9 minute read
American Fire Protection Group
Playing to Our Strengths – Creating a Simple and Worry-Free Life Safety Experience
American Fire Protection Group, based in South Central USA, is a leading provider of life safety services across multiple sectors.
Written by Kevin Doyle Produced by Stephen Marino
American Fire Protection Group’s (“AFPG”) employees, in 10 locations across the country, are skilled Life Safety Specialists of the highest order.
AFPG has evolved into an industry leader, offering a wide array of life safety services across multiple sectors. That’s a key separation point for President Mike Gengler between AFPG and its competition.
“It starts with our mission: to be the leading solutions provider in the Life Safety Industry,” says Gengler. “We always strive to bring our finest effort, exceptional ideas and incomparable character in everything we do. We stress and communicate across our team, so it is well known what the mission is day in and day out. As important, if not more important, the foundation of our mission is our company values.”
The company works primarily in South Central USA with offices in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, and corporate headquarters in Minnesota.
While offices are inter-connected and can pool resources as needed, Gengler notes that all are expected to operate autonomously, at the most granular level.
Playing To Its Strength
The company’s financial strength, coupled with a deep and experienced staff, enables it to provide clients with safe, welldesigned, long-term solutions.
“We have people who have been
According to Gengler, one of the company’s primary advantages is the diversity of unique markets it works in, allowing AFPG to showcase its many strengths.
“Each market has a different flavor, but our focus value proposition is the same. We lead with inspections and monitoring, then build on the strength of that relationship with fire sprinkler, fire alarm, and hazard services,” he observes.
Commitment to Safety
Safety is not just a priority at AFPG … it’s a core value and an integral
Mike Gengler
around a long time, and the team has witnessed many situations. The world is changing rapidly, and experience helps us with our customers’ leadership, safety, and risk management. This is a big piece of the pie that customers appreciate,” explains Vice President of Operations Steve Rians.
part of the company’s culture.
“We focus on behaviors that provide a safe and risk-free work environment that allows us to go home to the people we love and do the things we enjoy most,” Gengler says.
Every team member across the company has stop-work authority.
At any point, someone can say, “Stop, we need to take a pause and work through a situation because I believe it is unsafe or there is some risk we need to mitigate.”
As part of its safety process, AFPG conducts weekly safety meetings, constantly observes and evaluates behaviors, hires dedicated Safety Leaders, and commits to achieving zero injuries, zero incidences, and zero losses.
AFPG provides a safe and healthy work environment focused on continual improvement and injury elimination while complying with relevant regulatory requirements.
The company believes all injuries and occupational illnesses can be prevented and strives to implement a safety and health management program to achieve this goal.
AFPG’s Safety Training consists of the following: • TEAM members participate in a minimum of eight hours of
computer-based and eight hours of classroom-based safety training each year • The company conducts weekly Safety Toolbox Meetings • Employees get frequent taskspecific safety training • New hires receive safety orientation as part of the company’s onboarding process
“Safety is a mindset and an attitude for everyone,” Gengler says. Rians elaborates, “There is no better environment to showcase our customer attention and safety skills than in a healthcare facility. The customer immediately observes that AFPG understands their needs, delivering comfort and confidence. Once this trust is established, it pretty much seals the deal for a true partnership.”
Rians identifies the healthcare environment as a litmus test for the company’s application of jobsite safety, security, and the needs of a complex client.
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Showcase Projects
The following projects reflect the diversity of AFPG’s expertise.
Fujifilm Andromeda Diosynth Classroom Building: The facility is designed to support late-phase
and commercial manufacturing of gene therapies and other advanced therapies. The estimated $35 million project will include the addition of cell culture and high throughput manufacturing suites. NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci visited the facility during the height of the pandemic in 2020.
Sam Houston State, Gresham Library Renovation: Working in an active student environment, AFPG demonstrated its expertise working under stressful conditions. The Academic Success Center has improved the existing study areas, reorganized the physical library collections, and created new collaborative spaces for the ASC to be housed in the library. Pfizer POD Project: Pre-fab critical care unit components (pods) were produced in Texas and Belgium before being transported to a central site for rapid assembly and deployment during the pandemic.
