What does it take for a company to become a trusted partner? The answer, said Chuck Fuhrman, director of operations for Tellepsen Industrial, is pretty simple.
"Be candid and transparent, understand expectations and be flexible to customers' needs," he said. "Most of all, it's being keenly aware of the criticality of our customers' operations and how we can impact not just our client's profitability, but also the community at large."
It’s simple: Do what it takes to become a trusted partner
Chuck Fuhrman, director of operations, Tellepsen Industrial
Tellepsen's clients are involved in producing critical products that impact every aspect of our daily lives, from the petroleum and natural gas supplies that power our economy, to the chemicals used in the automotive and aviation industries to the biofuels, chemicals, petroleum products, oils and lubricants that are vital to a growing world.
"We always ask what happens if a process or operation goes down. What and who is being impacted until we get it back up again?" Fuhrman added.
Thermal Energy Corp. (TECO), to which Tellepsen has provided small cap and a full complement of services since 2011, distributes chilled water and steam service to 51 buildings on the Texas Medical Center (TMC) campus, including Texas Children's Hospital, four Level I trauma centers, multiple high-level life science research labs and MD Anderson Cancer Center. TECO's critical services hit close to home for Fuhrman.
"My son was in the medical center for the first eight months of his life getting bone marrow transplants," he said. "I know how important it is to maintain 24-hour operations at these institutions."
Instant response
When over 51 inches of rain fell on Houston during Hurricane Harvey and four feet of water flooded the streets of the TMC campus, Tellepsen had 15 workers on-site around-the-clock for six days to keep essential services going.
"Tellepsen has successfully completed challenging projects," said Jess Harper, supervising senior project engineer at Tellepsen. "This included work under major, heavily trafficked roads in the TMC, in tight areas with limited access and within operating plants serving critical hospital and research facilities."
When a specialty elastomers client called at midnight for help during a freeze, Tellepsen had workers there within 40 minutes of receiving the call. Tellepsen was later awarded the facility's maintenance contract.
The client's reaction sounds like a similar theme. "Tellepsen has repeatedly met or exceeded our expectations during planning, pre-construction, construction and post-construction project phases, and provides immediate response in an emergency." Despite the kudos, Tellepsen continues to roll out innovations and enhancements that help customers succeed.
"We use our Safety Quality Heat Map (SQHM) to drive conversations with customers that elevate expectations across our projects and align with the goals we've set," Fuhrman noted. "We track and monitor bolt-ups using bolt-up management tags to deliver leak-free systems and a weld acceptance of 99.6%. Using our zero-punch list, our rework is little to none, with over 99.99% work acceptance in 2022."
Fuhrman and his team keep pushing to enhance performance, maintain dialogue and keep customers' needs in mind. That's what being a trusted partner is all about.
For more information, visit tellepsen.com or call (281) 447-8100.
