Do you have a project with equipment needs beyond P1 Group’s typical trade skills? Are there heavy, complex pieces of machinery being moved or set? Are major conveyor systems involved? Do you need to construct a pre-fabricated office or erect a storage mezzanine? Is equipment or a structure being demolished?
The Millwrights can handle it.
It seems like just yesterday we wrote this article about the Millwright Division of P1 Construction in 2018.
And the Millwrights have come a long way, baby - with impressive project, personnel, and revenue growth.
When Associated Electric Cooperative Incorporated (AECI) needed to add capacity to their grid by making use of some idle generating equipment, the P1 Electrical Preventative Maintenance team was the one for the job. AECI had two 20 megawatt generating stations, each measuring 18’ long x 12’ wide by 12.5’ tall, and weighing 28,000 lbs. These units act as small powerhouses that supply a little extra boost when the demand on the grid is high.
AECI is in Springfield, MO, although the Generator Accessory Compartments (GACs) reside in AECI’s Unionville, MO power generating station.
The GACs provide power generation and high-voltage transmission to six transmission co-ops. They supply 51 local electric cooperatives in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma serving about 935,000 homes, farms, schools and businesses.
AECI relies on a mix of generating resources and technologies to deliver electricity and balance that mission with hydropower when it’s available, then coal, natural gas and wind energy.
Due to the closure of coal-fired power plants, AECI needed to find ways to add additional capacity to the grid and decided to make use of some idle equipment.
On site they had two 20 megawatt generating stations, measuring 18’ long x 12’ wide x 12.5’ tall and weighing 28,000 lbs. These units act as small powerhouses that supply a little extra boost when the demand on the grid is high. They were brought online in the 1970s, decommissioned in the 1990s, and have been dormant ever since.
The project to refurbish these units went out to bid and AECI didn’t have anyone in mind for the work, but through a former co-worker of P1 Project Engineer Wade Buck, P1 got the recommendation, and subsequently joined late in the bidding process.
According to Electrical Preventive Maintenance Manager Jeff Gardner, it was a herculean effort just to assemble the bid.
“There were a lot of components that needed pricing in addition to a plan for execution and a project schedule. We relied on a lot of internal resources to help with that,” Jeff said.
Jeff also mentioned that one of the key factors for being awarded the project was having the support of experienced negotiators, including P1 Vice President Tony Whited, P1 Vice President Rusty Roderick, and P1 Service President Phil Nehring.
“It was great to see them in action and see how they got excited for an Electrical Preventative Maintenance (EPM) opportunity,” Jeff noted. “It was clear they have been through many negotiations like this before, so it was a unique learning opportunity for Wade and myself.”
And P1 dazzled the customer, earning us the bid.
Once the contract was secured, the first order of business was to get the units moved into the Lenexa warehouse. Due to the size and weight of the units, Belger Cartage Service was used to pick the units off of a trailer with a crane and roll them into the warehouse.
After the units arrived on site, a detailed inventory of the contents was taken and catalogued, and then the contents were removed. The outer shell will be taken to a painting contractor.
The current color is gray, but it will be restored to the original sea foam green, giving it a vintage 70s flare with state-of-the art components when complete.
Jeff says a significant part of this project is the refurbishment of two very large breakers.
“We wouldn’t be able to service this opportunity if we didn’t have the Breaker Shop and the staff with superb skills and expertise,” Jeff said.
He says the Breaker Repair Shop, developed last year and located in the Lenexa warehouse, was a fortuitous investment because it paved the way for a big opportunity like the AECI job.
“As this project gets underway, the team is excited about it, and you see everyone’s unique skill sets working together toward a common goal. This project really is the perfect demonstration of The Expertise of Many, The Power of One.”
Zach Wilburn: Project Lead/Field Oversight
Allen Hulett: Technical Lead
Wade Buck: Project Manager
Jeff Gardner, Electrical Preventative Maintenance Manager: preparing the warehouse
Phil Nehring, P1 Service President: proposal development/negotiation strategy
Tony Whited, P1 Service Vice President: proposal development/negotiation strategy
Rusty Roderick, P1 Service Vice President: negotiation strategy
Laura Adkins, Project Coordinator
P1’s pipe fabrication often includes the production of polypropylene pipe, an alternative - in some applications - to traditional pipe material. Aquatherm is economical, faster to install, and corrosion free.
P1 has forged a strong relationship with Aquatherm, a supplier of polypropylene pipe.
Pictured, above: Breaker Technician Zach Wilburn works on carefully disassembled parts from multiple circuit breakers.
According to Electrical Preventative Maintenance (EPM) Manager Jeff Gardner, having the ability to repair circuit breakers on site at P1 has been a top priority.
P1 Group's Building Technologies (BT) division may focus on a specific need, such as a sound system for a school or security system for a manufacturing facility. But it can also cover a much greater expanse, such as Low Voltage systems for an entire campus.
The following projects illustrate the diversity of P1 BT capabilities.
While field technicians, electricians, and plumbers are feeling the heat of additional summer service calls, the P1 Ammonia Division is also in the thick of the current rush.
This small but mighty division consists of just three technicians: Jamar Jackson, Troy Stewart and Mitch Sturke, and they do a great job taking care of P1’s ammonia customers.
P1 Group was recently featured in PHC [Plumbing & Hydronic Contractor] News magazine.
The article details P1’s rich history, business principles, Safety Culture, and P1 as a single-source provider of customer solutions, with a focus on P1’s recent and ongoing work with Berry Global. Some highlights are below, or read the full article at PHC News.com [pages 172-176].
When it comes to large equipment, P1 Group’s Millwright team can fabricate and install some amazing solutions for customers like CertainTeed, manufacturer of building materials for both commercial and residential construction.
