Many of the reasons given are valid. Coal-fired power plants release harmful toxic emissions including mercury, sulphur dioxide, and soot. Contaminating the air, water, and soil, these emissions lead to myriad health issues, from breathing problems like asthma to coronary heart disease (CHD), lung cancer, higher rates of infant mortality, developmental delays, and diminished brain function, and even ischemic stroke.

Oil and gas spills can create irreparable damage to humans, animals, and the environment, including damage to the brain and liver. Burning fossil fuels, especially coal, can cause acid rain, while using oil and natural gas for heating, generating electricity, manufacturing, and transportation creates carbon dioxide and other air pollutants, a leading cause of global warming.

So why, with all the knowledge we have about the damage caused by coal, oil, and gas, do we remain tied to fossil fuels?

Despite the problems with fossil fuels, even the most ardent opponent couldn’t dismiss the benefits petroleum has brought. Without coal to produce the heat for steam engines, the Industrial Revolution might never have happened the way it did. Manufacturing processes would be very different. We might be very different.

Dirty as it was, coal was affordable and widely available for heating homes. And not so much a luxury as a matter of life and death.

Long before basements became rec rooms or ‘man caves,’ they were strictly utilitarian, with massive ‘octopus-type’ furnaces using gravity to heat air, which rose upwards through asbestos-insulated arms to warm houses. Coal was delivered to basements through cast iron coal chutes leading into cellars, which were standard until the 1940s.

Even today in America, coal is responsible for 21.8 percent (899 billion kilowatt hours [kWh]) of utility-scale electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

In the manufacturing world, oil-based products changed everything, from how we store leftover food to making the cars we drive lighter and safer.

Vulcanized rubber, which made possible the pneumatic tire that transformed automobiles, was invented by Charles Goodyear in 1839 when he accidentally dropped sulphur-treated rubber onto a red-hot stove. Other inventors—notably British chemist Alexander Parkes and, later, American inventor John W. Hyatt—synthesized a plastic called pyroxylin for photographic plates, and camphor and nitrated cellulose to create celluloid.

Early uses for these and other forms of plastics included billiard balls, umbrella handles, and dental plates. In 1934, chemicals company DuPont changed clothing forever when it introduced nylon, a man-made product stronger and more elastic than silk.

Today, plastic is omnipresent. With its products everywhere—from those making the world safer, such as child safety seats and automobile airbags, to medical instruments, helmets, electronics, and tamper-proof drug packaging, it’s hard to remember a world without plastics.

Still, despite recycling programs, the amount of plastic in our lakes and oceans is rising every year. And unlike products sourced from organic materials, plastic doesn’t degrade—it breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic. Recent estimates say we are polluting the world’s oceans with some 12.7 million tonnes of plastic annually, irreparably harming marine and human life.

To combat waste, over 80 countries have implemented full or partial bans on one of the worst pollutants, single-use plastics. In 2017, Kenya banned plastic bags after reports that they were found in the stomachs of over half of the republic’s cattle.

Other countries, states, and cities have also banned single-use plastic bags, including New York State and California, while Canada recently announced sweeping regulations on plastics including ring carriers, straws, and stir sticks.

As much as environmental groups and politicians say we need to reduce our use of plastics, the biggest lightning rod to the emotions of environmental groups remains our love affair with the car, which goes back to the boom years following World War II.

While there were previous attempts made to connect cities and states, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, and later the Federal Highway Act of 1956, saw billions of dollars spent on building thousands of miles of highways for future growth.

In the years to come, this gave rise to Route 66, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 80, and other highways. This ease of access, along with cheaper vehicles, meant one no longer had to live in a major city, but could instead buy an affordable suburban house half-hour or so from downtown. Workers no longer took streetcars, subways, or buses to work, school, or shopping, choosing instead to drive, often in single-person vehicles.

Today, many cities are re-examining automobile use and introducing urban planning considerations, such as limiting road access to cars, choosing instead to install bike lanes, treed or grassy medians, and wider sidewalks.

As well-intentioned as these initiatives may be, they are not always practical, especially in some North American cities where old streets had narrowness built in.

Even with growing investment and innovation in renewable energy, 81 percent of power in the U.S. still comes from fossil fuels. Despite all the knowledge we have about the detrimental impact on humans and the environment, oil, gas, and coal remain widely used.

Two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, some pundits predicted that a drop in automobile usage with stay-in-place orders would signal the death of the internal combustion engine and the disappearance of vehicles based on that form of power. Although there were fewer cars on the road for some months, the demise of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles was exaggerated.

Unlike solar and wind-generated power, which relies on favourable weather, gas, oil, and coal are extremely reliable, provided that supply chains are not interrupted.

Owing to Russia’s war on Ukraine and fears over gas availability, Germany has backed off plans to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and made the “painful but necessary” decision to temporarily fire up coal plants, which were planned to be mothballed by 2030, and phased out by 2038. To date, all 15 coal-fired plants scheduled for closing are back online.

In the world of transportation, gas-powered internal combustion has been continually refined over the decades. In the mid-1970s, harmful exhaust elements were reduced with the invention of the catalytic converter applied to exhaust systems on cars, buses, ships, motorcycles, and other vehicles.

Then, of course, to further reduce our global footprint and dependence on fossil fuels, we should simply use less of them. Drive less, walk more. Plan trips better. Use public transport, and use a bike. Consume less. Often, the most common-sense ideas are the best ideas.

Renewables undoubtedly have a future, as do electric vehicles. While some environmentalists believe we can simply turn off the switch, this is completely unrealistic. As polluting as fossil fuels can be, they are the lifeblood of the global economy and have also enabled humanity to live, work, and travel.

To suddenly expect the public to “abandon their cars” (as one politician suggested) in their driveways is foolish and unrealistic, as is flippantly saying “Buy an electric vehicle.” Costing an average of $50,000 U.S., this price tag alone makes EVs out of reach for many consumers.

There is also the matter of convenience. Filling a car with gas takes just minutes; charging the battery of an electric vehicle takes about eight hours with a Level 2 charger, and a staggering 40 hours with a Level 1 charger, which plugs into an ordinary 120-volt household electric outlet.

Although the sun is slowly setting on fossil fuels, they have proven themselves a dependable source of energy, from heating our homes to fueling our cars. While the world will see more renewables in the future and more EVs on the road, our love affair with oil, gas, and coal is far from over.

The post A Balancing Act<p class="company">Why Are Fossil Fuels So Hard To Quit?</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

The theory has been around since 1962 and was prominent during the oil embargo brought on by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1973.

While this theory has been on the horizon for decades for oil producers, ironically, we may actually be approaching peak use of oil as fuel.

Supply and demand

As Reuters reported in September 2021, oil producers and analysts are revising their forecast about the future of oil: “The COVID-19 pandemic this year has dented oil consumption and brought forward forecasts by energy majors, producers and analysts for when the world’s demand for oil may peak. Demand was about 100 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019 and has yet to recover to that level because of the pandemic. The rise of electric vehicles and a shift to renewable energy has also led to revisions in forecasts. There is no consensus on when oil demand could peak, but the predictions could affect oil exploration and development plans.”

Not only does it appear that demand will peak, the capacity to produce oil is also diminishing. In fact, according to the United States Energy Information Administration, the last refinery that had significant capacity was built in Garyville, Louisiana back in 1977. Refineries have since been upgraded but no significant new builds have taken place.

According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, “The nation’s ability to refine crude oil into fuel and other products fell below 18 million barrels a day at the beginning of 2022 and hit its lowest level since 2014.” This dip comes amid refinery closures and a surge in oil prices as gasoline and diesel at retail have hit record highs.

The pandemic triggered a crash in crude demand, both in the U.S. and Canada, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, but there are bigger questions for the industry’s future. What are the challenges ahead for U.S. refiners?

“I don’t think you are ever going to see a refinery built again this country,” Chevron CEO Michael Wirth told the Washington Post in an article about the change in oil demand. “It’s been 50 years since we built a new one in a country where the policy environment is trying to reduce demand for these products, you are not going to find companies to put billions and billions of dollars into this.”

