Austin Industrial
They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but in Austin Industrial's 100th year of business, it is invested in changing the face of the industry through technological innovation and continued investment in its employee-owners.
Austin Industrial, a 100-percent employee-owned company, is a premier provider of maintenance, construction and soft craft services to the oil, gas and chemical, power, pulp and paper, and manufacturing markets. Founded in 1918, Austin is excited to be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. While its people are proud of where they come from and their century of experience and best practices, they are concentrated on thinking ahead. With the hardest-working, most experienced workforce of employee- owners in the industry, Austin is charging into the future with a relentless dedication to providing innovative solutions.
Their age makes them experts, but their dedication to improvement makes them Austin.
Austin believes that a new age of industrial support is at its doorstep, and its people are poised to stay ahead of the curve. For more than a century, they have earned your trust with hard work, integrity and a track record of successful work performed safely. Today, they are bringing those values and 100 years of best practices into this new era by coupling them with cutting-edge industrial technology and innovative strategies. By mobilizing some of the top technology talent in the industry, they are bringing Austin into the future to lead the culture of continuous improvement both inside the company and in the industry as a whole.
Austin stays two steps ahead, so customers are never three steps behind.
Austin is committed to creating a safer, more efficient workplace through advanced technological innovation and implementation. The company believes in equipping its employee-owners with best-in-class tools and procedures to enhance safety performance and increase productivity.
Austin has a dedicated innovation team that is hard at work implementing a library of thoughtful technologies to better support their customers, from real-time site materials management systems and capital procurement automation to workforce tracking software used to ensure safety and optimize productivity. Austin recently launched its internally developed Austin Intelligence Management System (AIMS). This powerful platform revolutionizes site reporting processes by consolidating project reports and audits into one mobile platform. By cutting down on reporting time drastically, sites can increase productivity by allowing field supervision to stay in the field, where the work is. AIMS provides Austin's customers with up-to-date field metrics and reports so, together, they can make informed decisions to positively impact their businesses.
In addition to AIMS, Austin is launching the Austin Equipment Division Automation Platform and Radio-Frequency Identification Systems (RFIDs). Full Equipment Yard Automation will make sure that sites and customers always have the tools needed, cutting out wasted time spent waiting on tools. The implementation of RFIDs will improve safety and aid in productivity tracking along with several other state-of-the-art technologies that are quickly launching.
The launch of these new technologies is only the beginning for Austin. To support its vision for continuous development, Austin has put together a talented team of innovators with a laser focus on pushing the status quo. Jim Hodges, director of operational technology, was one of Austin's top operations managers when he was asked by leadership to spearhead the technology initiative. In four months, the progress that has been made within the business is nothing short of transformative.
"Even our simplest applications have the potential to realize vast efficiencies in helping our employee-owners to be more successful, more collaborative, more synergized," Hodges said. "In the past, we had some of our site managers spending 10-20 percent of their workweek evaluating data, and now we have the technology to give that time back to them. We are using technology to create time for our site leadership, time that can now be dedicated to solving those tough issues that arise on-site, within the owner's organization and within the market."
But Hodges knows the new rollouts are just the beginning. "These smaller applications create an environment all the way up into artificial intelligence, where the question becomes: How do we make our machines work for us, in order to make smarter, safer, higher-quality business decisions?" he said. "That is where we want to be." Technology is constantly evolving and changing, and Austin is committed to staying ahead of the curve.
A century of best-in-industry safety isn't a coincidence; it's part of Austin culture.
With a rapidly growing industry and new systems and technologies entering the market every day, taking a leading approach to safety is at the core of Austin's existence. The company operates on the principal that pushing the boundaries on productivity and innovation must always come second to maintaining a safe environment for every stakeholder.
In order to take a leading approach in the workplace, Austin has modernized safety with the new AustinCARE system, a cloud-based safety intelligence platform. Armed with this mobile technology, Austin's employee- owners have on-demand access to all vital safety information and training. AustinCARE helps site personnel stay prepared for the worst, so you can expect the best. The platform also offers convenience and accuracy to all safety metrics and reporting, so the safety information is readily available for customers on one user-friendly dashboard.
On the training front, Austin has created two innovative programs to increase learning retention in its workforce. The company found that some of the limited English proficiency (LEP) employee-owners were misunderstanding life-critical safety rules, so it developed the Austin A+ learning program. This program is designed to increase comprehension of life-critical rules at an accelerated pace and improve safety and performance within these groups. In another effort to improve site safety and productivity, Austin's Just- In-Time Video Program was launched. These videos are designed as quick, mobile refresher courses on site-specific tasks to ensure everyone understands the tasks and identifies the potential safety hazards. This platform has been shown to sharply increase comprehension and retention of industry rules, procedures and specific task training, while increasing productivity and reducing rework.
Austin is able to maintain world-class safety by having visible and supportive leadership and a relentless dedication to innovative safety solutions.
For Austin Industrial, working smarter starts with people.
Austin is consistently looking for better ways to empower employee-owners, because the company knows its greatest asset is its people.
Employee-ownership, paired with supportive leadership and strong company culture, fosters a unique company environment, creating a stake in the success of the company at every level. Austin is proud to be one of the top 10 100-percent ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) companies in America according to the National Center for Employee Ownership, because its people believe that their personal investment in the company sets them apart. With ownership comes a responsibility to the company, because employee-owners know that the work they do matters directly to the future of Austin and their fellow employee-owners.
Along with excellent benefits, Austin has a dedicated formal training at every level of its workforce. All employee-owners are required to participate in a development program to ensure they are growing individually and within Austin. With the investments in employee-owners and a culture of respect and gratitude, Austin is able to consistently employ and retain top industry talent.
A culture of partnership leads business practices.
By collaborating with every stakeholder, from customers to the community, Austin can deliver unique and highly effective solutions every time. That same valued collaborati on has led employee- owners to rethink "business as usual."
"We were still working in the 80s; we were expecting our customers to support us, rather than looking for ways to add value. That is all changing now," said Michael Cox, president of Austin Industrial. "Right now, we have the best collection of talent that Austin has seen in a long time. Paired with our continuing advancements in technology, we are building th
e framework for who we want to be. It's not about being the biggest. It's about being the best."
In short: Austin pairs real, talented people with real-time technology to solve real-world challenges.
So, when you think maintenance, construction and soft craft services, think Austin Industrial.
For more information, visit www. austin-ind.com or call (713) 641-3400.
