1156

BUSINESS NEWS AEGION CORPORATION AWARDED A $6.8 MILLION MUNICIPAL CONTRACT FROM CITY OF WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA Aegion Corporation announced the award of a $6.8 million contract from the City of West Palm Beach, Florida for its Insituform Technologies, LLC subsidiary. The City of West Palm Beach evaluated dig and replace, sliplining and cured-in-place pipe solutions before selecting Insituform’s CIPP technology as the method to rehabilitate this pipeline. Insituform began the project in May 2016 with the rehabilitation of approximately 6,000 feet of 48-inch diameter force main sewer pipelines and is expected to complete the project by September 1, 2016. A flow bypass system will be set up throughout the project in order to minimize disruption to the community as Insituform crews install the InsituMain system. This large- diameter pipeline transfers all wastewater from the Town of Palm Beach and the City of West Palm Beach to the East Regional

Wastewater Treatment Plant in West Palm Beach. Aegion’s president and CEO, Charles R. Gordon, said, “The award of this contract is a direct result of our investments in R&D to develop innovative solutions for the pressure pipe rehabilitation market. Our new liner materials provide an effective solution for large- diameter pipelines. We will continue to target this key market with improvements to our existing products and new innovations as well as the patented Fusible PVC pipe technology offered through our recent acquisition of Underground Solutions, Inc. ” JACOBS PROVIDING ENGINEERING AND PROCUREMENT FOR PLANT EXPANSION IN LOUISIANA: MONSANTO APPROVES FUNDING FOR PROJECT Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced that its client, Monsanto Company has announced that it has approved plans to expand its St. Charles Parish operations in Luling, Louisiana.

Following completion of front end engineering, Jacobs is to provide detailed engineering and procurement for the project now that Monsanto’s board has approved the expansion. In making the announcement, Jacobs senior vice president of petroleum and chemicals Manuel Junco stated, “The continuation of our relationship through the funding of this project reflects our strength in full-service delivery of major chemical facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast. We are excited to continue working alongside Monsanto to deliver this important project.” Monsanto, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is committed to bringing a broad range of solutions to help nourish our growing world. Jacobs is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional and construction services.

Repetition is underrated. Eighty percent of the time I feel like a broken record, but this is extremely important and effective with technical folks who jump in and out of the marketing train. We need to keep reminding ourselves and others of the most important aspects of our work: That it is about the client, not about us, and that we need to constantly strive to be a true extension of our client’s staff while providing a solution to their problems. We could apply a favorite buzzw – I mean buzzkill – and either talk about the term or repeat to ourselves and to others what our focus should be. In the 1960s, the U.S. Navy came up with the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid), which states that most systems work best when kept simple and we should avoid complexity. I think that the KISS principle is a buzzword that does not create a distraction. Let’s focus on providing such a highly effective level of service that our clients tell us: “The party’s just begun/we’ll let you in.” Then and only then can we “Rock and Roll All Nite.” JAVIER SUAREZ is the central marketing and sales support manager with Geosyntec Consultants. Contact him at jsuarez@geosyntec.com “Repetition is underrated. Eighty percent of the time I feel like a broken record, but this is extremely important and effective with technical folks who jump in and out of the marketing train.”

JAVIER SUAREZ, from page 11

of terms like sustainability, going green, innovation, and optimization? A lot of firms jump into the bandwagon of one (or more) of these trends without figuring out if these concepts mesh with their mission, vision, values, and culture. For marketers, these “new” ideas seem like perfect low hanging fruit since it’s easy to create branding campaigns around them. Certainly, these are more attractive than “sweating to the oldies” and sharing with a wider audience the benefits that your long-standing brand have yielded to your broad client base. So what do we make of all this? Salman Kahn, founder of the Kahn Academy, said: “Do not throw out buzzwords without really knowing what is going on behind them.” We need to peel away the layers of each of these onions to get to the heart of the matter. A lot of the times, when we finally reach the last layer, we are reminded of a principle we know and love, one that has proven to be successful to our business. Did we just waste our time? Yes and no. Maybe we should not need to go through the lengthy process of deciphering the backbone of each buzzkill, but reinforcing the effectiveness of a principle is always a healthy proposition. “Our industry has been buzzkill-heavy for a long time, too. Who can deny the warm and fuzzy feeling of terms like sustainability, going green, innovation, and optimization?”

TALK TO US Do you have an interesting story to tell? Is your company doing things differently and getting results? Let us know. We’d love to contact you and feature you in an upcoming case study. If interested, please email rmassey@zweiggroup.com.

THE ZWEIG LETTER June 13, 2016, ISSUE 1156

Made with FlippingBook Annual report