InterCon Construction Inc.
InterCon Construction Inc. Leads the Way to Safety in Energy
InterCon Construction Inc.
2
InterCon Construction Inc. InterCon Construction Inc. Leads the Way to Safety in Energy Written by: Sasha Orman Produced by: Alex Hortaridis >>>
Intercon President Anna Hillebrandt and VP Carl Oko discuss safety ,corporate culture, and the challenges of being a woman-owned business
3
InterCon Construction Inc. InterCon Construction Inc. Leads the Way to Safety in Energy
I
nterCon Construction Inc. has been a leader in the utility contracting and construction industry since 1984, growing in a variety of fields from underground gas and electric service and maintenance to pipeline specialty work and pump stations to horizontal directional drilling throughout the country. In some ways that growth has come with change – like the change from local Wisconsin business to a publically traded subsidiary, and back again when current InterCon President Anna Hillebrandt helped bring it back to Madison as a newly woman-owned business. But as the decades pass, InterCon continues
4
to focus on its three key pillars of quality, productivity, and above all safety. A Dedication to Safety “Besides now being a womanowned business, I would say what sets our business apart is our dedication to safety and having a quality product to deliver to our customers and building relationships with them,” says Hillebrandt. Indeed, dedication to safety is a core focus that InterCon always keeps to the forefront. “We just live and breathe safety,” she says. “It’s hammered down – from me at the top, all the way down through our supervisors to our foremen, and right down to our laborers. They do daily safety meetings before they start work. We do annual safety training where we bring all team members together and discuss pertinent topics to our work. If any specific issues arise during the year we stop work and address the issues at that time during a safety stand-down.” “In the industry we’re very well known for being a safe and nononsense company,” says Carl Oko, InterCon Vice President. “We hold our standards very high for our employees and people who want to work here – if you’re not safe, you’re not going to work here.”
It’s the kind of talk that only goes as far as a company’s proven results. That’s not a problem for InterCon: over the last year, the company boasts an OSHA incident rate of 1.9. “That’s outstanding in the industry,” says Oko. InterCon Corporate Culture InterCon Construction takes serious issues like safety very seriously indeed, but that gravity doesn’t necessarily extend to its corporate atmosphere – to the contrary, InterCon prides itself on fostering a warm and inclusive culture among its staff.
“We’re a very laid-back corporate structure,” says Hillebrandt. “As cliché as it sounds, we’re very family minded here. All the management is very hands-on out in the field helping out, and no job is too small for the management at InterCon.” “We’re not a siloed company,” Oko adds. “We’re diverse and we kind of jump over lines helping each other back and forth. It’s a very hands-on approach to upper management – not to where we’re micromanaging, but getting the field superintendent and the folks in the field working together to make 5
InterCon Construction Inc. InterCon Construction Inc. Leads the Way to Safety in Energy sure we do it right and where the solution is a team effort.” A Woman-Owned Business: Getting the Word Out Since October of 2011 InterCon Construction has been a womanowned business; a year later, the company was officially certified as such by the State of Wisconsin. But there are still challenges involved in getting the word out to potential partners and customers who may be interested. “Intercon has been around since 1984, so we have many years behind us to establish our reputation – but most of our customers and other companies we’ve come across over the years do not necessarily know that we’re a woman owned business now,” explains Hillebrandt. “We’ll continue that for years and years,” says Oko, of the task of publicizing this trait. “It will get there, but that’s one of our challenges that we face: getting recognized as a WBE company.” Continuing Growth at InterCon “A trend in the industry that we see our customers are looking for is more or less a term of cradle to grave, which is full turnkey from engineering and design
STATISTICS
to construction and project management,” says Oko. Looking ahead to the future, InterCon plans to continue meeting and exceeding such consumer trends as they come. Hillebrandt and Oko also see further expansion of InterCon’s reach, a move that could benefit not just the company but its employees as well. “In the Midwest, during the winter months of December, January, February and March we scale back our business because of the conditions,” Oko explains. “We’re looking to expand our geographic territory to diversify from localized geographic economic conditions,” says Hillebrandt. As InterCon continues to diversify and increase its influence across the United States, it is sure to take its brand of superior safety protocols and customer dedication with it.
Industry: Utility Construction Founded: 1984 Headquarters: Madison, WI Key People/Titles: • President Anna Hillebrandt • VP Operations Jeff Hilldbrandt • VP Business Administration Jamie De Bruin • VP Business Development Chris Wozniak • Controller Kelli Clark Products: Utility Construction Website:
www.intercon-const.com
Visit us online:
7
InterCon Construction Inc. 5512 State Road 19 & 113 Waunakee, WI 53597 T: 608-850-4820 www.intercon-const.com
Powered by:
http://digitalmediamarketing.com/
FIND OUT MORE >>