Additional completed AFPG projects include:
• Raytheon Aircraft Hangars with high expansion foam fire protection. The demanding schedule was completed ahead of schedule despite several on-site challenges. • AFPG completed the demolition and replacement of 11 overhead and rack sprinkler systems at McLain Foods and RSI, working
over existing dry storage conditions and ongoing operation in the facility (Quell).
The company is also working on National Distribution Automated rack retrieval systems; Lithium-ion battery energy storage facility; for multiple Lowes Stores; and dry system replacements Dry and Cold Storage facilities with fully automated Automatic Storage Retrieval Systems.
Day to Day
Gengler views his role as one of setting direction through vision and strategy, adding it’s “probably the most important thing I do.” He is also responsible for aligning resources and making sure the “right leaders are in key roles across AFPG.”
“I work hard to motivate and inspire, especially our field team. We are thankful for their efforts every day, particularly after being on the front line for the past nearly two years during this pandemic,” Gengler says.
Meanwhile, Rians happily tells the company’s story. He works with the sales teams that are focused on delivering the high-end service long-time clients have come to expect while bringing new customers into the fold.
“It is important to partner with folks who share our values and enable us to be successful while ensuring the right decisions get made on go/no go. Honesty and integrity are the easiest things in the world to maintain, but they are difficult to regain once you lose them. Bringing consistency is important to our proposals, using our Mission and Values as guides,” he points out.
In general, the company finds relationships with key industry associations to be beneficial, especially when it comes to training and implementing best safety practices.
On those occasions when AFPG needs to work with new vendor/ partners, they seek out likeminded companies that share their value system and commitment to loyalty. Among the challenges facing the industry as a whole, the age gap remains most pressing. Retiring Baby Boomers are taking invaluable institutional knowledge and tricks of the trade with them when they retire. Gengler adds that the current worker shortage is impacting the entire industry.
Despite this, he notes that many employees have been with the company for over twenty years which has developed a highly experienced TEAM who are actively mentoring the next generation of Life Safety experts.
Meanwhile, COVID lingers in its fourth or fifth iteration. Material prices, including steel, have skyrocketed. And don’t forget the price of gas – without gas, materials don’t move, and without materials, construction grinds to a halt.
Committed to Hiring Armed Forces Personnel
A U.S. military veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to “the United States of America” for an amount of “up to and including their life.”
That is honor. There are too many
“Every good employee needs to be a leader. Enjoy the “ journey even when you fail. And if you fail again, don’t get frustrated with the disappointments. Because each failure is an opportunity to learn and improve.” - President Mike Gengler
people in this country who no longer understand that. We do.
Gengler, himself is a Civil Engineering Management graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he played on the Varsity hockey team for four years. He went on to serve in the United States Army as an Executive Officer and Platoon Leader. As a Maintenance Officer, he managed all maintenance activities for equipment valued in excess of $21 million in a Multiple Launch Rocket System Battery.
Mike and AFPG appreciates the leadership, loyalty, and superb qualifications each veteran brings to the civilian workplace. These qualities and skills are transferable as positive assets to any organization, which is why the company is active in its veteran recruitment. AFPG offers veterans an opportunity to start a career with a company that honors their military service, invests in their future, and helps support and train them as they transition to a civilian career.
Looking Ahead
AFPG embraces technology at every level and has developed systems to deliver solutions in the most efficient way possible.
Looking back, Gengler reiterated the reasons for the company’s long-running success: “Being ready for what’s next leads to opportunity and growth, and that leads to solutions that help our customers,” he notes.
Because sometimes five to nine is more realistic than nine to five.
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www.supplynet.com And he tacked on a final piece of personal advice,
“Every good TEAMmate needs to be a leader. Enjoy the journey even when you fail. And when you fail, don’t get frustrated with the disappointments. Because each failure is an opportunity to learn and improve,” he concludes.
It’s a philosophy that has kept AFPG on the path to continued success for a good long while. www.constructorsjournal.com
