Mottos, slogans and catchphrases are highly visible factors that companies in today’s competitive business environment must consider. But slapping a motto on a brochure and going on with business as usual doesn’t count — it takes action.

Atlantic Industrial has molded its own motto — “Execution is everything.” The phrase isn’t on the company’s letterhead or part of its logo, yet it serves as the true foundation of the organization, expressed through its people, its culture and its results “in the field.” 

While new faces, places, services, innovations and records have been added to the mix over the past year, Atlantic is moving forward with the same commitment to its core values — safety, customer satisfaction, financial performance and personnel development — and continuing its tradition of executing.

Every aspect of Atlantic’s business is improving, aligning the company to be a true nationwide provider in every way.

New faces

One way Atlantic continues to stay ahead is with its forward-thinking approach, which means never settling. With continuous growth and improvement on the horizon, there was a need to strategize moving forward. Atlantic has added key players to its team and realigned current resources, resulting in a dynamic structure.

As founder Pete Vrettakos’s role has evolved, his position as executive chairman allows him to mentor the executive team, find new growth opportunities through acquisitions and continue to develop strategic customer relationships.

The executive team is led by Steve Sisney, who joined Atlantic as president in December 2006 and was named CEO in October. As president and CEO, he is responsible for all daily operations of the parent company and is charged with managing and directing the organization to meet its financial and strategic goals. He also focuses on expanding the business and improving the internal efficiency of the organization.

“We have just completed a record year for Atlantic and are targeting even greater growth in 2008,” Sisney said.

Prior to joining Atlantic, Sisney worked for nearly 20 years at Cooper Industries Ltd. in a variety of positions including director of corporate development, president of the Crouse-Hinds Division and his most recent assignment as president of the Tool & Hardware Group. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and his undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University.

With a seasoned management team in place that included Darryl Schimeck as president of Atlantic Plant Services, Craig Kaple as president of Atlantic Scaffolding and Tom Sinnott as CFO, Atlantic was sitting pretty. But Sisney took action and, in an effort to improve ownership and accountability within the company, promoted John Farrell to vice president, human resources and Barry Guidry to vice president, health, safety and environmental (HSE).

Farrell joined Atlantic in mid-2005 and has championed a number of improvements in the companywide benefit plans as well as strengthened the internal appraisal process. He continues to focus on developing the talent infrastructure within the company and ensuring that Atlantic continues to be competitive with both compensation and benefit plans.

Guidry has been with Atlantic for six years and has done a great job of developing and implementing HSE programs across Atlantic that have led to an outstanding safety performance. He is responsible for the five regional area HSE managers and Atlantic’s companywide HSE efforts.

In August, Atlantic announced the addition of Mike O’Malley in a newly created position of vice president, operations support. O’Malley has taken the lead role in helping drive continued improvement in the utilization of scaffold material, as well as driving improvements in the areas of freight, fleet management and purchasing. 

“I am fortunate to be working for a company that understands the importance of making investments, such as the new asset management system software, which will make the organization more effective,” O’Malley said.

While this just touches on a few of the highlights, everyone contributes to the success. With all of this talent in place and more, it is evident that Atlantic has set the stage to be successful.

New places

Since Atlantic’s conception, the company aimed to be the preferred provider of outsourced services to industrial customers in North America. What started in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., vicinity quickly expanded into the Gulf Coast and is now going national.

In October, Atlantic announced the acquisition of North Atlantic Scaffolding Co. (NASCO), based in Portland, Maine.

“The combination of NASCO and Atlantic has positioned us to expand our geographic footprint and establish a repeat customer base, along with the opportunity to offer bundled services to a new customer set,” Sisney said.

NASCO’s current headquarters will become a regional office within the Atlantic Scaffolding division. NASCO is a full-service provider of scaffolding design, supervision and erection services to primarily industrial clients across New England, New York, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.

NASCO’s former owners, Ken Spenard and Ron Bourgoin, remain in senior management roles in the company. 

“Ken and Ron are a great fit with their management philosophy and dedication to safety, a main focus within our organization,” Kaple said. “Utilizing the best practices of both companies will provide even more opportunities in the future.”

In an effort to portray the image that they mean business, Atlantic has also moved current offices into better locations. In Baton Rouge, La., Atlantic Scaffolding recently expanded into a new facility and opened a yard with visibility in a high-traffic area. In Florida, the company remodeled the entire office for a more professional appearance. Atlantic also opened a branch office near Mobile, Ala., to prove its commitment to the local area and that it is ready to do business.