An example of how this is playing out can be seen in a large refinery in Houston, Texas which was up for sale recently. It received exactly zero viable bids and the current owner plans to shut down the 700-acre operation within the next year. This is a site that refines approximately 264,000 barrels of crude per day.

And owners of one of the largest refineries in the U.S. northeast, the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, are spending hundreds of millions to convert the 1,300-acre site along the Schuylkill River into a high-tech campus for green e-commerce and life sciences companies.

The U.S. administration’s environmental priorities, along with rising public and corporate concern over climate change, will likely see many refineries obsolete in the not-too-distant future.

Energy for transport

When it comes to crude oil use, it is vehicles first and everything else a distant second. Road-related vehicles account for nearly 50 percent of oil demand.

From big-thinking Elon Musk’s Tesla to the major car manufacturers, there is a very clear shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) that either dramatically reduce the need for crude oil or eliminate it altogether.

Deloitte research projects a compound growth rate of 29 percent over the next 10 years, which could potentially add up to more than 31 million EV sales by 2030. And early naysayers about the supporting infrastructure for those vehicles to power up on route have a more positive view of what’s to come: EV charging ports will soon outnumber gas stations in the U.S.

Governments are also setting goals to move the auto industry away from dependence on crude oil. For instance, the Biden administration is introducing standards that require manufacturers to ensure that 50 percent of the cars they build have fuel cells or are hybrid electric vehicles by 2030. And if half of all vehicles were electric by 2030, it could lead to somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of all vehicles being electric by 2050.

When you look at these numbers, the question for oil producers is, what will the future hold for the industry and what can be done to adapt to a changing market?

Low carbon, carbon-neutral, and green technology have all become common terms as countries around the word introduce industrial policies that will reduce emissions to help the health of the planet.

Pressure on petroleum producers

At first blush it may seem that petrol producers and this shift to green resources are mutually incompatible. But the truth is that if the world is to reach climate-related goals, the oil and gas industry that will have one of the largest roles to play in this future. The industry is currently producing fuels that generate about 33 percent of the world’s emissions.

The change for these companies is already beginning to come from within with activist investors pushing some of the big players in the industry for plans to lower emissions. And both retail and institutional investors are also becoming more conscious of investing in sustainable technologies.

How the industry adapts to these pressures will have a direct impact on the future level of emissions.

An NPR article examining the future of big oil notes the following about European oil and gas producers: “Companies such as Total in France, BP in Britain, Eni in Italy and Equinor in Norway are making ambitious pledges to switch, over time, from making money off oil to making money off sunshine and wind. In fact, they no longer even want to be called oil companies, preferring energy companies.”

The article goes on to add, “There are signs of real resources being dedicated to this promised strategic shift toward renewables. BP just bought a pipeline of nine gigawatts of solar projects in the United States. Total invested billions in a major solar producer in India.”

Industry dilemma

Ultimately there are three main obstacles that oil and gas companies need to address to not only help the environment, but also secure their future growth. They need to find a way to produce more energy while at the same time cutting the emissions they produce.

They need to manage demand for oil while struggling with diminished capacity. This is where the issue of reduced investment in refineries has made it harder to produce oil for customers. We have already experienced the oil shock in the first half of 2022.

And the third challenge is that they will need to meet investor expectations as they transition to becoming energy companies. After all, investors will still demand growth.

Looking at the oil and gas industry in 2022 seems very much like looking at a fork in a road.

Continuing business the way it has always been done no longer looks like a viable option. The future for the industry, and in many ways the health of the planet, will depend on the choices oil companies are making now to adapt to a future that will increasing rely on renewable energy sources and less on crude oil.

The post Big Oil & Rising Renewables<p class="company">Fossil Fuels at a Fork in the Road</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

This commitment to safety and performance is backed by a reputation that spans 114 years. Throughout this time RegO Products has consistently invested in its capacity to innovate to address the needs of its customers and their industries. The result is a catalog of over 5,000 active SKUs, many of which were first to market.

Despite a storied history and a robust product portfolio, the future has only just begun for RegO Products as it embarks on a new chapter under new ownership. Recently, Dover acquired both RegO Products and its peer in the market, ACME Cryogenics, Inc., to better meet market needs.

The two entities are in the process of synergizing operations into a single platform as part of the OPW Global operating unit, within Dover’s Fueling Solutions business segment, which will draw on the particular strengths of each: RegO Products’ reputation as a clean energy solutions provider and ACME’s strength in the cryogenic liquid and gas markets.

A path to new energy solutions

As President and CEO Mike Lucas says, “The hydrogen economy is a significant focus for us, as it was before the acquisition. ACME has a strong position with hydrogen in the current industry, so bringing us together has helped accelerate what we can provide to the hydrogen industry as it builds out and develops new industry applications,” and, he adds, ultimately a pathway to net zero emissions.

One clear opportunity is the LNG (liquefied natural gas) market, particularly in end uses like heavy-duty trucking where there are challenges when refueling vehicles that are transporting cryogenic liquids. Since gas in liquid form needs cold and pressurized conditions to maintain that form, it becomes more dangerous and challenging than the diesel alternative.

“With the current technology, because it’s cryogenic, the nozzles want to freeze to the truck. The drivers were having a difficult time operating them because they were experiencing leaks and maintaining this equipment would create downtime at the station,” explains Senior Vice President Product Portfolio Chad Thomas.

To address this challenge and improve the process for both the driver and the station operator, RegO Products went out into the industry for driver feedback to help develop a solution. The result was a product that keeps the equipment clean and dry, simplifying refueling, and putting an end to human error by automating much of the process.

“The driver only has to hang the nozzle on the truck and press a button, so all the other critical factors are automated, taking driver influence out of there,” says Thomas of this advance that has transformed the process, and which will encourage greater adoption of LNG heavy-duty trucks.

With the industry in mind

As the focus at RegO is on both the end user and the industry infrastructure, the company is deeply involved in the development of new industry standards and regulations to ensure safe adoption of these advances in procedure and technology.

Lucas aptly notes, “For the hydrogen economy to take place, you have to be able to produce it. We provide many products and solutions on the infrastructure side, supporting all those products that are needed to expand production capacity globally.”

The innovation doesn’t stop there. RegO Products introduced a custom-developed app that connects end users with digitized resources like the invaluable Serviceman’s Handbook, which is imperative for the installation and servicing of propane equipment.

RegO Products recently took everything a step further by including reference information, product availability, and essentially, “all the tools they need to do their day job,” in the app, says Thomas. Every possible issue has been considered to optimize its complete suite of offerings. This full-service approach has been key to the company’s longevity and success.

To be in business for over 100 years is a testament to RegO Products’ ability to remain relevant as a solutions provider. Time and again it demonstrates that it can evolve with the industry, and even lead. Especially now as the economy moves to alternatives like LNG and LP, cleaner fossil fuels that are often overlooked.

From Lucas’ perspective, “As people move away from sources of power like gasoline and diesel fuels and coal, LNG and LP will have a role as clean fuel. There are also newer technologies where you can make propane from renewable resources, or you can put additives into propane that reduces the carbon emissions.”

The ultimate clean source

While hydrogen is the ultimate clean source of power, it will take time for it to grow into its full promise, and in the meantime, LNG and LP will support countries around the world as they strive to meet ambitious emission reduction requirements.

“When you think of the alternative energy and the CO₂ emission reduction targets, LNG is a critical player, especially in Europe when it comes to meeting some of those targets adopted by the Paris Accord and EU regulations,” says Thomas.

While the economy continues its green evolution, the goal at RegO Products will be to integrate with ACME under Dover to increase their collective impact on the industry.

As always, RegO Products will emphasize innovation and operational capacity to maximize productivity and nurture its culture of success to ensure that its legacy stays in great shape for the next 100 years.

Speaking of a timeline of 100 years, how confident Is RegO Products, really, about the company, its market, and its future? Well, it recently wrapped up $7 million in capital investments and announced plans to invest $6 million more over the next few months. There’s a signal.

