March 2012, Vol. 67 No. 3
Business
Pipe Logistics Contractor Opens New Houston Headquarters
Pe Ben USA recently consolidated its headquarters, maintenance and storage facility to a new 20-acre location in northwest Houston.
Dale Mykyte, chief executive officer, purchased the site in August 2010. The building, completely refurbished before the move last July, has 9,000 square feet of state-of-the-art office space and a 20,000-square-foot maintenance facility. Included are 20 offices, a board room, two conference rooms, an exercise facility and a safe room to store company and client records.
The move gives the pipe stringing and logistics contractor ample room to store its fleet of 120 trucks, 200 trailers and 30 pieces of other heavy equipment when it is not in service. The expanded maintenance center enables Pe Ben to repair all equipment returning from jobs and re-check it before deployment on new projects.
Computerized maintenance records and a GPS tracking system on each piece of equipment enable office personnel to alert foremen if a particular machine needs maintenance. Conversely, field personnel can notify the shop of specific maintenance needed on individual machines when they return to Houston.
Working with manufacturers, Pe Ben has specifically designed its fleet of trucks and trailers to haul pipe and heavy equipment. All trucks and trailers are built with an ‘air ride’ system for smoother handling. Their lowboy trailers are designed to haul a John Deere 450 or Caterpillar 345 excavator without having to partially disassemble the machine. Over the years, Pe Ben has also helped the lifting industry develop units capable of operating in all types of weather.
Pe Ben’s roots date back to 1957 when it serviced the oilfields of western Canada. Mykyte entered the pipeline business in 1981 and joined Pe Ben as operations manager in Edmonton in 1988. Pe Ben had earlier purchased Parkhill Pipe Stringing, and J.L. Cox & Sons in the U.S. In 1995, Mykyte came to the U.S. to oversee Pe Ben’s contract on the Tuscarora Project.
Houston
In 1996 the company officially opened an office in Houston with Mykyte as vice president of U.S. operations. In 2006, Mykyte bought the assets of the U.S. operation from Mullen Trucking, which had recently acquired Pe Ben. At the time of purchase they had 16 trucks, two loaders and 20 pole trailers. Mykyte’s son, Dustin, joined the company in 1999 on the Maritimes Project in eastern Canada and moved to the U.S. operation in 2001. He is now president of Pe Ben USA.
Since then, the company and its staff have been involved in the planning, offloading, stockpiling and stringing of pipeline projects with varying terrains and challenges throughout the U.S. and Canada. Many of their projects are done on a turnkey basis, coordinating rail, barge, stockpiling and stringing. The company has developed and built specially designed equipment that can handle almost any difficult terrain. All of Pe Ben’s equipment is company owned and 90 percent of its entire equipment fleet is less than four years old.
The company maintains a high quality safety record as it moves across public highways and roads. Frequently, all foremen and safety personnel visit Houston for comprehensive safety and operations training. Pe Ben is also heavily involved with its clients’ safety programs, meeting regularly with them on all projects.
Pe Ben has worked on projects for major oil and gas companies though its principal clients are major pipe mills. They have executed projects for all major U.S. and European mills. Pe Ben now has operations in Alberta, and British Columbia Canada, as well as Texas and North Dakota. A new heavy-haul division in Houston has recently been established, and is led by Tony Beffer. They are working with the mills and owning companies developing a bar code system that will track each joint of pipe once it leaves the mill and is delivered to the right-of-way.
At the close of 2011, Pe Ben USA completed 16 simultaneous stringing projects during the year, building on its commitment to safety, customer service and equipment reliability. Dale Mykyte’s operating philosophy is “to be invisible and anticipate the client’s needs, being proactive rather than reactive.”
Other key personnel include: Dustin Mykyte, president; Patti Martinez, CFO; Todd Phillips, vice president of business development; Blake Culp, vice president of operations; Brock Wilson, logistics coordinator; Tony Beffer, director of business development for heavy haul; and Bill Cunningham, safety director.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Pe Ben, (281) 452-4204, http://pebenusa.com
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