a CIANBRO company
JULY 2011 NEWSLETTER
Another Successful Canton Turnaround By Jerry Kennard Starcon’s Southern Region, with the help of the Marathon Canton Ohio Refinery maintenance team, has successfully completed another major total refinery turnaround. The turnaround started as a 72,000 work-hour turnaround. However, due to issues during the decommissioning of the units and poor performance by other contractors, the project closed out at more than 158,000 work-hours. Can you imagine managing a project that grew by over 40 percent, all the while maintaining the schedule? This, coupled with the potential safety hazards caused by the units not coming down or not being decommissioned as scheduled for work was, to say the least, a daunting task. The Southern Region is very proud to say the project was completed as scheduled with zero recordable injuries and only a few first aids and near misses. The successful execution of this turnaround is the result of team work, dedication to all of Starcon’s safety practices, great leadership, and respect for each other’s personal health and safety. A special thanks to Rob Seimetz, Willie Bryant, Mike Quintas, Chuck Hester and the entire onsite maintenance team. Also to Bruce Bordelon, Terry Stone, Johnny Benoit, Malcolm Smith III, Frank Harlos, and Charles Trahan of the MPG group. Great job, team! PAGE 1
L to R: Cody McComb, Zach McClure, Terry Bagshaw
STARCON Shines at ABC National Craft Championships By Tom Wanamaker
The performance of Starcon team members at the 2011 Craft Championships in San Antonio was nothing short of excellent. They delivered the Reliable Performance of Starcon that the company so proudly touts. They represented Starcon and the Cianbro Companies with professionalism and high quality craftsmanship, and maintained the highest levels of safety throughout the competition. In Pipefitting, Terry Bagshaw competed with a level of experience that exceeded the field. His rolling offset piece was within 3/8 inch of specification over a 4.5 foot span (run). It would have bolted right up! Unfortunately, the event was not included in the scoring because of problems with the jig which was used to test fit. In screw pipe, Terry created an excellent piece which dropped right into place ahead of the clock time. In bolt up, he completed all but one bolt, and built to spec all valves facing the proper direction. There was a bonus for completion which weighed more than valve placement. Terry’s performance was superb. In Pipe-welding, Zach McClure finished his first weld in two hours. This was very impressive since all the competitors had to deal with bad rod. Zach
was our youngest competitor and his welding project was high quality. Starcon Training and Development Manager Tom Wanamaker was impressed with Zach’s steady and confident approach in that venue. In Insulation, Cody McComb offered a degree of skill and quality craftsmanship which impressed Tom and the spectators. Cody’s 90 degree elbow in metal work was top-notch. “I am very proud of Cody’s performance,” Tom said, “and he wooed the spectators.” A major take away for training is to get more involvement in the whole ABC competition process. “We need to dedicate more resources into such areas as judging and scoring criteria,” Tom said, “and channeling our donations to the competition into quality rod for welding. More representation from Starcon would greatly enhance our ability to place at the events. There were also events for recruiting MDPs, Business Development, Safety, and Leadership Development. I would like to incorporate these into our overall training plan,” Tom said. “Our team members performed with precision, safety, and quality craftsmanship,” Tom concludes. “I am very proud of each of them.” Terry, Zach and Cody all received internal Starcon awards in May for their quality performance at the Nationals. STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Dale Kuntz In the second quarter of 2011, we are well underway in executing our 2011 Strategic Plan. We continue to focus on Improving our Safety, Taking Care of our People, Satisfying our Customers and Building Financial Stability across the company. Our safety performance year to date has been below expectations. We are re-focusing the entire organization on the Beyond Zero Safety, Health and Environment Vision. All management and front line team members are being trained in Leading with Safety. The key elements of leadership are centered on Credibility, Action, Resolve and Engagement working towards a Beyond Zero Safety Climate. We will continually monitor and reinforce those positive behaviors with our team members, customers, subcontractors and vendors. “If you see it you own it” means taking positive action each and every time we see exposure inside and outside of Starcon. Safety means more to us than simply avoiding an incident or injury. Safety, Health and Environment is a value to Starcon. Priorities will change in other parts of our business but we will never put anything before the safety, health and environment that impact people. People are at the core of everything we are about. Leadership begins with taking care of people. In the Human Resources area, we have built a stronger organizational structure at the corporate level and across our regions to support the new regional Operations structure that we announced at the beginning of the year. This new Human Resources structure will put more emphasis on PAGE 2