One product the CertainTeed plant produces in large quantity is roll-sealed insulation. P1 Group provided a turnkey solution to design, fabricate, and install two Metal Building Insulation Roll Sealers.
What do you do when your 500-ton capacity silo needs to be modified from a tapered, oval shape to “true round”? It’s not something most of us will ever face, but it’s exactly the type of challenge P1 Group Millwrights are highly trained to solve.
When Central Plains Cement in Sugar Creek, MO, needed to change the shape of its 500-ton capacity silo to accommodate a new material, P1 Group was chosen as the prime contractor to design, fabricate, and execute the modifications of the silo and also allow the install of a new 34,000 lb. flange-mounted rotary feeder.
When Chart Industries called upon P1 Group as a trusted ESP (Engineered Systems Partner) to do the LN2 (liquid nitrogen) installation/replacement at Aisin Light Metals, Project Manager Nick Lawless knew there would be challenges.
Through the ESP Program, Chart helps P1 Group by bringing regional opportunities to our attention. In turn, P1 Group supports Chart by promoting their product and sharing opportunities with them as well.
The most challenging components of this project were:
Overall, P1 Group installed 400 feet of new rigid piping and final connection hoses.
“In order to replace the system, I had to go out and field measure for new components being added while the equipment was up and running,” Nick explained.
Nick said that besides the equipment being in use while he was measuring, new sub-coolers were being added at a later date and were not yet in place, forcing the team to “best guess” final valve locations.
The team had to be nimble as well. During installation, the equipment was still up and running, producing parts. As each piece of equipment came off line, new piping was installed, requiring P1 Group to work quickly in between those production intervals.
Nick says Brock and Trace went the extra mile to ensure the success of such a challenging project.
“Not only were Brock and Trace able to make sense of the layout as I had intended, they had to make some on-the-fly adjustments to some pretty unforgiving piping,” Nick said.
“Since the system is engineered to order and it takes 4-6 weeks to produce, they had to be innovative in making the new system fit while the old system was still in play,” he explained. “While working safely, they had to crawl all over the equipment to place hangers and coordinate limited downtime for the more difficult-to-reach locations.”
“We did a similar project at Honeywell, but this was the first time we were called upon for an ESP installation outside of the Kansas City Metro area,” he added.
This meant the team was in an area with limited resources (compared to a metro area like Kansas City) and had to overcome obstacles in procuring parts installation.
In addition, Nick noted there was no way to make field alterations once the pipe was fabricated by Chart, leaving little room for error.
Stepping in to work while production is in full-swing and getting the job done right is what P1 Group is known for, and the Aisin Metals project was no exception.
“Brock and Trace really brought this one home for us,” Nick said. “Working right up until Christmas, away from their families, they put a nice big bow on the entire package.”
On an October morning in 2019, P1 Group received an urgent call from the owners of the I-44 Cold Storage in Springfield Mo. I-44 cold storage is a storage facility for restaurant supply and custom cold storage that houses a 10,000 sq. foot freezer, 10,000 sq. foot cooler space, and 30,000 sq. foot of dry storage space.
During the night, winds of up to 90 mph had whipped through the area and caused significant damage to the building. The roof of the cooler and part of the freezer were completely blown off, including the majority of the ammonia piping, causing a considerable amount of ammonia leakage.
Industrial Ammonia Refrigeration Technician Troy Stewart is the father of three little girls, who most certainly keep him on his toes. And that’s probably a good skill to have when you work in ammonia service, one of the most highly regulated, and dangerous, segments of our industry.
The career path that led the Wisconsin native to P1 Group began with the iconic staple of America’s Dairyland: cheese.
The rugged terrain of Wyoming is where Derby, Kansas, native Eric Williams finds himself these days. Eric has now been a Wyoming resident for five years, and it all started when he joined P1 Group as an HVAC technician.
P1 Group’s Kindred Biosciences Production Expansion project was born from customer relationship building and a solid example of P1 teamwork across many trades and services.
KindredBio, a pet biopharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, took over an older pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Elmwood, KS, and will soon manufacture drugs there for companion animals like cats, dogs and horses.
When P1 Group Proactive Solutions Consultant Ann L. went on a cold call with Churchill Container, she learned they were getting ready to relocate their operations to a new facility.
Even though Churchill’s mechanical work was covered by another contractor, Ann told them about P1 Group’s additional capabilities and the client expressed interest in having our Millwright and Electrical experts look over their new plant.
LENEXA, Kan. – P1 Group is responding to new OSHA regulations by providing customers with updated information on how to proactively convert and replace HVAC systems.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a phase-out of the production and importation of ozone-depleting substances under the Clean Air Act. The act calls for the former industry-standard refrigerant R-22 to be phased-out. R-22 will not be produced anymore in the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2020.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – P1 Group‘s fabrication shop is taking on more panel fabrication work and recently landed a significant contract to build room pressure reference panels for a lab client.
These panels track the pressures in a room space versus a neutral space and/or an adjacent room’s space for the building automation system. This ensures that rooms hold their negative or positive pressures when doors are opened, fume hoods are used and heating/ cooling systems ramp up or slow down.
Chase Serrault, a P1 apprentice, won top honors in the HVAC portion of the UA District 4 contest earlier this month in St. Paul, Minn.
He is the first Local 441 apprentice and the first from Topeka Service to place first and move on to the International Contest, which will be held in August in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Congratulations to Kyle Cullen and Andrew Maginness on winning state craft competitions in pipefitting and HVAC, respectively.
The purpose of these competitions is to see how well unions across the country are learning different skills and to improve skills overall as a trade.