“We are proving our commitment regionally as well as nationally, and clearly it is working,” Kaple said.

New services
   
Since 2005, Atlantic has embarked on a transformation from a single-source scaffolding provider to a multicraft service provider. Through both strategic acquisitions and internal resource growth, the company has enhanced its offerings to include scaffolding, insulation and surface protection — which consists of fireproofing, painting and coatings — along with select environmental services.

This vision to become a true provider of bundled services is now a reality. With a variety of projects in full swing, Atlantic has proved it is not just capable but accomplished. One significant example is current work being performed for Corn Products in Bedford Park, Ill.

Atlantic started out performing small insulation projects and, based on their success, was provided opportunities for other services. To date, Atlantic has successfully completed projects in asbestos removal, ceramic coating, painting and scaffolding. The team has also been called out on more than one occasion to install emergency scaffolding on short notice.

“We have found Atlantic Plant Services to be a reliable company that looks out for the best interests of Corn Products from a cost and quality perspective as well as providing the best personnel,” said Richard M. Healy, manager of plant maintenance for Corn Products International.

“It is our execution of each and every service that keeps us in demand and keeps the business coming,” Vrettakos said.

In addition to its services, Atlantic feels that its safety culture is a value-added service to its clients along with the proprietary software DSMS™, which provides key performance reports and real-time data, allowing for unrivaled management control.

The success of bundling these core services has largely depended upon these value-added services.

“Our safety culture is ingrained in every person and every aspect of our business,” Guidry said.
      
New innovations
   
In the quest to always get the job done and done right, Atlantic is now offering the latest technology on the market for insulation — Aspen Aerogels. Aspen Aerogels’ patented nanotechnology process delivers a revolutionary change in thermal management and energy conservation to a wide range of industrial and consumer markets and is two to eight times more effective than existing insulations.

“Part of the Atlantic culture is to always be on the cutting edge of technologies and being an early adopter of innovation to add value to our service. Aerogels fits that vision perfectly,” Schimeck said.

But just when you think you have seen it all, another form of innovation is applied, and the result is astounding. Atlantic brought its well-known slogan, “A Company on the Rise,” to life — literally — as it airlifted scaffolding into a regenerator for a project. 

Time was of the essence on a recent expansion and major revamp to a process unit at a major U.S. petroleum refinery. While traditionally an internal structure is erected inside once the unit is shut down, this situation did not allow that luxury. The client needed something sooner to reduce the amount of shutdown time. This is where Atlantic got resourceful and generated a plan that not only worked, but was ideal for the circumstances. 

“Our team enjoys the challenge of formulating solutions for our clients that continue to prove our inventive approach and represent the Atlantic way,” Kaple said.

In an effort to utilize the time it had, Atlantic built the internal scaffolding structure — which was ready the moment the unit was shut down — in an open area. Upon shutdown, the regenerator assembly was removed and placed in a jigstand. The internal scaffolding structure was then lifted by a crane and lowered into the regenerator. (See Figure 1.) This allowed craft access three hours later as opposed to five or six shifts later, enabling them to get their jobs done much sooner than with conventional practices.

At the forefront of each and every project is the emphasis on safety. As unique and complex as a project may be, safety is never compromised. As an Accredited Training Institute (ATI) for the Scaffold Industry Association (SIA) Training Program, Atlantic has qualified instructors ensuring a safer workplace for employees and customers.

“Being an ATI has been a considerable benefit to the company and its employees, and we will continue to partner with the SIA to achieve our goals relating to safety,” Guidry said.

New records

Atlantic made an impressive jump in rank in “Engineering News-Record’s” (ENR) 2007 Top 600 Specialty Contractors list. For 2007, the company moved to 118, up from its 238 spot for 2006. Companies are ranked according to construction revenue in the previous year from specialty contracting in a prime or subcontracting capacity. 

Atlantic Industrial also ranked fifth in the “Baltimore Business Journal’s” Top 50 Fastest Growing Privately Held Firms in the Baltimore area and 23rd in the 50 Largest Privately Held Firms in the Baltimore area.

With Guidry at the helm for HSE, Atlantic has made its move up the ranks with safety as the No. 1 priority, and it shows. In February, Atlantic Scaffolding received ExxonMobil’s 2006 Contractor Safety Award for work at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery. 