the recruiting efforts to ensure we provide quality team members to our nested and turnaround project jobsites. We have also focused on getting our training programs up and running during the first two quarters of 2011. This will continue to be a main focus for our HR department to provide those services and training programs necessary for us to build upon the skills and knowledge of our team members. Through mid June of 2011 we have performed a large amount of turnaround and project work on the West Coast with key customers. We have received positive feedback from our customers related to all work executed in the Bay Area. We also started up a small capital and shutdown group in Southern California. This group has successfully executed projects with multiple customers and continues to seek opportunities in this market. We are also planning work in the Pacific Northwest for an upcoming fall turnaround with a major customer. The Northern Region continues to expand Operations in the Chicago areas across multiple nested sites. We will be starting work at a new site in the Chicago area in mid June and plan to have an on-site presence to support their Operations. In the Ohio/ Minnesota/Indiana areas we continue to look for opportunities to grow our business. We have performed successful turnarounds in this area and look to begin a new relationship with a new customer in the Indianapolis area on a daily basis. The business in the TRISTATE area of Kentucky, West Virginia and southern Ohio continues to expand. In the last few months we have begun work at two new locations on a daily basis to support maintenance and small capital work. We will be opening an office and shop in this area by the end of June 2011. The Southern Region just finished up with their major turnarounds in the spring of 2011. Primary focus was at Texas City; Canton, Ohio; Paulsboro, New Jersey; and Memphis, Tennessee. The Southern Region is now focusing on executing small capital project work during the summertime in the Gulf
Coast Region. In addition the Southern Region has executed a specialty welding contract with a major customer to support heater repair type work across their multiple facilities. All regions are on track to hit their revenue targets for 2011. We continue to focus our efforts on improving our gross margins across all regions. Through May of 2011, we exceeded our revenue targets and are behind on net income contribution primarily due to lower gross margins in the regions. Our financial and cost systems continue to improve through the implementation of Cianbro’s monthly business process. Our cost control director and regional cost control managers continue to work with Operations in building a partnership for success. Starcon is making a major capital investment with the implementation of the CMIC system. This will provide the necessary infrastructure and framework to improve all facets of our business. Plans are in place to have the CMIC system implemented by the fall of 2011. Starcon’s QA/QC department has developed a new QA/QC data base that will enable us to provide a more robust tracking system related to welding performance, flange integrity and hydrotesting. This new system was used during the 2011 turnaround season with excellent results and will continue to be implemented across the company. The Business Development department has implemented new software, Cosential, which will help us to better manage our prospective opportunities across Maintenance, Capital and Turnarounds. Both Cianbro and Starcon’s business development departments continue to focus on identifying opportunities where the strengths of both companies can be leveraged. We continue to focus our efforts and attention on building stronger systems, infrastructure and improved business predictability across the regions of the company. Your dedication and loyalty towards this effort are greatly appreciated.
Dale
STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Benefit Briefs By Jen Blaszczyk We often get questions from team members: “When can I enroll a spouse or child in our medical benefits?” or “Why can’t I just add my family member at any time since I pay for the benefit?” To assist with answering these questions, we have to remember there are rules that dictate how we run our benefit plans. Below is some guidance on benefit eligibility.
Enrolling or Making Changes to Insurance Enrollments
Agrifos Ammonia Sulfate Project By Brian Walker Starcon was awarded the Agrifos Ammonia Sulfate project in late March of 2011. It was a three week lump sum TAR / Capital Project. The scope included removing and installing a new scrubber, running new alloy 20 ammonia line, running new stainless steel sulfuric acid line, running new stainless steel aluminum sulfate line, installing a new platform inside the granulator building, assisting the fiberglass contractor with all of their rigging needs, scaffolding, insulation and internal rebuilding of the granulator. There were more than 150 field welds between all of the pipe packages. The granulator rebuild required a great deal of bull rigging to get the 11,000 pound (37 foot long, 18 inch schedule 100 pipe) support beam into a building and in and out of the granulator, along with the mixing nozzles and mixing chamber. This job was executed by Brian Walker, Jose Zapata, Hector Reyes and QA/QC Geovanny “Coca Cola” Heredia. The team had no recordable injuries, 100 percent weld pass rate, and the project was completed on time. Tom Peterson commented on the great job Starcon did by saying, “This was a very difficult and dirty project with many safety risks associated with working in an ammonia sulfate facility. We completed the project 100 percent across the board. No weld rejects or safety incidents, even though the rigging was difficult and had to be bull-rigged, primarily.”
There are certain times when an eligible team member can join and/or add/remove dependents to our health benefit plans: • as a new hire, when you meet your initial eligibility period; • during Annual Enrollment, effective January 1st every year; • when you have a Qualifying Life Event, forms must be received within 30 days of the event
What is a Qualifying Life Event?
