter, it is wise to check if the company is a registered member of the professional association. “If they belong, it’s a good sign they will be a reliable painting contractor.”

The post Customer Service with Every Stroke of the Brush<p class="company">Shahan & Son Painting, Ltd.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.