The post Cleaning up Clean Energy Solutions<p class="company">RegO Products</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

The company’s latest product, the cutting-edge VortexPrime™ system, offers high-powered pumping, a small footprint, low operating costs, reduced emissions, and ease of use. “VortexPrime™ is a technology that we say checks all the boxes,” states Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Seth Moore.

Released earlier this year, VortexPrime™ is the first frac fleet of its kind to use direct-drive turbine technology. The term “frac fleet” is industry lingo for the equipment used in hydraulic fracturing such as trucks, pumps, mixing equipment, manifolds and vehicles.

VortexPrime™ offers power and efficiency in a single package. Moore measures efficiency in terms of fuel consumption and human capital— the number of workers required to transport, install, operate, maintain then dismantle a hydraulic fracturing system.

This revolutionary solution can be directly attributed to Catalyst’s spirit of innovation and open-mindedness. The company was officially founded on April 23, 2018, by Moore, Chief Executive Officer Bobby Chapman and Chief Financial Officer Mike Morgan. From the start, the co-founders aimed to do things differently in a traditionally conservative industry.

“When we came up with the idea for the company, we had a blank canvas. We could kind of do what we wanted to. We searched out a lot of different technologies and possibilities,” he recalls of the company’s early days.

At first, the company used conventional Tier-4 final diesel-powered hydraulic fracturing systems to serve clients. However, the desire to break the mold remained strong. Out of this came an idea: why not couple a military-grade turbine powered by natural gas directly to a pump? Other companies have tried to develop similar systems, but Catalyst was determined to take the lead on this concept.

“We partnered with some great people, sat down with whiteboards and markers and designed the VortexPrime™ from the ground up. It wasn’t something we purchased off the shelf. It wasn’t something that we gave to an equipment design company to go build for us. It was something built by us and the partners we contracted with,” says Moore, with a touch of pride.

Creative as they were, the development team was also cautious. A VortexPrime™ prototype was built and put through extensive field tests to see if it fulfilled expectations. Only after testing was complete did the company create a final version which was released commercially in February of this year.

VortexPrime™ generates plenty of horsepower but is also “very agile. We can move it. This equipment moves every two to five weeks, so you need a fleet that can be set up and taken down in a relatively short time frame,” states Moore.

He stresses again that most of the work on this solution was done in-house. “We manufacture it ourselves. We have a manufacturing center in Odessa, Texas where we build these units.”

The fully-self-contained VortexPrime™ solution is compact, requiring eight frac pumps, versus twenty on conventional frac fleets, and offers up to twenty-percent-reduced systems cost compared with a conventional system. VortexPrime™ requires less maintenance, produces up to forty percent fewer CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions than conventional Tier-4 fracturing fleets and can be set up in hours rather than days, as with a traditional fleet.

There are fewer pieces to haul, and fewer trips back and forth from the worksite are required. The system can reach a maximum treating pressure of 11,900 psi with an average treating pressure of 9,210 psi and a maximum treating rate of 120 barrels per minute, with an average treating rate of 95 barrels per minute. Using VortexPrime™ also results in a “ninety-plus percent reduction in waste stream,” adds Moore.

Other benefits include a kill switch feature that drastically limits idle time—it takes roughly five minutes to get the system back online compared with potentially hours for conventional frac fleets—automated software, and the ability to access small, remote locales.

While it is a revolutionary product, VortexPrime™ is not currently available for sale; instead, the system, along with Catalyst crews, can be rented out on an hourly basis. Using VortexPrime™ or convention diesel equipment, the company performs hydraulic fracturing for clients.

“We’re focused on providing a service. We charge typically by the hour. The customer is not buying the VortexPrime™. They are renting our service, and we use the VortexPrime™ to complete that service,” Moore explains.

The company has kicked around the idea of producing VortexPrime™ frac fleets that customers could purchase for themselves but has not pursued the notion yet. Among other things, COVID-related supply chain woes have made Catalyst a bit wary about moving into large-scale manufacturing for the hydraulic fracturing marketplace.

“The global pandemic really upset the supply chain… We had a case a while back, where we needed a water pump for a diesel engine. That water pump took us almost 120 days to get. We had this very expensive unit waiting on a very inexpensive water pump… That’s been a challenge, being able to keep things running at a time when the supply chain has been so stressed,” Moore says.

Content to remain a technology company and service provider, for the time being, Catalyst is also firmly focused on the Permian Basin. Located in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas, the Permian Basin contains vast oil and gas deposits. Catalyst has worked on projects in other places but finds there is “so much growth potential for us here, we’re not actively marketing outside the Permian Basin. We see a lot of opportunity within our backyard,” he states.

Indeed, there is so much opportunity that Catalyst has been growing at an explosive clip. From roughly 110 employees this time last year, it now employs between 175 and 180 people. Employee benefits include dental, vision, and major medical insurance, 401(k) savings plans, paid holidays and vacations, competitive salaries, an Employment Assistance Program, and more.

“I think the VortexPrime™ has driven our growth. I think the market has driven it too. There’s an old saying that a rising tide lifts all boats,” notes Moore.

Anyone interested in joining needs to meet some high standards. The firm wants new hires who demonstrate “a desire for excellence. We also like people who are competitive, who hate to lose. These are intangibles. People can have experience, and we value experience, but it goes much beyond that. You want people to share in a vision of greatness, a vision of innovation,” he says.

It also values hardworking people who can focus on routine tasks. Transporting, installing, operating, then dismantling hydraulic fracturing fleets requires close attention to detail and consistent results. Catalyst aims to always provide top-notch service, including maintenance and troubleshooting.

Employees undergo rigorous safety training and receive regular safety updates. This makes sense, given that the firm specializes in equipment that extracts oil and natural gas. Having said that, “the most dangerous thing we do is drive. We move a lot of equipment,” notes Moore.

VortexPrime™ is not the only alternative fracking solution on the market. Electric-powered fleets or e-frac, are another contender. These use electric-powered pumps rather than diesel-powered ones. Not hugely common at present, e-frac systems do offer certain benefits; according to Drilling Contractor magazine, e-fracking drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption.

Environmental benefits aside, e-fracturing has its disadvantages, says Moore. Simply plugging an e-frac system into an electrical grid is not a practical option for large-scale hydraulic fracturing, he says. The resulting power draw would cause strain on any grid and would pose a particular challenge in Texas, which has an independent electrical grid that is not connected to grids in other states. Onsite generators can produce electricity for e-frac systems, but they are expensive and such equipment adds more steps to the hydraulic fracturing process.

Given Catalyst’s rapid growth and the launch of the VortexPrime™ frac fleet, it is not a surprise that Moore is bullish about the future. “We’re excited about the industry. We’re excited about the direction we’re headed, and we’re excited about the role we play. We are a small player and have to try hard. We look forward to continuing to grow,” he states.

He makes it clear, however, that Catalyst has no intention of resting on its laurels and relying solely on VortexPrime™ to build revenue. “We’re going to continue to innovate. This isn’t the last cool technology that Catalyst is going to release. We’re going to do other things.”

The post This Visionary Company Offers Cutting-Edge Hydraulic Fracturing Technology<p class="company">Catalyst Energy Services</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

These offerings include geotechnical design, construction inspection and materials testing, building condition surveys, contaminant management, hydrogeological and ecological studies, and environmental, health and safety compliance and management systems audits.

Terrapex works in both the public and private sectors and is a company that noticeably sets clear standards of integrity, technical quality, respect, personal service, and putting people first, whether client or employee.

As well as dealing with the ongoing challenges of COVID during the past few years, the company has experienced its own considerable transformation, with a recent management buyout. “It’s been one of the most exciting things that’s happened to the company in the last year or so,” says President Jennifer O’Grady.

Beginning in late 2019, Mike Osborne—who founded the company and was majority shareholder—decided it was time to take action on his exit strategy.

“He had always wanted to sell the company to key employees and maintain it as an employee-owned company,” O’Grady says. “He and I talked about it a number of times in the past, but we were never sure it was financially feasible or if we had enough people who’d be willing to take on that kind of financial risk.”

A way was found, however, and although the pandemic slowed the process, in August 2020, key senior staff who had more than 15 years tenure were approached.