It is a personal life change in status that may allow you to change your benefit elections. Qualifying life events include, but are not limited to: • Change in legal marital status - marriage, divorce, legal separation, annulment, or death of a spouse • Change in number of dependents – birth, death, adoption, placement for adoption, award of legal guardianship • Change in employment status of the team member’s spouse or team member’s dependent(s) affecting benefits eligibility, such as termination or commencement of employment • Dependent satisfies or ceases to satisfy eligibility requirement, such as marriage of a dependent Please note: proof of the event and the effective date will be required, for example: marriage certificate, birth certificate, benefits enrollment / termination letter from dependent’s employer, etc. If you are experiencing a qualifying life event, please contact Jen Blaszczyk at (815) 478-6311 or jblaszczyk@starcon. org to discuss within 30 days of the event.
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STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
WELCOME
Welcome to the Starcon Family!
Patricia Knutson Patricia Knutson has joined the Starcon team as Executive Assistant to the Vice President on the West Coast. Patricia has extensive experience as an administrative assistant. In addition to her duties as an office professional, she played a major role in the planning and project management of several commercial developments including a local water park. She is well versed in the preparation of documents necessary for the completion of cost estimates, bids, and proposals. She has worked extensively with government agencies to promote and bring projects through the planning and permitting process. Patricia will be a key player in the scheduling and organizing of activities such as meetings, travel, conferences, and department activities; creating and publishing reports, correspondences, procedures, manuals, and other documents and graphics programs. This position will compile and report non-routine and confidential information, create graphical presentations, and provide other support as needed.
Kraig Kistinger Kraig Kistinger has joined Starcon as Corporate Human Resources Manager in Manhattan, Illinois. Kraig has held leadership roles in human resources with manufacturing and service companies for the past 12 years. Most recently, he was the Corporate HR Manager for ITS Technologies & Logistics in Tinley Park, Illinois, a multi-site company with 1,500 employees. Kraig has a Bachelor’s degree in Management & Human Resources from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Master’s degree in Business (MBA) from Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. He also holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certificate from the Society for Human Resource Management. Reporting to Chuck Melka, Kraig will work closely with the Maintenance and MPG HR Managers, Site Operations Managers, and Project Managers to initiate, implement, and manage the company’s practices, policies, and programs. His efforts initially will be focused on health and welfare benefits administration, policy development and documentation, performance management, and team member communications. PAGE 4
Vernetta Gray
Vernetta Gray joined the Operations Human Resources team as Human Resources Assistant working out of Starcon’s Manhattan office. Vernetta earned her degree at Dillard University and worked in the Human Resources department at the headquarters for ULTA for the past five years. She will be reporting to Bud Hatteberg and will work closely with Troy Copeland and the Chicago area Project Managers. Vernetta will be instrumental in helping the HR Team with our daily operations and providing our sites with the best team members in the industry.
Tamson Chumbley
Starcon welcomes Tamson Chumbley, who has recently joined the team in the position of West Coast Regional Cost Manager. Tamson will work from our Fairfield, California office and has a Bachelors degree from the University of California, Davis, graduating summa cum laude. She earned her Masters degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She has held various positions in the construction industry, in the field of accounting, in the last 12 years including accounting manager, project accountant, senior financial analyst, and has been a consultant. She will be responsible for training and leading the West Coast Cost team in our conversion from the Ace program to the CMIC program in which she has extensive experience. She will also help the West Coast team with forecasting, budgeting, and helping to manage job costs.
