June 2009 Vol. 64 No. 6
Business
June Business News: Miller Pipeline, RIDGID, Hannay Reels, Aecon Group, GTI and more
Thermoset Resins/Interplastic
AEM/Cooper Hong Inc.
Volvo CE
BHC RHODES
Moving Water Industries
Envista Corp.
Doosan Infracore America
Coble Trench Safety
Miller Pipeline Corp.
Miller Pipeline Corporation, one of the nation’s premier natural gas distribution and utility contractors and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vectren Corp., recently announced the addition of Dale Anderson as executive vice president. Anderson will be responsible for strategic planning, high-level customer support and business development. He will also represent the company through participation in industry-related organizations and events.
Anderson has more than 22 years experience spearheading rapid and sustained growth within the utility construction industry. In addition, he has an extensive background in negotiating new contracts and maintaining existing customer relationships. Prior to joining Miller Pipeline Corp., Anderson served as senior vice president for the Quanta Services Organization. 800.428.3742, www.millerpipeline.com
RIDGID
In May, RIDGID kicked off its Reputation Roadshow. The events feature new RIDGID tools and technologies in 20 cities throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
Each show stop provides tradesmen a chance to experience the latest RIDGID innovations, giving them the opportunity to demo the new tools and offering sneak peeks at upcoming tools in the RIDGID product line. Lunch is served at every show and a model from the well-known RIDGID calendar is present to sign autographs. To round it off, the events offer timed competitions and a daily prize drawing.
To see if the Roadshow will be stopping in a city near you, call or visit 440.323.5581, www.RIDGID.com/roadshow
Hannay Reels
Retiring after 39 years of service is Hannay Reels’ Sales Manager Dave Guilzon. Guilzon spent most of his years with Hannay in the sales, serving more than 12 years as sales manager, helping with the innovation and development of many new products.
Assuming the sales manager position is Denis Bleile. With over 25 years experience in the industrial sector, Bleile comes to Hannay from the field of OEM sales. He will be in charge of market expansion and leading the sales team through the challenges in the new global economy. 877.467.3357, www.hannay.com
Aecon Group
Aecon Group Inc. announced that a joint venture in which its infrastructure division is participating has been awarded a project with Metro Vancouver for completion of the twin tunnels component of the Seymour Capilano Filtration Project.
Under the contract, the Seymour-Cap Partnership, in which Aecon is a 30 percent partner, will complete the final 3 km (1.86 miles) section of a total 7.1 km (4.4 miles) twin tunnel from the Capilano Pumping Station to the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. Work on the project, which also includes excavation of two 270 meter (891 feet) deep shafts and interconnection of pipes from nearby watermains, will begin immediately. Completion is expected at the end of 2012 or early in 2013.
Aecon’s partners in the Seymour-Cap Partnership are Frontier-Kemper Constructors and J.F. Shea Construction. The contract forms part of the Seymour Capilano Filtration Project, which will provide filtration and ultra-violet disinfection of drinking water from two of Metro Vancouver’s three source water supplies, and includes construction of a pumping station, filtration plant and energy recovery facility in addition to the tunnel project. 877.232.2677, www.aecon.com
GTI
On March 19, Gas Technology Institute (GTI) held its Spring Meeting of the Board of Directors. At that event, the board approved a number of changes in GTI’s board of directors and leadership team.
Mary Jane McCartney, senior vice president, Gas Operations, Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. announced her retirement as chair of the GTI board effective April 30, concurrent with her retirement from Consolidated Edison. She has served as GTI’s chair since 2005.
Randall L. Barnard, senior vice president, technical services and operations, Williams Gas Pipeline was elected to replace McCartney as chair of the GTI board. Terry D. McCallister, president and COO, WGL Holdings Inc. and Washington Gas Light Co. was elected vice chair.
The board also has elected Christopher D. Herrman to replace Kenneth L. Wicherek, GTI’s vice president of finance, treasurer and chief financial officer, who announced his retirement effective June 30. Wicherek joined the Institute of Gas Technology in 1975, moving through the ranks of accounting, management and treasurer.