“We ended up with four, including myself and Peter Sutton, who was Vice President at the time and still is,” O’Grady says. “It took 11 months to get it finalized, and in July 2021 we signed all the final documents.”

Osborne stayed on as CEO until the end of October to help with transitioning before he resigned but now acts as a senior consultant advising the management team. “I’m happy to say he was fully retired by the end of July of this year, so he took the final step back and he’s pretty excited about that,” says O’Grady.

“It was great that he was able to transition that way,” adds Sutton, Vice President, Environmental Services. “It made it a lot easier for us.”

The pandemic not only affected the ownership change but also initial business dealings, particularly at the start, a time when Terrapex fully expected to be shut down by emerging COVID regulations.

“No one back then expected this to go on for as long as it has,” says Sutton. “That initial period of shutdown only affected part of our business, though, as a lot of the environmental work we do was considered essential.”

The company did see a fairly significant drop-off in March and April of 2020 but was fortunate to have a big project in April that kept their environmental team largely engaged. “Our other service lines were a little more strapped, but we were in a very good position at that point after a successful fiscal year, and we made a decision not to lay people off,” says Sutton.

“Even if there was nothing for them to do that was billable to our clients, we would find something. We just simply weren’t willing to do that to our staff. We wanted to keep them safe and that meant economically safe as well.”

That dedication and commitment to employees is a cornerstone of Terrapex’s vision, even during the challenge of COVID. While the company finished the fiscal (and COVID) year of 2021 with a small decrease in revenue, helping staff stay afloat was a top priority. Since then, revenue has been impressive.

“We now have a 29 percent total revenue growth from April 2021 to March 2022,” says Sutton. “We had a flat year and then we grew, and then some, for two years, and we’re continuing to grow.”

That growth includes people: Three years ago the company had a staff of 80 and is now at more than 100, some of whom have made a transition to working from home due to COVID restraints.

“It’s changed our business quite a bit because we’ve seen an uptake in remote work, but only about 15 percent of our staff are on a hybrid schedule,” says Sutton. “An extremely small number of people are completely remote. From a cultural perspective, we’ve managed to have people who want to be with their co-workers, but we’ve also increased flexibility for our staff for those whose roles permit work from home on a slightly greater frequency than we used to see.”

While historically the company felt strongly about the need for face-to-face interaction in the office, advancing technology in the past few years has made this pivot easier.

“It’s a testament to our good office culture that people want to be in the office at least part of the time,” says O’Grady, though she adds that maintaining and developing relationships throughout COVID has been a challenge. “We’ve always had a real sense of community amongst our staff, so seeing almost everyone have time in the office, even if it’s just once or twice a week, shows how strongly people feel about wanting to be part of Terrapex.”

While both O’Grady and Sutton enjoy being in the office full-time, they appreciate that not everyone feels that way, and while COVID is still affecting daily work and personal lives, they also realize it may be some time before social functions return completely to normal.

The company is also still accustoming itself to an entirely new board of directors post-buyout, and while the board has been active in meeting and discussing growth plans, at the same time it has exercised a caution that befits its first year.

“We’ve been benefiting a lot from development in the real estate business, in particular, and our services are growing quite rapidly, so we’re focusing on stabilizing those,” O’Grady says. “We’re also working to develop an ecology business and that has taken off in the last little while. We see a lot of opportunity for growth in ecology services, most of it related to the real estate redevelopment market, so we’ll continue to invest in that.”

Health and safety services have also taken off in the last six to eight months, due largely to Terrapex’s partnership with the Inogen Alliance.”

An alliance of specialists offering comprehensive coverage through a single point of contact for companies’ initiatives in sustainability, health, and safety, Inogen works with Terrapex and its multinational clients looking to have operations in all, or a select few, of the countries they work in, to ensure operations run correctly.

“During COVID when rules were changing, some companies were having difficulty making sure they complied at a local level,” says Sutton. “On some projects we were called in because maybe the head office didn’t consistently follow local regulations.”

Inogen Alliance also offers a help desk with global access to which clients can submit questions electronically, adds O’Grady. For instance, if you have a question about COVID rules, whether in Zimbabwe, Indonesia, or Canada, you submit it through the help desk, which routes it to an associate in that country, and you get your answer.

Other growth plans for Terrapex include geographic. While the company has a solid presence in southern Ontario, it wants to expand in the eastern area of the GTA, particularly Whitby and Oshawa.

“The Alliance is forcing us to think a little broader,” says Sutton. “We’re a very strong regional player right now, although we’re a bit of a unicorn. We’re not a large company, we’re not a small company, and we offer all these services that you generally find at large companies. We tend to focus only on what we do now and can do in the future. It’s a good impetus for us to start thinking a little bigger.”

A recent achievement of the company was associated with the development of affordable and supportive housing in the Toronto area.

“When the pandemic hit, one of the things that was impacted was the shelter system,” says Sutton. “In the space of two weeks the system required place separations and screening for entrance and the impacts on the city’s shelter system were enormous. It ground the system to a halt.”

Special city council meetings and emergency declarations approved projects for supportive housing to find a permanent alternative to the shelter system for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness, with several projects green-lit as a result. Terrapex provided environmental, geotechnical and hydrogeological consulting services for one property that was a former brownfield.

“We managed to secure all the environmental permits, both provincial and municipal, which allowed for the facility to be constructed and inhabited in less than nine months which is insane,” Sutton says. “We had a lot of assistance, and it was an amazing accomplishment not only for Terrapex but for the project team.”

It is successes like that that win Terrapex recognition for its outstanding work. In recent times, the company has been involved in several projects which have won Brownie Awards from the Canadian Brownfields Network.

The awards acknowledge “builders, innovators, and visionaries who are dedicated to the rehabilitation of brownfield sites that were once contaminated, under-utilized, and undeveloped, into productive residential and commercial projects that contribute to the growth of healthy communities across Canada.”

“We’re working on some interesting, unique, and high-profile projects, and it’s been good for us,” says Sutton. “We compete with much bigger companies. They have thousands of employees in Canada alone and tens of thousands across the world, and we’re competing on equal footing with them for projects in our markets, and we’re helping our clients win awards.”

Having that kind of visibility and profile in the real estate development industry is one of the reasons Terrapex is growing, he adds. The company may be smaller, but its impact is noticeable.

“Our size is one of our advantages in some cases,” says Sutton. “We can be a little more agile in responding to our clients’ requests.”

Historically, Terrapex has experienced low staff turnover, especially with senior staff, adds O’Grady. With some environmental projects tending to go on for many years, Terrapex has employees who, in some cases, know more about those projects than the clients. “They can always call us up and ask, ‘why did that happen, or when?’ And we can pull up our files and give them all the answers.”

While staff turnover did rise during COVID, it was still remarkably low and continues to drop, a statistic Terrapex is proud of.

Respecting employees and putting their needs first is also an ongoing point of pride, particularly during the past several years of uncertainty.

“We were trying to do the right thing for our staff to the extent that we could provide them some reassurance in what essentially was a very un-reassuring time,” says Sutton. “We couldn’t promise them they wouldn’t get sick from COVID, but we could say, ‘you don’t need to worry about being laid off.’ So one less stressor.”

It’s clear that this company culture has directly enhanced employee dedication and a will to work diligently and keep clients happy on every job.

“As a company, we’ve always focused on encouraging people to develop relationships with their clients so they understand what the clients’ drivers are,” says Sutton. “Ultimately we need to provide a service, and our service has to provide value to our clients. When we fully understand how we can provide value to our clients, we’re much more likely to provide that kind of personal value in services.”

The post Thinking Bigger: Growing with Integrity, Quality and Respect<p class="company">Terrapex</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

The winter of 1949-50 was unusually bitter in British Columbia’s fertile Okanagan Valley, one of Canada’s main apple-producing areas—so harsh that orchards, including those owned by the Gorman family, were frozen.

Looking for alternative ways to support their families after losing their crop, the Gorman brothers, John and Ross, along with their wives Edith and Eunice, began building and selling wooden fruit boxes, using trim ends they purchased from nearby sawmills and working out of a shed on their property.