Carla Mallory
On May 9, 2011, Carla “CJ” Mallory joined Starcon as Recruiter in the Tri-State Region. Prior to joining the company, CJ was Senior Employee Relations Manager with M&G Polymers in Apple Grove, West Virginia. Also during her 23 years in Human Resources, CJ has held the position of HR Director for HCR ManorCare, HR Manager for American Airlines in Huntington, West Virginia, and Recruiter Supervisor for 12 years at American Electric Power. This diverse knowledge will be a valuable asset to the Tri-State Region. Carla lives in Barboursville, West Virginia and earned her Bachelors Degree from Marshall University. STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Paulsboro Refining Turnaround, Paulsboro, New Jersey By Craig Rion Over the past few years, Starcon has performed several successful Turnarounds at the Valero Paulsboro Refinery located in Paulsboro, New Jersey. Recently at the Valero Paulsboro New Jersey Refinery under the new ownership of Paulsboro Refining Group, Starcon once again proved to be a valued contractor. During the fall of 2010, Starcon was awarded Exchanger, Drum, and Reactor work for the Spring 2011 Turnaround in the HF Alky Unit, FCCU Unit, Gas Plant, and the FDGU Unit. The HF Alky Unit turnaround work is an extremely difficult unit to handle, based on the Hydrofluoric Acid process that the unit operates under. Starcon’s planning efforts for the turnaround began in the fall of 2010 and continued to the March 2011 shutdown of the units. The Starcon planning efforts greatly contributed to the success of the execution phase of the turnaround by ensuring that the work scope was clearly defined and understood by all parties. The HF Alky Turnaround consisted of a total of 42 exchangers to blind, disassemble, and reassemble once the cleaning and inspection was completed. The exchanger work was proven to be very successful, using the Starcon Crawler to pull and reinstall Exchangers 317 and 308’s A&B. There were a total of 16 drums to blind, open, and de-blind once cleaning and internal inspection was completed. The drum work was also proven to be very successful with two critical lifts of 309 Drum weighing over 38,000 pounds each. These drums were successfully removed and reinstalled with no issues. The client management was both appreciative and amazed that the work was completed so quickly and efficiently without special equipment. All of the HF Alky turnaround work was PAGE 5
completed safely, with a shorter duration than originally planned, and came in under budget. The Starcon safety team worked exceptionally well with the client to ensure that all work was completed in a safe fashion. The Paulsboro Refining HF Alky Operations group was amazed by the work ethic and attention to safety by Starcon team members during the turnaround. Three other Operating units at the Paulsboro Refinery were also shutdown during this timeframe in which Starcon performed the turnaround work. This work included the FCC Unit Turnaround with 21 exchangers to blind, disassemble, and reassemble once the cleaning and inspection was completed, and six drums to blind, open, and deblind once cleaning and internal inspection was completed. The Gas Plant Turnaround had 14 exchangers to blind, disassemble, and reassemble once the cleaning and inspection was completed, and ten drums to blind, open, and de-blind once cleaning and internal inspection was completed. The FDGU Unit Turnaround had 14 exchangers to blind, disassemble, and reassemble once the cleaning and inspection was completed, and three drums to blind, open, and de-blind once cleaning and internal inspection was completed. Three reactors were included to blind, and de-blind once the catalyst was removed, inspection completed and catalyst reinstalled. Starcon’s team members were asked to stay and remove the blinds because the FDBU Unit operations did not want CATspec to remove the reactor blinds. Starcon TMs had displayed safe practices during the installation of the reactor blinds, and this gave
operations the confidence to choose Starcon TMs to complete this work. In all, this was a very successful turnaround with safety, quality and performance proven once again to be the values that Starcon is built upon. To sum up the quantities, Starcon’s work scope consisted of a total of 91 exchangers, 35 drums, and 3 reactors with zero leaks on Unit Start-Up. The Paulsboro Refining Group gave thanks to Starcon for the best turnaround ever. We would like to offer special thanks to the following team members for all their hard work during the project: Project Manager - David Hines; Cost Manager - Carol Barclay; Planner / Scheduler – Clay Edwards; Safety Team - Matt Hester and Shane Coon; QC Manager – Robert Eckert; Alky Team – Mark Rush, Dale Salis, Eliagh Rush, Billy Hines; FCC Team – Chris Hines, Brandon George, Paul Rush, Shane Worthom, and Haven Harrod. Thanks also to all of the team members and departments who supported this project and made it 100 percent successful.
STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Recognition for Marathon Canton Scaffold Team By Chuck Hester I would like to recognize the scaffold team at the Marathon Canton site for their commendable performance and continuous improvement. It is simply amazing to watch this team’s performance; it is like a fluid motion from start to finish on each and every scaffold that they assemble and disassemble. The scaffold in the photo is of Tank 122 which has a capacity of 101,203 barrels. The scaffold team is comprised of the following team members: Front row, L to R: Jose Hernandez, Ilder Cedillo, Victor Perez, Luis Lozono, Kerry Speed, Dario Negrete. Back row, L to R: Chris Beckett, Jamie Beckett, Iran Davis, Luis Gonzalez, Angel Cordova.
STARCON Adopts CMiC System By Russ Rodrigue Starcon and Cianbro have teamed together to construct a robust Resource Management and Financial Reporting system, as business teams and IT strive to integrate Starcon into the Cianbro family successfully. Many of you are probably wondering…Which Starcon systems are changing? What is CMiC and as a result of CMiC coming in the door, what are the plans for Great Plains and ACE? When will I be trained on the CMiC and supporting systems? These are all fair and warranted questions that will be answered as part of the ongoing planning and communication activities underway during the Starcon integration efforts.