Herrman’s new role as vice president and CFO will take effect May 1. He is responsible for a wide-ranging set of key initiatives, including the optimization of financial activities across the organization, managing GTI’s equity interests and investments, maintaining a broad risk management program, developing business plans and overseeing the treasury function.
Herrman joined GTI in March 2007 from Merrill Lynch Capital, where as vice president, Corporate Finance he underwrote, closed, and managed cash-flow debt facilities used to finance private-equity-backed buyouts and recapitalizations of middle-market companies.
Prior to that, he held positions of increasing responsibility with Heller Financial, GE Capital and LaSalle Bank. Herrman earned a B.S. degree in finance from Northern Illinois University and a M.B.A. from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. 847.768.0500, www.gastechnology.org
Thermoset Resins/Interplastic
Interplastic’s Thermoset Resins Division, a Fort Wright, KY, manufacturing plant recently reached significant safety milestones.
The plant employees completed nine consecutive years without a lost time accident, and one year without any type of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable safety related accident or illness.
The Fort Wright plant employees also qualified for the Kentucky Governor’s Safety & Health Award. The award is presented in recognition of the facilities over 250,000 man-hours without a lost-time accident or illness. Health, Safety, Environment & Quality Manager Mike Flannery, acknowledged, “The Fort Wright employees have worked 950,000 plus man-hours without a lost-time accident or illness and have received this award for the seventh consecutive year.” 651.766.3839, interplastic.com
AEM/Cooper Hong Inc.
Publications in Construction and Agriculture (PICA), a subgroup of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), has named Jane Cooper of Cooper Hong Inc., in St. Charles, IL, as its Public Relations Person of the Year.
Senior editors at PICA publications choose the Public Relations Person of the Year as an outstanding example of “best practices” in media relations. The criteria the group uses to rank nominees include reliability, accuracy, quality of information provided, trustworthiness, integrity and level of experience about their company, products and industry.
PICA is one of AEM’s product-specific working groups. It promotes high operating standards among off-road equipment manufacturing industry trade media worldwide and fosters continuing educational and informational exchanges between manufacturers, industry suppliers and trade media. 414.272.0943, www.aem.org
Volvo CE
Six engineers behind the technology used in the L220F Hybrid wheel loader have received the Volvo 2009 Technology Award. The prize was presented for the team’s development of the world’s first commercially viable hybrid solution for heavy vehicles.
The team was behind the development of I-SAM – the Integrated Starter Alternator Motor, a combined starter, generator and drive motor. When used as part of a parallel diesel-electric hybrid system, it has the potential to reduce fuel consumption in wheel loaders by up to 50 percent – and up to 20 percent in trucks. This not only reduces fuel costs but also provides significant environmental benefits through lower emissions of carbon dioxide. The quiet and emission-free electric drive also improves environment conditions in the vehicle’s surroundings.
Engineers from different parts of the Volvo Group took part in the development of I-SAM. Six were represented at the prize ceremony at the Volvo Group’s annual general meeting in Sweden on April 1. Anders Kroon, Jerker Lennevi, Joakim Lindström, Lars Carlhammar, Peter Jönsson and Christer Ehn.
“In the future, the hybrid will not be considered as a ‘special’ solution – the technology will be seen on a wide range of construction equipment, city buses and delivery trucks,” said Leif Johansson, president and CEO of Volvo Group, who presented the award. “We see great potential to develop hybrid technology for the construction equipment, heavy trucks and bus sectors. With its leading environmental position and stature as one of the largest producers of commercial vehicles, it is only natural for the Volvo Group to drive the development of tomorrow’s transport solutions.”
The parallel hybrid concept is particularly suited for vehicles that drive at different speeds and start and stop frequently – wheel loaders being a prime example. When a loader drives away, it initially uses the electric motor until it reaches an optimum speed for the diesel engine to take over. When the loader brakes, the energy is absorbed by the electric motor and stored in the batteries – to be used later during the next acceleration. Everything is controlled by a sophisticated control unit, which was also developed by Volvo Group engineers. 828.650.2000, www.volvo.com
BHC RHODES
Alan Michels, P.E., joined BHC RHODES Development Services team with 16 years of experience in civil engineering, construction management and business management.