In 1953 they set up their own small sawmill, with the first at Dobbin Mountain and then another behind Last Mountain, and launched Gorman Bros. Lumber. In 2017, recalling those early years, Ross Gorman wrote in Timeline Stories, “The logging was done by horse. We stayed at the camp because at that time it was too far to drive back and forth. There was no such thing as four-wheel drive, and the roads weren’t snow plowed as they are today.”

Much has happened since those days when Edith and Eunice supplied their husbands and the other camp workers with home baked bread and pies, and Eunice took care of the bookkeeping.

The Gorman Group

Today, the Gorman Group, created in 2008 after the John Gorman family sold their shares to the Ross Gorman family, is led by CEO Nick Arkle, Ross and Eunice Gorman’s son-in-law. The company directly employs 1,000 people, and also works with independent contractors.

High-value products from the Gorman Group are marketed and sold in 30 countries worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., Mexico, China, Japan, India, a number of Middle Eastern countries, several North African countries, and the UK.

In addition to the Gorman Bros. Lumber Company, which produces high-quality finishing boards made from white wood, mainly Lodgepole pine and spruce, the Gorman Group includes other wood product companies which the Gormans either established or acquired. Among them are Oroville Bin & Pallet; Lumby Pole Division (for cedar utility poles and Douglas Fir pilings); Downie Timber (for Douglas Fir, cedar and Western Hemlock specialty lumber); Selkirk Specialty Wood (providing cedar and hemlock boards); and Canoe Forest Products (offering plywood).

But no matter how many expansions or acquisitions have been made, the foundation of the Gorman Group remains the same: to get the highest value product out of each log that comes into the facility, and to let nothing be wasted.

Wanting to learn more, we recently enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with two long-time employees, Randy Hardy, a Registered Professional Forester (RPF), who works as a Planning Forester and Certification Coordinator for the Gorman Group; and Matt Scott, RPF, grandson of Ross and Eunice Gorman who also works as a Planning Forester with a focus on Indigenous relations and sustainable forest management.

Both men have fond memories of the Gormans, their humbleness, their work ethic, and their values. Hardy, who’s from Alberta and has been with the company for 30 years, told us that, “Ross Gorman envisioned a company where people stayed long-term because it would provide a really good working environment and a place where people could support their families.”

Scott, who grew up in Vancouver, recalls his grandfather as being “a very humble man, with no formal post-secondary education, who had been a farmer and then went into this business. He was a hard worker, worked until the day he went into the hospital at age 94. Right up to the end he was always concerned that the value of the wood was being maximized and nothing was wasted.” He also has fond memories of his grandmother, who worked alongside her husband, and who passed away a year ago at the age of 100.

Forest management—working with First Nations Elders

The Gorman Group operates in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Secwepemc, Sylix/Okanagan and K’tunaxa peoples. Scott says right from the beginning his grandfather wanted to work with First Nations people. He told them, “We’re all here for the long run, so we need to figure out how to work together.” That sort of approach has led to a variety of business arrangements with several Bands, all built on a strong land ethic and mutual respect.

This relationship, he says, has evolved significantly over time. Whereas in the beginning the discussion with First Nations was only about where the company wanted to log, now the approach is to involve First Nations in the entire process, where they are active in planning, processing, harvesting and reforestation to make sure all the values of the forest are accounted for.

“We work with the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Keepers (TEKK), the Elders in the community who have historical knowledge of how to manage the forest that has been here for thousands of years, so we are incorporating that knowledge into our practices as we work with them as consultants,” explains Scott.

The Gorman Group also employs silviculture specialists, who prepare the sites for planting and who ensure that when the land is turned back to the province all legal obligations are met. Hardy noted that the company is also working with First Nations and other agencies on several ecological issues, including forest fire prevention, a research project on mule deer, and another project to enhance endangered caribou herds around the Revelstoke area.

The Gorman edge in quality

Each of the mills in the Gorman Group makes different products, Hardy explains, “so we focus on getting the right log to the right mill, just so we can utilize that log to its fullest potential. We have highly skilled, trained loggers who make sure that each tree they cut will be a fit with our products, and then send it to the facility that will get the best return on that log.”

The Gorman Group also partners with other companies who may be able to use a log that is not of suitable quality for a finished board but is still structurally sound, so that it can be used behind a wall as a 2 x 4 while retaining the finer logs for “appearance grade” products. No part of the log is wasted.

Over the 30 years Hardy has worked at Gorman, he says the company has continually upgraded its processing facilities to ensure they are state-of-the art and positioned to get the best recovery.

After the logs have been sorted, scanned and ‘squared up’, and approved for boards, they move to the technologically advanced Thin Kerf Edger, which has a series of extremely thin side-by-side saw blades that rip them into boards, thereby reducing the amount of loss of fibre as sawdust. Then a molder, designed for fine finish work, creates the furniture finish, splinter-free edge for which Gorman boards are known. Next, a Bioluma Grade Scanner looks for geometric shape analysis to ensure accurate grade sorting so that the boards can be rerouted to different finishing centres.

Finally, Gorman boards move to the drying kilns, which use a low temperature and a slow drying schedule to produce a more stable board than those dried in the industry standard high-temperature, fast-drying kilns. This process reduces warping and meets International Heat Treatment Standards.

All Gorman boards are then carefully graded to ensure builders are getting the right board for the project, and all are graded above NLGA and WWPA standards.

While the lumber industry, in general, is dealing with a reduced fibre supply, the Gorman Group respects the forest and the trees that are harvested by ensuring every part of the tree is used. For example, trims from finished lumber are collected to be manufactured into finger-jointed boards. Trim ends from cedar, in addition to being used for finger-jointed boards, are used to build planter boxes and raised garden beds, while narrow cedar boards have found a market in the culinary industry for planked salmon.

To further avoid waste, wood chips are used as raw material to produce pulp and paper, shavings and sawdust are used as animal bedding and as biofuel when converted into wood pellets, and the bark is used for landscaping or as renewable biomass energy.

Looking ahead

Overall, the forest industry, which contributes $13 billion to the B.C. economy, provides 100,000 jobs, annually plants 300 million trees, and has managed to reduce 40 percent of industry-related emissions, is facing huge challenges.

Wildfires are an ongoing issue for all logging companies. While we were speaking with Hardy and Scott, a fire just southwest of Penticton was burning partly in the Gorman Group’s operating area, and last year the company was impacted by fires in the Shuswap.

“After a fire comes through, we focus on burnt timber, rather than on harvesting green timber,” Scott said. “Trees still have a shelf life while standing dead, particularly Douglas Fir, because it has a thick bark to protect the wood inside from the fire. By harvesting those, we can replant and get the forest growing again,” he shares.

“The forest industry in B.C. is facing big challenges,” he continues. “There are wildfires, there’s a reduction in fibre supply, and there’s climate change, so there are a lot of challenges for us. However, we look forward to developing new products and producing optimal value from what we do harvest. We want to keep everyone working, and we want to adapt to the changing environment. That is the future for us.”

The post The Gorman Edge: Celebrating 70+ Years of Producing the Finest Boards<p class="company">Gorman Bros. Lumber Ltd.</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Founded in 1929 as the Wood Turners and Shapers Association for woodworking companies primarily in the northeast United States, “the Association was formed was to help give the companies representation and to promote friendly business relations and to promote the natural beauty of wood in the home and industry,” says Executive Director Philip A. Bibeau.

Woodworking family

Coming on board in 1995, Bibeau follows in the footsteps of his father Al, who was hired in 1981 to save the Association. Al said it was important all woodworking companies work together to survive, and the name changed from Wood Turners and Shapers Association to Wood Products Manufacturers Association.

A purchasing agent, Al had years of prior experience dealing with members of the Association and finding the people to make items.

“So, Al was doing what the Association hired him to do years before it was even popular, and he was doing it on his own,” says Philip Bibeau. “He was hired because he had the experience, and could do what the board wanted, which was mostly networking and connecting people with buyers and sellers. He would walk through facilities and put together deals.