Which STARCON systems are changing? Primarily, the significant changes are related to Great Plains (accounting
system) and ACE (payroll and reporting system); as well as several IT infrastructure components. As part of an audit performed in 2010, several findings were uncovered that required management attention; the first being that Starcon was running on an unsupported version PAGE 6
of Great Plains; the second was that ACE was in need of significant upgrades to address gaps and issues with cost reporting and billing; and the remaining findings were related to system gaps and deficiencies with the email and network, anti-virus software, data backup routines, and system/application security settings.
What is CMiC?
CMiC is an integrated system comprised of Job Costing, Accounts Receivable/Payable, Purchasing, Payroll, Financial Reporting, and Human Resource modules. These modules, combined with other third party and Cianbro-developed software provide team members with a single point of data entry and a “onestop shopping” solution for day-to-day management of projects and financial reporting. CMiC is not a complete HR system, nor is it a pure Project Management or Invoicing system. Thus, Cianbro has painstakingly developed supplemental software and tools to enhance the native features inherent within CMiC. These supplemental solutions are fully integrated with CMiC and do not require additional or duplicate data entry. In many cases, the team member may not even be aware that they are not operating within CMiC.
As a result of CMiC coming in the door, what are the plans for Great Plains
and ACE?
Great Plains and ACE will be retired as a result of the conversion to CMiC. A decision was made by the Starcon and Cianbro Integration Project Team to convert current projects, projects initiated and completed within the 2011 fiscal year, and projects having received payments or produced invoices in 2011 regardless of the fiscal year the project was started/closed. Historical information from Great Plains will be “archived” and will be accessible by select individuals from Starcon for research, legal, or customer audit purposes.
When will I be trained on CMiC and supporting systems?
Beginning August 1, 2011 the companies will launch a formal training program. This will be a comprehensive training program focused on developing the product knowledge and processes required to be successful with the CMiC tool and supporting applications. This training will include hands-on time with CMiC using Starcon data. The goal is to develop Subject Matter Experts or Power Users within Starcon prior to the August 1st training to aid with the transition to CMiC. In addition, Cianbro will assign “buddies” to each job site and back office location during the integration (which is scheduled for late September) and afterward. STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
2011 Annual Crawfish Boil By Tom Tatro This was the first year to bring the Tri-State region team members together for our Annual Crawfish Boil / Team Member picnic. The event took place Saturday, May 14, at Milton Pumpkin Park in Milton, West Virginia. To help us celebrate our successes, in attendance were Dale and Jacqui Kuntz, Reggie Williams and Mark Bortka. The picnic started at 11:00 a.m., but Paul Hebert, Malcolm Smith, Harlin Colkmire, Mickey Billings, Kenny Harrell and Gary Bergold arrived at 7:00 a.m. to start cooking, and did a great job. Upon arrival, each team member received a bright red t-shirt and every child was given a stuffed crawfish toy. The day’s activities included inflatable’s for the kids, a dessert contest with 17 entries, a salsa contest with 12 entries, and no picnic would be complete without a bean bag tournament. Tracy Everyone enjoying the food and sharing a good time Billings won the dessert contest, and Scarlett Parham’s salsa was chosen as the best entry. The bean bag tournament had 16 teams competing for bragging rights, and the winning prize of a smoker for each person. There were several hard fought matches. But in the end, it came down to two old competitive guys that just wouldn’t accept defeat. The winners were the team of Dale Kuntz and Tom Tatro. However, they were gracious enough to give the winning prizes to their competition. Special thanks to the committee made up of Angel Harrell, Justin Potts, Tiffany Childers, Seth Christian, Harlin Colkmire, DJ Watts, and Pam Malone for planning and organizing this event. Glenn Hardie and Brenda enjoying the day
The finalists in the bean bag tournament L to R: Jeff Barber, Mike Reilly, Dale Kuntz, Tom Tatro
BJ Gaul on his second pan of crawfish PAGE 7
Bayer Crop Science/ Dow Chemical By Gary Bergold The Bayer Crop Science plant located in Institute, West Virginia and the Dow Chemical plant located in South Charleston, West Virginia are two individually contracted sites. Due to their close proximity to one another, Keith Oxley has been the project manager over both sites since February of 2010. In addition, due to the close geographical location of both sites, they have enjoyed the flexibility of being able to move team members from one site to another during peak production times. There has been substantial growth and development at both sites. In February of 2010, Bayer Crop Science started with ten team members, and an additional 18 at Dow Chemicals. Since then, the numbers at Bayer have peaked at 51 team members, with 48 more at Dow. The main focus of the work at both sites is scaffolding and insulation. However, at the Bayer site, Starcon has been involved in three successful turnarounds in which our mechanical crafts, welders, pipe fitters, operators, millwrights and planner were used. In addition to the scaffolding and insulation work, there is also a dedicated eight man mechanical crew consisting of general mechanics, millwrights, a pipefitter and a welder which does all the