Introduction

Thank you for allowing us to call you a customer, a friend, or a supporter of Maddox Industrial Contractors. This has been a difficult year for nearly everyone, and we want to take the time to thank you for everything you have done for us. This newsletter will serve as a forum to address topics and news that we are seeing common to all industries. As we move from the food industry, to wastewater, to auto parts and so on, we have the unique perspective of seeing how each industry is handling the issues they face. Hopefully passing on these insights will help you in your industry.

The Importance of Design

As industry has cut costs to be competitive, those cuts have had their impact on plant engineering. As engineers retire, they are not replaced. Soon plants are left with one or two engineers where there were ten. Management’s justification for this is that there are engineering firms to take their place, but the commoditizing of engineering does not stop at the plant walls. Engineering design is no longer sold at a premium, so these firms focus on research and studies to enhance their bottom lines. The result: Projects are pieced together with educated guesses, rules of thumb, and practical ingenuity.

This might have worked fine when the economy was booming, but not in a market where money is plentiful yet scarce at the same time. Budgets need to be firm. When project hiccups and “surprises” show up now, you are getting pressure to explain.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” “A stitch in time saves nine.” “Measure twice, cut once.”

They all still apply. You have a right to know that a solution to a problem is going to solve the problem before any work is performed. You should know what the cost will be at the end of the project. Surprises and hiccups can be worked out before any effort is expended. Projects come in under budget every day.

Technology allows an entire airplane to be designed and tested before a single piece of metal is bent. Building information modeling allows an entire building to be constructed, showing pipe and mechanical routing, to ensure that building systems will not interfere with each other before any dirt is moved. While these technologies may not be a fit for you, the concept behind them is. They are tools for working through issues before they occur. Without the engineering to work out the issues, all you have is a band aid.

Maddox has migrated to fill this gap. We have the capability you need to ensure that your project is going to be successful today and will still work for you tomorrow. We want to be your partner. Contact us to discuss your next project; we can help you dodge those surprises.