“You have to be a dealmaker and understand what you are doing. When I was eventually hired to take his place, I had a lot of experience brokering materials, wholesaling materials.”

Growing membership

Like his father before him, Philip had considerable industry experience before joining the WPMA, including working for a hardwood sawmill and brokerage business, and being responsible for sales at one of America’s premier hardwood dimension manufacturers.

Soon after he became head of the WPMA, Philip dedicated himself to building the Association’s membership, and was wildly successful, doubling membership to over 600 companies throughout the U.S. and Canada.

One reason for the growth was successfully putting together a large business and property insurance program through highly rated Federated Insurance®. With an A+ (Superior) rating by A.M. Best® Company, Federated is on the Ward Group® list of top 50 insurance industry performers.

Services available to WPMA members include property and casualty insurance, workers compensation insurance, and life and disability income protection, along with referrals to succession-planning attorneys, and access to risk management materials. As the Association’s exclusive business insurance partner, the relationship with Federated is founded on mutual respect.

Respect and trust

“People are looking for somebody they can put their trust in,” says Bibeau. “There’s a lot to running a woodworking business today. You wear a lot of hats, from sales to hiring people to finding raw materials, collecting on invoices, and some stuff you don’t want to deal with because it takes time.”

While the association serves a range of member companies, from one-man operations to companies of 300 of 400 employees, most members fall in the 75 to 100 employee range, since these are the companies the WPMA can help the most.

Companies with over 100 employees are likely to have full-time salespersons and human resources staff; businesses under 100 are more likely not to have people in these roles, and the employer has to wear all those hats.

Membership is open to those engaged in the manufacture of wood products, and annual dues vary, depending on the number of employees. Associate Membership is open to brokers (office only); suppliers of machinery and equipment, industrial finishes, coatings, adhesives, abrasives, metal parts, rollers, etc.; and educational and governmental representatives. Applications can be downloaded at www.wpma.org/media/join-wpma/WPMAMemberApp2019.pdf.

Along with exhibiting at some national trades shows to promote itself and generate inquiries for members, the WPMA promotes the Association, and members, through other channels.

Focused on working to increase business for members, the WPMA was the first in the nation to employ a free ‘Sourcing Guide.’ This valuable guide connects companies looking to purchase a specific product with a list of members able to provide these products.

“It is a sort of high-end ‘dating service’ that’s free for customers to use,” says Bibeau, “and connects qualified companies looking to sell products. In doing our follow-up calls, we are hearing that all prospects are receiving five to seven quotes on each job they’re looking to place. It has generated a lot of potential new and profitable business for our members.”

Another benefit WPMA offers its members is the opportunity to take part in group programs by utilizing the purchasing power of the Association. By combining all its potential ‘buying power,’ the WPMA can offer members programs and services at prices that would not be available to them as individual companies.

“The association has put together programs such as a comprehensive business insurance program (property and casualty), a national health insurance program, cyber insurance, a merchant fee reduction program, an energy cost reduction program, leads for new and profitable business, and The Sourcing Guide, the most informative monthly newsletter in the industry, and one of the best annual meetings that focus on business development and networking.”

An industry changes…

In the 29 years since he began heading the WPMA, Executive Director Bibeau has seen the wood products industry change dramatically.

One of the biggest changes affecting the past two decades is that many owners—who are excellent woodworkers—are reaching their mid-to-late seventies. Tired of the run-around, they are shutting down operations. A primary driver behind this tendency is the inability to hire qualified staff.

To help with this, the Association has a free staff referral system that is often helpful, as people may know of a company in their area slated for closing that has staff who will be looking for well-paying jobs. “The next ‘nail in the coffin’ is that many purchasing agents or buyers do not know their costs,” says Bibeau. “My father used to say this on a daily basis and did up until he died almost 15 years ago, and it is truer today than ever.”

The commodity side of the business—turnings and shapings—went over to China years ago because of price, with the Chinese government helping to subsidize their own wood products industry. As a result, many started buying wood products from China because they were cheap, though that has changed drastically with skyrocketing costs for freight and fuel.

… and changes again

“The WPMA office receives calls almost daily from companies that have been purchasing in China forever and want to pay less for the product than the ocean freight rate,” he says. “Companies that wish to stay in business will not take an order below their cost, no matter what the potential upside is.”

Relatively inexpensive in the past, the price of bringing a shipping container from China to the West Coast (Long Beach or LA docks) now runs at a staggering $23,000 to $26,000 U.S., if you can get it shipped. Once the container arrives, it needs to be transported across the country, and with diesel prices, now costs over a dollar per mile.

Then there is the issue of shipping containers in China getting ‘rolled’—being bumped off the intended vessel in favor of containers of products that make more money, such as flat-screen TVs and computers. Shipments that used to take a month to arrive now turn up 120 days later. And as widely reported since the start of COVID, the price of all raw materials, especially wood, has increased.

“As a result, a lot of our members have been busy, which is a good thing,” comments Bibeau. “It makes more sense to buy American-made products.”

Like other skilled trades, woodworking companies are having a hard time getting help. To compensate for this, many WPMA members have moved to a four-day work week with 10-hour shifts to keep staff. This also has the benefit of saving employers heating and electrical costs, since some of their machinery is expensive to start and re-start.

Despite challenges, the woodworking industry is stronger than ever, and the WPMA plans to be there for them for the long term, providing excellent information, networking opportunities, leads for new and qualified business, and money-saving programs.

The post Turning & Shaping the Industry<p class="company">Wood Products Manufacturers Association</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

The company has officially opened its new Canadian headquarters in Surrey, British Columbia, and staffing changes are underway as a result. Domino’s recently appointed President, Deanna Morin, who is now leading the operations in Canada, and other staff promotions will be announced in the near future. Ground has also broken on a new facility in Elmsdale, Nova Scotia, and the final designs of the building will soon be in place. The company’s information technology department has grown significantly, offering services such as Inventory Management for its customers.

Domino is now the largest privately-held, vertically-integrated, critical infrastructure supply company, specifically supporting the high voltage sector in Canada, with dielectric testing laboratories across the country. Lockhart considers this a big achievement and proof that Domino is more than just a distributor.

Company growth has been significant south of the border as well. In the United States, Domino Highvoltage LLC (its American corporation) has recently opened a new office and warehouse in Anaheim Hills, California after moving out of its Boise, Idaho location.

The North American business is currently in a strong place, but the company is always looking at making more acquisitions. Lockhart mentions the Eastern Seaboard and potentially Humboldt, Texas as new places to expand into, due to Texas being a good service location. Domino moved into Puerto Rico last summer and now sports fourteen employees on the island after opening locations in Montecillo and Caguas.

The facilities in Puerto Rico are primarily used for dielectric testing and tool crib related services; however, the company has recently opened its distributor division in the Caribbean. Lockhart views the move into the Caribbean as positive, since the company has helped local clients start up and has provided service, maintenance, repair, and greater accountability through utility tracking.

Even through turbulent growth, many of Domino’s internal approaches have remained steadfast. As a resource provider, the company stocks tools and inventory, in Canada alone, valued at just north of $10 million.

In the last decade, the just-in-time model, in which the manufacturer responds to customer needs quickly by increasing production specifically for in-demand products, has become much more popular among competing businesses. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, those businesses ran into difficulties after lead times skyrocketed, meaning these companies could not supply what customers needed. This in turn affects manufacturing industry-wide because when a distributor does not order in bulk from a manufacturer, it can potentially negatively affect the distributor’s capabilities to do its job.

Conversely to the just-in-time model, Domino has always taken care to stock and maintain its inventory to capacity in all aspects so that a customer’s needs can be met at any time. “Just-in-time doesn’t work in our industry,” Lockhart says. “If you don’t have stock in hand, the industry comes to a halt,” which then ripples out to other sectors that are reliant on electric power.

This approach goes together with a firm belief held by Lockhart and Domino: the art of good business is to be a good middleman, and in this case, a good middleman is a distributor. Lockhart further explains that a distributor must have sufficient stock and must always buy in full production runs so that manufacturers can buy their raw materials the right way.