routine maintenance work in the Cellosize unit, which is a Dow unit. Starcon has also been involved in several code repair jobs at Bayer, and at both sites they are involved in asbestos abatement. At the Dow plant in South Charleston, Starcon has their own asbestos certified team members and at Bayer, the company uses a subcontractor (Petro-Chem) which has a dedicated crew of asbestos abatement workers on site. STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Service Anniversary Award Program Update! By Kraig Kistinger In 2009, Starcon announced a Service Anniversary Award Program to commemorate the long-term service and dedication of our team members and to express our appreciation. The Starcon Service Anniversary Award Program was established for all Category 1, 2 and 3 team members celebrating five, ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five years of service. Unfortunately, due to the downturn in the economy, Starcon had to suspend this program temporarily in 2010. We are excited to announce that Starcon will be reinstating the Service Anniversary Award Program. Starcon recognizes the ongoing team member dedication and reinforces team member commitment during their tenure with Starcon. Therefore, for 2011, the company will recognize those team members who would have received an award in 2010, in addition to those who will receive an award in 2011. The service anniversary award choices will continue to be tiered based on length of service, and enables team members to choose awards which reflect their tastes, needs, and lifestyles. The value of the award increases in proportion to tenure. The Service Anniversary Award Program represents only one aspect of the respect and gratitude Starcon feels for the loyalty and dedication that our team members have shown throughout the years. During the year that a team member reaches one of the service milestones set forth above, he or she will be awarded the appropriate tiered gift choice. Service is computed as of July 31st of the award year. For example, team members who have reached five years of service in June of 2011 will receive their service award in the fall of 2011. A team member who reaches five years of service in September of 2011 will not receive their service award until the fall of 2012. PAGE 8
STARCON Raises the Bar on Scaffold Competent Person Shane Coon, obtained certification Training By Tom Wanamaker At client sites where Starcon builds scaffolding, we are required to have Scaffold Competent Persons identified to inspect and tag our equipment for use. This ensures the safety and quality of our work before allowing team members to use the scaffolding. Renee Delatte, Scaffold Manager, certifies Scaffold Competent Persons through the Scaffold Training Institute (STI). The class is an intense review of all of the technical aspects of scaffolding and associated regulations, a comprehensive exam, and a hands-on performance test. Realizing that these individuals must possess the competence necessary at the journey level, the training, logistics and scaffolding departments teamed up to enhance Starcon’s Scaffold Competent Person Training. It now carries dual national certification through the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and STI. Renee and fellow STI trainer,
as NCCER Performance Verifiers through the training department. To capitalize on the training, those who have not yet been assessed take the NCCER Scaffold Builder exam and obtain nationally recognized “written” certification. Further, the hands-on assessment for STI was enhanced to include all three types of scaffold: system, tube and coupler, and welded frame. This now meets the requirement for the NCCER Performance Verification. Upon culmination of the training sessions, team members earn recognition as Certified Plus Scaffold Builders from the NCCER, and Certification from STI as Scaffold Competent Persons. Congratulations to our newest Certified Plus Scaffold Builders: Jorge Garcia, Braulio “Leo” Escutia, Jake Gillette, Osvoldo Chavez, and Stephen Dobo. Special thanks to Brian Ohlendorf and Chris Hempen for pulling all the material together in one place, and to Jonathan Jones for finding some scaffold we do not normally keep on hand. STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Tri-State Region Update By Gary Bergold
The Tri-State Region has had tremendous growth over the past five months. We have added one nested maintenance site, Braskem, at Neal, West Virginia and we have continued to realize a steady and controlled growth of the other nested sites in the region. Marathon Catlettsburg announced some financial cut backs that did have a negative effect on team member numbers at that site, but through a regional team effort, we were able to place these affected TMs on other existing sites. We do see a rebound at Marathon and we are anticipating that the TM numbers will increase in the future. Over the past five months, we have been awarded numerous Small Capital projects at Marathon, Bayer, Dow, Braskem, and Kureha PGA. The Kureha project at Dupont should be completed by July, and during that time we will be working on transitioning into the site Maintenance Contractor for Kureha. The Tri-State Region is excited about the recent restructuring and alignment of the Maintenance Regions. We believe the new structure will allow us to better utilize not only our current resources but it will afford us the flexibility and strength we need to capitalize on our future growth and opportunities. With the realignment, we welcome Gary Bergold as the Regional Director of the Tri-State Region under the guidance of Reggie Williams, VP Maintenance. As one can expect, the recent growth we have experienced has created some challenges and opportunities with regard to staffing. It is with great pleasure and appreciation that we would like to announce some recent staffing promotions/ additions within the region: • Glenn Hardee – Business Development Director in the Tri-State area (Along with his original assignments) • Carl (Lewie) Strange – Assistant Project Manager at Marathon Catlettsburg, Kentucky • Keith Oxley – Project Manager (Bayer/Dow Charleston, West Virginia) PAGE 9