He will serve as a project manager on the BHC RHODES’ team and will have an immediate focus on finalization of design plans for customers in Olathe, KS and Blue Springs, MO. Michels experience includes site planning and design, waterline and sanitary sewer design, transportation design and subdivision development.
Michels is a licensed engineer in Missouri and Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas and is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Founded in 1992, BHC RHODES is a civil engineering and surveying firm with main headquarters in Overland Park, KS. 913.663.1900, www.ibhc.com
Moving Water Industries
Moving Water Industries (MWI) has won a competitive request for proposal and signed a second major contract with the South Florida Water Management District. MWI will supply pumps by December 2010 for the district’s Everglades Restoration Project.
MWI signed the first major contract to supply pumps for the district’s Everglades Restoration project in November 2008. The pumping system to be supplied by MWI for the future G-434 and G-436 Pump Stations in Compartment B will include three diesel engine pumping systems with a capacity of 533 cubic feet per second; two diesel engine pumping systems with a capacity of 460 cubic feet per second and seven electric motor pumping systems with a capacity of 100 cubic feet per second.
The SFWMD Everglades Restoration Project will enable the district to achieve Everglades’ water quality standards as part of their long term plan to ensure that all waters discharging into the Everglades Protection Area are in full compliance with state water quality standards. 954.426.1500, www.mwicorp.com
Envista Corp.
Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) has selected Envista technology for their infrastructure project manager. Envista Corporation is provider of web-based software for infrastructure project coordination. Colorado Springs is the second-largest city in the state of Colorado with an estimated population of 407,000 living in an area of 195-square-miles. Colorado Springs Utilities is a community-owned organization that provides natural gas, electricity, water and wastewater services to the Pikes Peak region. The municipality and utility will use Envista’s software-as-a-service to manage hundreds of infrastructure construction and maintenance projects to be performed in the right-of-way.
Currently, the city has over 700 roadway and storm drain projects displayed in Envista. CSU plans to add nearly 80 water, gas, electric and sanitation projects to the repository as well. The city has large-scale “chip seal” and overlay paving programs scheduled for 2009 and beyond.
From the Colorado Springs Roadway Engineering Team and Streets Maintenance Division to the Utilities’ Energy Services Division, 18 multi-disciplinary groups responsible for infrastructure renewal will utilize this new, centralized approach to share and view project schedules, and optimize the timing of their projects to reduce the impact on the public and commuters.
Brian Kelley, engineering programs manager for Colorado Springs states, “We are pleased to be using this innovative approach to solve a decades-old problem. The ability to upload and view project schedules on-the-fly gives our many divisions the ability to work on miles of infrastructure above and below ground…without stepping on each others toes. Envista makes it easy to get productive in a very short period of time. The real winners are our citizens who will feel the positive results of our synchronized construction efforts.” 978.232.6300, www.envista.com
Doosan Infracore America
Doosan Infracore America is expanding in California with Bobcat Central as its newest dealer. With locations in Stockton, Merced and Fresno, CA, Bobcat Central will offer the full line of Doosan excavators and wheel loaders to the central Californian market.
“With the addition of Doosan excavators and wheel loaders, we will be able to offer more equipment options to our customers, and begin new relationships with customers we couldn’t service before,” said dealership owner Don Franzia. “We are excited about the opportunity for growth selling Doosan equipment will bring to our market.” 770.831.2200, www.doosan.com
Coble Trench Safety
Coble Trench Safety is relocating its Charleston, SC, location, serving the metropolitan area and the surrounding regions with rentals, sales, service and training of underground safety equipment.
Having experienced a tremendous response to its opening, the Charleston location seeks to establish a more centralized location to better serve and facilitate working relationships with the contractors in this great metropolitan area.
“We feel we can be of service to the contractors and municipalities that are dealing with these safety issues on a daily basis,” President Tom Coble said. “Simply put, we’re in the business of saving time, money and lives for our customers.”
The new branch will be located at 7615 Southrail Rd., North Charleston, SC. Randy Rooker has been promoted and will manage the Charleston operation for CTS. 336.398.3000, www.cobletrenchsafety.com
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