Front Cover: Turning knowledge into growth

Engineering, Procurement and Construction services for Industrial Cooling Projects

International Cooling Tower (ICT) provides turnkey industrial cooling tower solutions that offer clients enhanced cost management and a dedicated design, engineering, procurement, construction management and implementation team that ensures a project is completed on time and within budget.

ICT's 64-year history has provided a rich company legacy; the company has gained vast expertise while working on large projects for major U.S. and Canadian clients.

While ICT's commitment to safety, quality, innovation, engineering, project planning and environmental sustainability has been the focus of its best practices all these years, it has added a new dimension to its services that will help shape a more diverse identity going forward.

ICT has discovered that it is in the people-building industry, while its people are quite literally building (constructing) industry. As a result, the company is putting a great deal of emphasis on its people - specifically on training its people. It is dedicating tremendous resources toward a training program that is shaping its own human resources as well as those throughout its sector. Having authored an e-Learning component, ICT courses are deployed through the Health And Safety Council (HASC), and through ICT's own on-site training facility embedded at its construction yard in LaPorte, Texas.

"Over the last decade we have seen a decline in skilled labor relative to math, engineering, site survey and mechanical operations, said Aaron Schumann, Director of Construction USA at ICT. "With a millwright program available to the public through our partnership with HASC, our focus is to develop the best talent for our business, but also to the marketplace at large. The e-Learning courses are open to the public, not just ICT employees."

Schumann said, with the longtime, ongoing mass migration of people away from the construction/skilled craft industry, ICT has identified its need to take care of people. The way he sees it, a person may go through the eLearning training and then go to work for someone else.

"I think it's a linear pathway of relationships, where we can set up our guests for success which will ultimately leave our customers successful as well," Schumann said.

Some ICT employees who have been through e-Learning and on-site training do end up going to work for someone else. However, most of those employees also return to ICT.

"Making sure that we're not retraining and going through the same growing pains of building a new project team, really shortens that iteration. The learning curve flattens out and allows them to be more efficient," said Schumann.

ICT Project Manager Rick Mobley added, "We want ICT to be synonymous with a good workforce, being community- driven and helping the industry."

The company's people, culture, continual training and development of its employees makes ICT an industry leader. Its field operations complete over 1,000,000 man-hours annually, and it has over 800 employees across North America.

Upcoming mechanical training

ICT, which currently offers cooling tower technician e-Learning courses at HASC, is very excited about a new mechanical training module that it is developing and will launch through HASC and onsite at ICT's construction yard. Called the Millwright Program, it will be divided into three e-Learning stages.

ICT is developing an industry standard in cooling tower training

"Our CEO, Brent Middleton, is pushing to reinvent the culture surrounding workforce training and development" said Schumann.

The hands-on mechanical training, some of which will be conducted in a 20 foot tall, 26-foot-by-26-foot cooling tower simulator, is unparalleled in the cooling tower industry. The simulator is the same cooling tower component that the company has built all over North America.

"We are developing a Millwright program that will offer a three-level e-Learning training course delivered via HASC that dovetails with hands-on mechanical training in our production facility," said Angelica Reyes, ICT's marketing coordinator. "Once completed, ICT will be in the unique position as the only cooling tower company with a tailored training program being offered at HASC. Also upon completion, our brand will be added to the sponsorship banner at HASC. Everyone who goes into the training facility, whether it's for pipe welding or any other type of training, will see that ICT has developed skill-based components - which will then be further enhanced by on-site training."

Reyes added that ICT's training program also helps when it bidding for jobs. "Clients always want to know what we're doing for our people, and if we're setting them up for success."

The reason for rigorous training

"ICT takes that extra push when it comes to mechanical training, and has built a challenging millwright program to yield quality trained employees," Carlos Sandoval, foreman at ICT said.

"Furthermore, to understand our rigorous training, small imperfections in mechanical equipment can result in catastrophic failures," Sandoval added. "Loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars can happen if mechanical equipment is not done right - loss of contracts, a tarnished reputation and many more aspects, including safety, are on the line when installing or maintaining equipment."

"If a fan assembly fails, the unit has to cut rates, costing thousands of dollars per minute, Sandoval said. "ICT takes this very seriously, to the core of our company."

Sandoval and a colleague are attending a special mechanical training program at College of the Mainland in Texas City. Once completed, Sandoval will be a subject matter expert in mechanical vibration. Sandoval related the story of when he started working at ICT five years ago. He said he was already mechanically inclined and knew what he was doing when it came to machinery.

"Even though ICT acknowledged my skills when I was hired, they did not let me maintain or assemble mechanical equipment by myself until a year-and-a-half later. Trust plays a major role in this area of cooling towers, and it can only be granted with time and training."

ICT employees must pass Millwright III and Millwright II in order to qualify for hands-on training. The hands-on training topics will be the same as those listed for the HASC Millwright I e-Learning class.

Training sets up guests for success

Amid large, attention-grabbing projects and announcements, training is not usually highlighted by most companies. That's why the industry has taken notice of what ICT is doing.

Upon completing an e-Learning course or on-site training, ICT employees will obtain a certification, which amounts to a description on their badges relating to what courses have been taken and passed.

Schumann said, the question of training comes up all the time, "So we reached the point where we realized we had to do something in the area of training." That is what led to ICT's first e-Learning courses at HASC.

Cooling tower technician training

The company is currently offering a three part eLearning course, facilitated through HASC. The course, Cooling Tower Technician Training, is not only available for ICT employees, but to anyone.

However, ICT employees taking the e-Learning courses also train on-site at the ICT construction yard. The on-site portion of the training, which began in 2019, accompanies each level of the e-Learning courses.

Developed by ICT, each e-Learning training course ranges from 60 to 90 minutes and deals with different subject matter.

HASC adult learning techniques

HASC has added several adult learning techniques which make e-Learning training courses more effective. Pre-tests focus learner attention on key objectives; animations, sound effects and professional images engage the learner throughout the training; a variety in narration, so the learner doesn't get used to just one narrator; passive and active interactions, meaning HASC wants the learner to interact in some way with the training rather than just being a passive observer as it automatically advances; and scenario-based questions, so that the learner is put into a scenario and has to apply what is learned.

Hiring and recruitment

ICT moved into its new U.S. corporate headquarters in January 2022, which is also where the new hiring center is located with its own entrance on the side of the building. People who walk into the hiring center looking for a job are given an application, a questionnaire and have the opportunity to meet with the hiring manager at that point. Next, new hires work with construction coordinators and start the onboarding process, which includes drug testing and a background check. They're then administered their PPE, coveralls, hard hat and monitor.

ICT conducts numerous job fairs around North America where they hire many of the people employed today.

ICT's past and its bright future

ICT started as a small company focused on optimizing facilities' cooling capabilities by using only the highest-quality materials and components. This still holds true today, but ICT has grown over the years into a North American market leader in industrial cooling tower design, manufacturing and field services. ICT has expanded across the U.S., with offices in locations, such as Deer Park and La Porte, Texas, Chandler, Arizona; and Edmonton, Alberta. Integrity, experience and striving for innovative solutions have formed the foundations on which ICT's current long-term business relationships are built.

Now more than ever, with the addition of e-Learning courses and on-site training - and soon to include detailed mechanical training - ICT is not only pouring resources into its own people, but the cooling tower industry at large. The company is raising up a trained workforce that is well able to shift and adapt to changes within the industry, as it continues to lead the way in North American cooling tower expertise.

For more information, visit ictower.com or call (832) 780-6900.

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