• Mike Rusnak – Superintendent
(Dow Charleston, West Virginia) • Kevin Gandee – General Foreman (Dow Charleston, West Virginia) • Jonathan Huck – Regional Safety Manager • Jarrod Hagger – Safety Supervisor (Dow/Bayer) • Eddie Foe – Regional HR Manager • Dennis (DJ) Watts – Regional QA/ QC Manager • Malcolm Smith – Project Manager (Braskem Neal, West Virginia) The HR department has recently added Carla Mallory to our team as a qualified recruiting specialist. We welcome her and wish her luck because, with our anticipated growth, she will no doubt be very busy.
Last but most importantly, we would like to take the time to thank each and every supervisory and craft team member in the region. Through weddings, family deaths, newborn arrivals, acts of mother nature and everything else in our busy lives, the team members in this region make all of our success possible and all of our future opportunities a viable possibility. If you are ever visiting our region, please take the time to congratulate not only those Staff TMs who’ve been promoted, but also give a hand to those team members who, no matter how hard we pull, push, jerk and toss them around in the field, job to job, and site to site, they ALWAYS continue to meet and exceed our goals and GET THE JOB DONE!
L TO R: Jake DeLair, Justin Orr, Ken Sobbe, Jamie Prodehl, Jim Kick, Robby Williams and Mike Harts
Construction Site Safety Technology Training By Tom Wanamaker The first of a series of 17 classes to certify select individuals as NCCER Construction Site Safety Technicians started in June in Manhattan, Illinois for the central region. Instructors are NCCER certified (CSSMT) Steve Koonce, Jonathan Jones, Rich Jones, and Shane Coon. Guest instructors may include Mike Duncan, Glen Moody, and other outside speakers. “Conducting this summer session will prepare us for the fall Turnaround season and allows us to grow and develop our team members,”
said Jonathan Jones, Senior Regional Safety Manager. Class times are every Tuesday and Thursday evening and are very interactive. Based on the initial success of the program and its quality content, we plan to implement the program in other regions of the company. CSSMT’s Terry Johns in Canton, Ohio and Jarrod Hager in Charleston, West Virginia are in the planning stages now for the respective regions. Team Members completing the training will receive nationally recognized accreditation in Safety Technology, through the NCCER. STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Business Development and Marketing Update By Michael Golla Starcon’s Business Development and Marketing Department has been busy this year pursuing new business with both tactical and strategic marketing efforts. From a tactical standpoint, we have developed a new slide presentation to give customers a general overview of the “new” Starcon. In addition, Cianbro has helped us design a new brochure and a new booth that was introduced at the recent NPRA Maintenance Conference. We are also working on a new website design and content to better communicate our value proposition. Strategically, we are developing a positioning statement as part of our val-
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ue proposition. A positioning statement simply describes our target customers, what we are offering them (preferably a unique, competitive advantage), and why they should choose Starcon. Here is a draft statement: • TO: For industrial customers who would like to improve maintenance and construction safety, reduce risk, increase productivity and reduce costs, especially at multiple sites, • WHAT: They can rely on a single, multi-craft, national company – Starcon – which offers unique and proven safety programs, maintenance productivity tracking and improvement processes, risk mitigation methods, worker quality programs, and KPI reporting systems
• WHY: Because Starcon has developed a strong reputation, with over 25 years experience, strengthened with the financial backing, craft training, and construction capabilities of parent company Cianbro
Our new marketing materials reflect facts about our competitive advantage, and our business development challenge is to find customers efficiently, who have these needs, and may value what Starcon offers. We will be hiring a parttime lead generation manager to help qualify potential customers for our Business Development Managers. They will contact customers in our target markets through phone calls and emails, with a goal of arranging meetings or webinars to discuss their needs. We are also implementing a new CRM (customer relationship management) system to track all leads and business development activities. The web-based system, also used by Cianbro, will allow us to provide customized reports about progress with opportunities, probability-based forecasts, etc. Starcon has a strong reputation and a great story to tell customers. We have recently met with corporate offices of major refining companies, and they are all looking for improved processes and metric-based scorecards, for example. The customers are telling us that most of our competitors are not focused on these needs as much as Starcon. We need to educate more customers about Starcon, and let them know that we aren’t just pushing “people” like many of our competitors! We are also developing a value proposition that summarizes our internal activities to deliver this value and sustain our competitive advantage, especially with regards to safety and quality. We will provide an update in the next newsletter. This is an exciting time for Starcon!
STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Letters of Appreciation for STARCON’s Cumene Catalyst Change Out Team, Catlettsburg, Kentucky
Before
It is with great respect and appreciation that I write this letter on your behalf. I have received a similar letter from Marathon thanking all parties involved in the Cumene Catalyst change out. Starcon as a whole strives to rise above all other contractors in safety and quality control, and you and your fellow team members have done just that. There are very few people in the industry today that would have stepped up to the challenge as you men have done. So, on behalf of Starcon and Marathon Petroleum group, we thank you for your hard work and exceptional craftsmanship. A copy of this letter will be put in your personnel file.
Gordon E. Cooke
Turnaround Planner Marathon Petroleum “Randy Boggs and I would like to express our appreciation to Ed Bentley, Clinton Marshall, and their crews on the safe, efficient, job they did on the Cumene cat change. Both crews were very professional and proactive, always looking ahead for ways to stay safe and perform assigned tasks correctly, eliminating any chance of rework, all leading to a safe job. They were willing to step up and perform outside the normal requirements, resulting in higher efficiency and cost savings.” After One of the two rooms Starcon team members remodeled for Safe Harbour. Carl Strange led this effort.
Kindest Regards,
Carl L. Strange
Capital Project Manager
Thomas Tatro
Sr. Project Manager
STARCON Team Member Impresses Young Students at Career Day Michael Golla recently volunteered for Career Day 2011 at Falcon Pass Elementary School in Clear Lake, Texas. Michael spent 45 minutes with four separate groups of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, discussing careers in engineering, sales, and marketing, with specific emphasis on Starcon and Cianbro. Michael also passed out Starcon mint containers (trade show giveaways) to the students. There was a doctor, nurse, lawyer, fireman, airline pilot, tugboat pilot, nature reserve manager, NASA engineer, etc., but Michael was the only person there talking about sales and marketing! The host teacher and many of the students sent Michael a thank you note. Most of the kids were very interested in the career discussion, and the type of work that Starcon and Cianbro perform. As you can see in one of the examples below, the Starcon mints were also very popular! PAGE 11
STARCON / JULY 2011
a CIANBRO company
Starcon Editor - Kraig Kistinger • Cianbro Editor - Alan Grover • Contributing Writers - Gary Bergold, Jen Blaszczyk, Mike Duncan, Michael Golla, Chuck Hester, Jerry Kennard, Kraig Kistinger, Craig Rion, Russ Rodrigue, Tom Tatro, Brian Walker, Tom Wanamaker • Design - Jean Cousins Do you have questions or comments about the Newsletter? If so, we’d appreciate hearing from you! starconinternational.com Please email kkistinger@starcon.org or agrover@cianbro.com.
Safety Leadership Workshop Held in Houston, Texas By Mike Duncan On June 14-16, 2011, 35 leaders from all of Starcon’s regions and Cianbro met in Houston to commit to furthering our Beyond Zero safety culture. On the first evening of the gathering, Jon Unwin, Shell Upstream Americas, provided the keynote address and challenged team members to make safety “personal.” He advised team members to focus on relationships as the key to moving past safety compliance and moving toward safety commitment. On Wednesday, Steven Luttrell, BST, facilitated a Leading with Safety® workshop. TMs
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were actively engaged, and they made personal and public commitments to demonstrate CARE (Credibility, Action, Resolve, Engagement). Dale Kuntz, President and COO of Starcon could hardly sit still during several workshop sessions. Clearly, his personal passion for the idea that no team member should get hurt was the driving factor for multiple impromptu speeches about his commitment and vision for Starcon. Dale presented each TM with a personal commitment card that reminded participants to “step up” and be a leader! More workshops are being planned in the coming months to allow other team members to participate.
STARCON / JULY 2011