Domino believes in working with its manufacturers and setting them up for success so they can do their jobs, as can everyone else associated in the supply chain. Companies in the power industry can be tempted to “nickel-and-dime themselves to death,” as Lockhart describes it, by not spending where it is most needed and losing the middleman status, acting more as a go-between. He notes that as customers look for what is cheapest, the current race to the bottom results in products being made cheaper and quality diminishes. Customers will find themselves spending more on maintenance and repairs. Quality must be maintained and there is a price associated with that.

Beyond pricing and economics, there are pushes toward renewable energy, industry-wide. Lockhart agrees with the importance of greener energy but also sees that other things need to happen before these initiatives can be truly successful. The parts needed to charge electric cars and charging stations, for example, are being purchased on a massive scale; however, those parts are also needed in the transformers required to step down electricity to a usable voltage so that we can use those charging stations.

This has led to a current approximate three-year delay to get a transformer because of the demand for electric power from different markets. Green energy solutions like wind and solar are potentially viable but still have significant limitations, such as high maintenance costs, Lockhart believes. Instead, companies should be focusing on what is perhaps the largest source of energy in the world right now: the oceans.

He considers not harnessing ocean power for energy as a big mistake: “The minute we harness the oceans is the minute we solve our energy issues.”

Small modular reactors are also cited by Lockhart as not just a potential help to greener energy, but as an immediate source of bulk energy. Lockhart thinks these will eliminate the need for large transmission lines as you can place them closer to the cities and have shorter transmission lines. SMRs and the oceans are the best options toward true generation.

As a global company, Domino has encountered customers in many countries who are not completely sold on going green, whether due to cost or doubt. However, it has not yet run into a scenario that it has not been able to navigate or mitigate for its clients, and it will continue to advocate for cleaner electrical energy while remaining realistic about the difficulties.

Lockhart feels that, overall, the power industry is doing well despite these obstacles and is moving forward rapidly. He cites education as a continuing challenge for both those within and outside of the industry, including the public and politicians. Currently, the sector’s focus should be on power generation and system maintenance, as the latter is crucial to tap into the revenue that is currently available in the industry. If money is spent on improving the systems that already exist, then even more financial gain can be found.

Looking ahead, Domino will continue expanding its brand into new areas after the success found in Puerto Rico. Lockhart names the Dominican Republic and the surrounding islands as potential locations for physical and drop-shipping expansion. Growth into Mexico is also planned. Lockhart chuckles as he mentions that several people within the company have been determinedly studying Spanish several times a week to bolster this effort. Domino is “always looking to expand and find markets that will benefit from what we do.” The company will also continue to invest in its people every day and give employees the space to offer ideas for its future.

Lockhart strongly affirms that, overall, North America has a robust and secure electrical grid and that Domino will continue to support and supply its clients for many years to come.

The post Setting Customers up for Success<p class="company">Domino Highvoltage Supply</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

In Andover, Massachusetts, 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Boston, there’s a well-established company that has shown its mettle through hard-earned experience with a consistent focus on its customers.

It’s not surprising, then, that ACE Solar has been ranked the #1 solar contractor in Massachusetts for six years in a row.

With combined decades of experience in solar and a reputation for professionalism, ACE continues to brighten the future of renewables around its home of New England.

Those professionals who would one day comprise ACE Solar entered the industry in 2012. ACE traces its origins to their 2015 regrouping, organizing themselves around a common purpose.

Building on combined experience, ACE expanded quickly, acquiring numerous area subcontractors and earning its place among New England’s leading solar providers and construction contractors.

In only seven years in business, ACE has installed over 300 megawatts of solar energy, making it one of the largest and busiest outfits of its kind in New England.

Today, ACE offers solar installation and maintenance experience in greenfield, brownfield, landfill, and roof arrays from 2 kilowatts to 20 megawatts. The company has also acquired a large assemblage of subcontractors, 86 in all, to facilitate ACE’s commercial and residential solar projects.

“We’re positioned nicely for the onslaught of growth in renewable energy in the solar space,” says Bob Kiley, Co-founder, Managing Partner, and Director of Sales. As both inflation and the relative price of fossil fuel energy continues to rise, Kiley is confident more customers will see the long-term value of investing in solar.

In addition to these market forces, ACE’s experience and customer focus continue to provide it with uninterrupted growth, excepting the pandemic-related slowdown. “At the end of the day we’re a client-driven company,” says Co-founder and Director of Operations Eric McLean, who himself has over 15 years in the solar industry.

McLean has an interesting take on ACE. “On the residential side, we’re a home improvement contractor,” he says, comparing ACE’s work to installing kitchens and the like. “To homeowners, their homes are their castles, so it’s important to them.”

He adds that, in contrast, after dealing with the residential side ACE must switch gears when dealing with commercial clients: “On the commercial side, we’re a general contractor, and we need to act professionally, stand up to our work, and really meet our clients’ needs.”

By putting themselves in their clients’ shoes, ACE’s team is able to empathize and communicate better with the company’s client base. “From the top down, Bob and I will bend over backwards to make sure we complete what we’re contracted for in the best manner we can, and drive home that client focus,” says McLean.

While ACE does boast 86 employees, it’s remarkable how its executive staff still get on the phone to deal with every customer project. Thanks to this nimbleness, ACE has weathered the tide of COVID, supply chain mishaps, and economic shortfalls.

In contracting, mishaps and setbacks are inevitable, McLean says. “To a homeowner or building owner, that can be a big deal; how you then handle it is what makes you a good or bad contractor and makes the experience good. From the top down, we strive for that.”

He mentions how ACE does not upsell its services and strives for clear communication, even when it’s not necessarily in the company’s best interest. “We’re not a nickel-and-dime contractor,” he remarks.

Which brings us to ACE’s carefully cultivated company culture. First of all, Kiley says, “We look to recruit and retain.” ACE offers its employees numerous incentives including fair and competitive compensation, profit-sharing measures, and equity participation in company ownership.

Yet perhaps above all is the company’s largely “hands-off” attitude toward its multitude of subcontractors. With all ACE’s experience behind them, the management staff has intimate knowledge of their subcontractors’ capabilities, deftly assigning each contractor the projects that suit their skills. As Kiley remarks, ACE’s team sets up a secure balance of trust with both employees and subcontractors.

“We give them the power and the tools to do their job, and I think we set an example for them in how to deal with issues, problems, and resolutions,” he says.

Several recent projects exemplify ACE’s growing capabilities, scale, and skills. A recent project with local solar partner Catalyze has ACE building a large solar plant in the southern Massachusetts town of Blackstone.

Located on a repurposed dairy farm, the plant will comprise nearly 16,000 solar panels to generate 3 megawatts and 6.4 megawatt hours of energy to the surrounding residents and businesses. Expected to be up and running by the time of this publication, the Blackstone project will power over 700 homes and displace 6,500 tons of carbon dioxide from the air—the equivalent of the exhaust from 1,200 cars.

Another project to showcase ACE’s capabilities and scale was the provision of integrated solar power for Arsenal Yards, a mixed-use, smart growth development in the Boston satellite city of Watertown. More than just an apartment building, Arsenal Yards comprises a number of discrete structures such as a hotel and parking garage, each with its own set of engineering challenges.

As all new construction must include renewable or solar energy infrastructure, per state law, ACE was the natural choice for the job and was consulted for its expertise in the design and build of such projects. But the biggest challenge was Arsenal Yards’ urban location—the facility itself, including all storefronts and the parking garage, had to remain open during construction. ACE aced it. “The build, challenging as it was, can’t beat solar,” Kiley says with satisfaction.

A third project, well demonstrating ACE’s versatility, was the dual contract to install panels at the middle school and high school in the small town of Auburn, just south of Worcester. Both these schools, opened within the last ten years, meet Massachusetts’ requirement for renewable energy, and gave ACE a rare opportunity to explain the benefits of solar power to the next generation.

Bolduc recounts how the company to set up kiosks to explain its operations and solar power in general to students and curious visitors.