“This great achievement is a direct result of our proactive safety approach, and I am proud of the team’s commitment to safety at all times,” Guidry said.

Atlantic Scaffolding was chosen for the Contractor Safety Award based upon its continued achievement and active participation in ExxonMobil’s “Contractor Buddy Safety Program” and “Contractor Natural Work Team.” One of Atlantic’s crews also received “Maintenance Crew of the Month” on a coker project. 

Atlantic was recognized for other accomplishments including: 1 million safe man-hours, three consecutive years worked without an OSHA recordable, 100-percent reduction in OSHA recordable incident rate, and large and medium specialty contractor nomination through the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable. ExxonMobil also nominated Atlantic for an NPRA Safety Award for 2006.

The Greater New Orleans Safety Council/Mississippi Gulf Coast Safety Council recognized Atlantic with two awards in June. The first award recognized an injury-free 2006 at the Chevron Pascagoula, Miss., refinery, and the second award was for outstanding safety performance for projects greater than 100,000 work hours. Then, in September, Atlantic surpassed 1 million safe work hours without an OSHA recordable at the refinery.

“This is an outstanding achievement, and I applaud your leadership in accomplishing this goal; you truly set the example for all of us to follow. Congratulations!” said Tim Noble, Chevron Pascagoula’s maintenance and reliability team leader.

Atlantic began the relationship with Chevron Pascagoula about two years ago and working together, both companies are committed to creating an incident- and injury-free environment. With more than 450 Atlantic Scaffolding personnel on site at Chevron Pascagoula, communication is imperative at all times.

“I hope you know how much the refinery family appreciates the efforts of Atlantic personnel during your time on site. The work ethic and focus on safety by you and your employees are unparalleled. Thank you all for this monumental effort,” said Gary Jordan, contractor safety specialist.

During the summer, Atlantic Scaffolding and Atlantic Plant Services also won 10 NPRA Meritorious Safety Awards for Contractors.

Atlantic Scaffolding was recognized at eight facilities including ExxonMobil Refining and Supply, ExxonMobil O&A Plant and ExxonMobil Chemical Specialty Plant in Beaumont; ExxonMobil Refining and Supply in Baytown, Texas; ConocoPhillips Refinery in Lake Charles, La.; Chevron Refinery in Pascagoula; Texas Refining Division of Marathon Petroleum; and Western Refining Co. in El Paso, Texas. Atlantic Plant Services earned its two awards at CITGO Petroleum Corp. in Lemont, Ill., and Marathon Petroleum at Catlettsburg, Ky.

“It is an honor to be recognized for our safety results by so many of our customers, and it is a testimony to our commitment to safety,” Sisney said.

In addition to recognition from the “majors,” Atlantic was commended by the Associated Builders and Contractors with a Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) Award for the company’s Gold Level of achievement and its ongoing efforts in the development of a quality safety program for 2007. Atlantic also received four Industrial Safety Training Council (ISTC) Safety Awards.

By being nominated and recognized by those in industry, it is clear that Atlantic continues to live up to the safety culture that was Vrettakos’s vision when he founded the company more than 25 years ago.

Same commitments

While there is so much growth and change, Atlantic remains dedicated to its core values:

• Safety comes first at Atlantic. The company is committed to a safe work environment for its people and the people who use its equipment. In addition to meeting OSHA’s requirements, Atlantic’s safety program is proactive and geared toward eliminating unsafe acts and conditions on the jobsite. From the top down, the company has a “target zero” accident philosophy.

• Customer satisfaction has been crucial from the very start. Atlantic’s reputation for helping clients get their plants back on line or completing a project to schedule has spread across industries and is driving its growth.

• Financial performance is important to both Atlantic and its customers. The company is financially sound and has the capital required to respond to growing customer needs.

• Personnel development makes Atlantic the “employer of choice.” From the beginning, Atlantic knew that to compete with other companies, it had to attract and keep the very best people. The result is a culture of excellence in which the most talented professionals thrive. Atlantic recruits, trains and retains the top people in the industry, people who are proud to be a part of the Atlantic team.

“It is my personal mission to ensure that the culture that has made Atlantic successful continues to thrive,” Vrettakos said.

For Atlantic, with the right people in the right places providing the right services, execution comes naturally.

For more information on Atlantic’s breadth of services, visit www.atlanticii.com or call toll free (800) 766-6130.