TZL 1233

BUSINESS NEWS KBR AWARDED CONTRACT FOR ENGINEERING SUPPORT SERVICES FOR AL HOSN JOINT VENTURE KBR, Inc. announced it has been awarded a contract to provide Engineering Support Services for Operations for Abu Dhabi Gas Development Company. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide personnel, equipment and resources to carry out engineering tasks and technical support on Al Hosn’s Shah facilities in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

“KBR is pleased to have the opportunity to provide our value added support services to Al Hosn Gas, and highlights Al Hosn Gas’s confidence in KBR’s capabilities to deliver in multiple engineering discipline areas across a variety of projects,” said Jay Ibrahim, KBR’s President for Europe, Middle East and Africa. The UAE remains a key market for KBR’s global energy and hydrocarbons business and this award demonstrates KBR’s ability to offer cost effective solutions to customers

by combining global expertise and local presence. KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program life cycle within the government services and hydrocarbons sectors. KBR employs more than 34,000 people worldwide, with customers in more than 80 countries, and operations in 40 countries, across three synergistic global businesses: government services, technology and consulting, and engineering and construction.

CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

TZL: The last few years have been good for the A/E indus- try. Is there a downturn in the forecast, and if so, when and to what severity? DW: With a history like ours, we’ve dealt with many eco- nomic downturns, and we’ve continued to move down the road. Some of our best years were during the recent reces- sion, and that’s because we developed a reputation for doing great work. There’s always going to be infrastructure needs, and as long as we stay true to our core values, we’ll maintain that trust and good client relationships. TZL: They say failure is a great teacher. What’s the big- gest lesson you’ve had to learn the hard way? DW: Whenever I look back on my professional shortcom- ings, they always go back to the same root – a failure to communicate. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you haven’t been as clear, or as open, as you think that you were. It doesn’t matter if it’s something good or something bad – you can never over-communicate. TZL: Do you use historical performance data or metrics to establish project billable hours and how does the type of contract play into determining the project budget? DW: We use both. The type of contract doesn’t really make much of a difference. In the end, you’ve got to provide your clients with a reasonable project budget, independent of the contract type. TZL: What’s your prediction for 2018? DW: 2018 looks really, really good. We plan to continue the strong performance that we had in 2017 for the next 12 months. Also, we’re excited to start gearing up to celebrate our 100th year of doing business in 2019. “Whenever I look back on my professional shortcomings, they always go back to the same root – a failure to communicate. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you haven’t been as clear, or as open, as you think that you were. It doesn’t matter if it’s something good or something bad – you can never over-communicate.”

we give our employees the opportunity to develop the skills they want to develop and use that to follow their dreams. “A key part of our award-winning culture is having an administration that trusts its employees. Our project managers were hired because we trust them to do their jobs. We hold them accountable to plan the way they see fit, and we have confidence that they will produce quality work.” TZL: In the next couple of years, what A/E segments will heat up, and which ones will cool down? DW: We know our clients, we know what we do, and we’re ready for whatever turn the industry takes. With respect to infrastructure, we know there are many challenges. The an- swer to this question is dependent on states to step up and provide the funding needed to tackle critical infrastructure projects. TZL: With overhead rates declining over the last five years and utilization rates slowly climbing back up to pre-recession levels, how do you deal with time manage- ment policies for your project teams? Is it different for different clients? DW: A key part of our award-winning culture is having an administration that trusts its employees. Our project man- agers were hired because we trust them to do their jobs. We hold them accountable to plan the way they see fit, and we have confidence that they will produce quality work. TZL: Measuring the effectiveness of marketing is diffi- cult to do using hard metrics for ROI. How do you evalu- ate the success/failure of your firm’s marketing efforts when results could take months, or even years, to mate- rialize? Do you track any metrics to guide your market- ing plan? DW: We have looked closely at marketing costs by client, and we use that to help us prioritize our marketing spend- ing. It’s a challenge, but we feel our method is one that works for who we are and what we want to accomplish.

THE ZWEIG LETTER January 29, 2018, ISSUE 1233

Made with FlippingBook Annual report