But one of ACE’s ongoing projects may be its most ambitious yet: building a solar farm in one of Massachusetts’ famous cranberry bogs. “That’s a little challenging, from a design and construction standpoint,” Kiley remarks dryly. As the harvest season cannot be paused, ACE must work around the bog’s nearly century-old vines and take care not to disrupt operations.

“We’re veterans in solar, and we have the experience to accomplish difficult projects,” says McLean, adding that this project reflects ACE’s all-round ability with the most complex challenges. “There’s not one we can’t overcome.”

While these achievements exemplify ACE’s ability with large-scale projects, the many smaller projects remain the company’s bread-and-butter.

Even with utility prices rising, many potential clients, both residential and commercial, initially consider solar to be unreasonably expensive. As director of marketing and technology, Casey Bolduc notes that ACE’s customer focus means empathizing with clients and not trying to upsell solar features.

“It’s more of a consultative approach when we work with clients,” Bolduc says. “We get into the costs that you’re offsetting, and that makes it more tangible.”

Kiley breaks it down to simple economics for clients. “In our proposal, we give them the predicted cash flows of the system for the next twenty years,” he says. “In most cases, the return on investment for residential solar is in the five-, six-, seven-year range,” and he predicts that the trend will continue as fossil fuel energy prices continue to rise.

As ACE approaches its eighth year in business, the company is emerging from the COVID-induced slowdown to take on new projects, as well as pick up some older ones where they left off.

Solar subsidies, such as Massachusetts’ SMART program, continue to provide market initiatives for consumers to switch. And while pre-pandemic, ACE had planned to expand into new markets in the Carolinas and the Midwest, its leadership team is content to remain closer to home, as New England provides numerous markets ripe for expansion.

The post Leading Through Expertise<p class="company">ACE Solar</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

“We are a tire processing facility. We do everything under one roof. We have multiple services we are able to offer our customers,” states CEO Kevin Khalil.

While automotive tires are the most common type of tire the company deals with, K & S doesn’t limit itself.

“We pretty much recycle anything with rubber, from a lawnmower tire up to a heavy construction equipment tire that is 10 feet high and four or five feet wide. From airplane tires, construction tires, and excavator tracks down to bicycle tires, we work with all type of tires… Anything that involves rubber, we accept and recycle,” says Khalil.

The process works like this: a client brings in tires they no longer need and pays a fee for K & S to take them off their hands. There is no minimum number of tires that can be dropped off and the firm’s tipping rates are competitively priced. K & S can also pick up tires from a location of the customer’s choosing. The firm maintains a fleet of vans, trucks, trailers, and other vehicles for tire hauling purposes.

Once the tires make it inside the K & S facility, they are broken down and turned into a range of recycled products. One of the most popular of these products, as processed by K & S, is playground mulch (soft rubber chips placed on playgrounds to ensure kids don’t injure themselves in case of a tumble). Garden mulch is another popular product K & S produces.

Scrap tires can also be transformed into crumb rubber, which is added to asphalt for paving roads. Other uses for recycled tire material include rubber gym mats, water- and urine-proof mats for pets, boat and shipping dock bumpers, door wedges and door stops, and waterproof umbrellas and weighted stands for patios.

If K & S processes a wide range of tires, its clientele is equally vast and varied. The firm accepts tires from individuals, auto dealerships, government agencies, auto repair shops (both mom and pop operations and national chains), neighborhood tire shops, and more. K & S works closely with officials in its hometown, gathering and recycling collections of illegally dumped tires for Chicago Heights. “We have a great relationship with [Chicago Heights]… we assist different municipalities to dispose of their tires, whether from city vehicles, resident clean up days or illegal dumping, at little or no cost to the tax payer.

The firm’s market reach extends across Illinois and into Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. K & S will soon be enhancing its presence with a pair of new plants, scheduled to open shortly in Wisconsin and Alton, Illinois. “We are on the final stages of construction and are set to go live within the next six months,” state Khalil.

For the Wisconsin plant, “We worked closely with the manufacturer, CM, in order to create the most efficient, state-of-the-art tire recycling line for the facility,” he continues. The Alton plant, intended to service the Missouri market among other locales, “will be similar to our other processing facilities, with some adjustments to fit the current market south of the Chicagoland area,” adds Khalil.

This dual launch will dramatically expand the company’s footprint: K & S currently operates out of a 40,000 square foot building in Chicago Heights based on approximately eight acres of land. The soon-to-be-opened Wisconsin plant will take up roughly 160,000 square feet on 11 acres while the Alton plant features a 20,000 square foot building on 22 acres.

The two new plants are evidence of the company’s explosive growth. K & S has expanded from roughly 40 employees this time last year to nearly 60 today, and that figure might double once the new plants start operations. Growth is being driven by K & S’s position at the forefront of the tire recycling sector, says Khalil.

Being “number one in the industry, if you do things right, you will succeed. We do all our business with the best of our abilities. We’re upfront, we’re honest, we provide quality service to all our customers,” states Khalil.

It also helps that K & S is on the level, and truly performs tire recycling services (some processing companies simply dump tires illegally, rather than recycle them). In fact, an eco-friendly spirit pervades K & S’s operations (“We keep two words at the forefront: preservation and sustainability” states the company website).

The K & S website also offers copious details about the environmental benefits of tire recycling. Most obviously, processing old tires eliminates used tire dumps, which are both unsightly and a major cause of air pollution should they catch fire. Re-using tires is an excellent way to put a green spin on rubber products that have reached the end of their useful life on vehicles. According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), roughly 110 million tires are recycled annually by tire processing firms. Given that one billion new tires are created worldwide each year, tire recycling still has a way to go.

As part of its expansionary efforts, K & S recently aligned itself with the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, SWANA describes itself as “the largest member based solid waste association in the world” with more than 10,000 members. SWANA is “committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management” and strongly emphasizes recycling efforts, states the Association website.

“There’s a lot of information to gain and learn,” notes Khalil, about K & S’s relationship with SWANA.

Thanks to the company’s prominence in the industry, K & S doesn’t need to spend much on paid advertising. While the firm has a website and social media presence (Twitter and Facebook) it relies on positive word-of-mouth from satisfied customers and referrals for much of its business.

The company started out a decade ago as Khalil and Sons (i.e., K & S). Kevin’s father—a lifelong entrepreneur—established the business with him. Khalil Sr. passed on a few years ago, but the firm remains family-owned and operated, and Khalil has a pair of brothers who work for him and takes a family approach to staff relations.

“We definitely are happy to treat our employees like family, and have them succeed in their careers,” he states.

K & S takes this family focus into account when it comes to prospective new hires as well. “We’re definitely looking for family-oriented individuals and individuals that want to thrive and succeed in their careers. We look for somebody that does the job right the first time and is a team player, works well with different individuals, and is able to provide quality customer service,” states Khalil.

Thankfully, COVID did not have a huge impact on the company’s operations. “COVID was a very interesting couple of years,” recalls Khalil. “We had to really take precautions on safety, social distancing, having masks and sanitizer. Luckily, with taking all these precautions, we did not have any incidents. There were a lot of companies that got shut down for COVID. Fortunately, we continued to operate. The Transportation industry was considered vital, as it should be, so we continued to run with no issues.”

That said, the company does face certain challenges. While the economy has come back to life in recent months, following the worst of the COVID pandemic, a low unemployment rate means there’s a limited pool of people looking for jobs.

“One of the problems we face, like everybody in the country, is employment. If we had the opportunity to hire 20 employees today, we’ll take them on. It’s just a little bit difficult finding the right staff members at this time,” states Khalil.

While the plan is to remain focused on tires, the company sees further opportunity in non-rubber recyclable materials. “We’re a tire processing facility. At the same time, we process steel as well. By extracting all the steel from the tire or the rubber that produces a different avenue of revenue,” states Khalil.

Into the future, Khalil looks forward to establishing closer ties with SWANA and “learning more about the solid waste industry.” He also has big plans for K & S: “With the growth we are having and the expansion we are having, it shouldn’t be that long before we become a national company,” he states.

The post Recycling Rubber for Revenue and a Better Environment<p class="company">K & S Tire Recycling, Inc.</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.