BUILDING TOGETHER August 2019 Creative Products International | Holland, MI
Upcoming Events September 2 | Labor Day - EV Closed! September 9 | EV Youniversity Accounting Summary Training - 9:00 AM September 10 | 4,500 Days Celebration Johnson Park Enclosed Pavilion September 19 | United Way | Day of Caring To be announced... September 19 | Associated Builders & Contractors - Excellence in Construction Awards Don’t forget to check EVinsite for all upcoming events and details!
Safety Tip:
Hot Work Reminder: When hot work is being performed onsite, ensure there is a designated fire watch remaining in the area following work completion for one hour to watch for smoldering fires!
Safety Days Count:
4,487
No Lost Time Injuries As of 8/29/2019
BUILDINGTOGETHER | August 2019
SMART365 BLITZ
RACHEL AUSTIN DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE TRADES - OLT MEMBER The month of September will be a ‘Smart365 Blitz’ for our team at EV. We launched this initiative about a year and a half ago to bring focus to achieving operational excellence. SMART stands for Simple, Meaningful, ARTful improvements that we can all make every day. Not knowing what would come from Smart365, we asked everybody in the company to look for opportunities to improve. Just pick one thing and find a better way to do it. Many of you documented these improvements with videos, which were posted to the company’s YouTube channel to share with one another. These improvements ranged from ways to streamline family lunch preparation, to technology tips and tricks, to saving yourselves the back pain of bending over to pull up carpet tile. All of these improvements were great examples of taking incremental steps toward finding “a better way” and bettering yourself or the company as a whole. As the initiative took shape, we wondered, where does this all fit in? To find the answer, it is important to look at project success. When defining a successful project, is it safe, is it high quality, is it on budget and is it on schedule? The perfect project…pretty simple right? The challenge is that it is often difficult to find a balance between all four categories without diminishing the others. The old project management adage says that when presented with these options you can pick three, but not four. Although that is a lot easier to swallow, we’re not in the “that’s good enough” business at EV. At EV, we don’t settle, and high quality craftsmanship is non-negotiable, hence Strive365 and our Quality Standards Manual. We are also second-to-none with our safety, which is backed and supported by our Alive365
program. And now, Smart365 is the initiative put in place to support, brand and achieve the greatest version we can offer with regard to time and value on a project. These three programs combined offer a platform for project success, in a way that outranks and outsmarts our competition. These programs serve to lead us towards the best versions of both ourselves and the company. So whats next? We want to reignite the spark! Smart365 took off in a way that fostered a mindset of improvements. Some of which made a significant impact, changing the way we manage work, track information and collect data at a level we’ve never achieved in the past. There is no doubt that compared to a year and a half ago, we are operating at a higher level today, which is in part due to the spirit of improvement brought on by Smart365. So let’s give it another boost and see where it takes us! We are encouraging everyone to step out of their “box” and look for ways to make an improvement at work. And for the month of September, everybody who submits a documented improvement will receive a $5 gift card for the EV Company Store. This improvement can be captured by recording a video on your phone, taking a photo and adding a brief explanation or writing a summary of what you did. Submissions can be sent to Smart365@ elzinga-volkers.com or sent to any OLT/FLT member. So let’s spark change and contribute toward our quest of operational excellence. For inspiration, check out our YouTube Channel (EV Smart 365)!
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WELCOME TO THE EV FAMILY!
Aaron Arnold Carpenter
Ethan Gordon Painting
Ashton Duke
Carpenter - Coldwater
Pete Sass
Drywall Foreman
Chris White Painting
MedMen - Project Progress in Florida! We’d like to recognize the teams that have worked on some very intense projects for MedMen. These projects have presented our people with personal and professional challenges. From meeting the owner’s demanding schedules, to flying out at a moment’s notice to head down to Florida and leaving personal commitments behind, our team has risen to the occasion. The project management (Brad Giha, Steve Null, Taylor Ostwinkle) and field management (Robert Mallo, Tim Vogler, John Petersen, Scott Chamberlain) teams have had quite the journey. There were two ‘good job’ letters submitted from our team members within a few minutes of one another. Those letters are below (and no, neither knew about the other being submitted). From Brian White - “I want to recognize Parker Slagh and Ethan Gordon for the superstars they truly are! When it was requested that they go down to Key West, they were not given much notice. They arrived onsite on a Friday shortly after 12 PM and, after a quick overview of what needed to be done they got straight to work. To give you a brief idea, this is what the two of them accomplished: • Installed drywall returns to four or five hollow metal frames • Checked drywall finish and final sanded 90% of existing drywall walls and ceiling • Primed and added two coats of finish, 70% or more of wall surfaces • Primed and finish painted three coats on nine hollow metal door frames and doors • Helped clean the entire project site every night and removed approximately 40 yards of debris from the building They then left Key West for Orlando at 7 AM Tuesday morning, where they: • Prepared and painted the pegboard along both long walls on the sales floor, • Bondoed the seams, sanded, finished, primed and painted the walls. (We’ve done this several times now and it typically takes two to three days. Parker and Ethan worked until 3 AM on Wednesday morning, went to the hotel for a short nap and returned at 6 AM for final paint. Their scope of work was complete by 10 AM Wednesday morning. They rock!) At the Key West project site, Parker and Ethan worked extremely hard with very long hours. Despite this, their attitudes were outstanding and they were fun to work with! We did not get to enjoy much downtime, but we did have fun working together. I can recall very few times in my career where I met young men like this who are mature in both their skill set and commitment to the brand they represent.” From Parker Slagh - “I don’t know where to start or how to say it. I’m sure it could go without being said, but I feel this should be shared. I don’t know where or how EV found Brian White, but that man is wired differently. I have worked with some of the most driven, passionate and quality guys EV has to offer, but Brian raised that bar. I do not fully understand everything he deals with back in the office, but from the field side it’s intense! He brought an entire new perspective to the job in Key West and quickly received respect from every person onsite down there, all while balancing life back home. Brian has given me a ton of opportunity and I am forever grateful for that. He has taught me not just how to work hard and stay focused and driven, but also how to gain the respect of others and redirect a damaged ship without stepping on toes. For most, I’m certain that I am not sharing something you don’t already know, but I still wanted to take the time to show gratitude for a great EV leader!” BUILDINGTOGETHER | August 2019
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WHAT WE’RE BUILDING RECENTLY AWARDED
Dairy Queen Grill & Chill - Coldwater, MI New Construction Fast Stats
»» The 2,657-SF project will break ground later this month and be open to the public before Christmas. »» We will be self-performing general trades and framing. »» The value of this project is $1.1M. »» Field Manager: David Dirschell »» Project Manager: Taylor Ostwinkle
GETTING STARTED
First Presbyterian Church of Flint - Flint, MI Renovation Fast Stats
»» This 7,849-SF renovation to the third floor of a church will transform the existing space into a youth ministry center with a custom-built play center and motorized curtains that, when closed, will create two rooms at the center of the design. »» We will be self-performing some general trades work. »» This project is valued at $1.7M. »» Field Manager: Brian Marion »» Project Manager: Curt Hielke »» Assistant Project Manager: Layna O’Connor
UNDERWAY
Creative Products International (CPI) - Holland, MI Fit-Out of Interior Space Fast Stats
»» The new headquarters for CPI is a 65,000-SF structure made up of 53,000-SF of warehouse space, 5,000-SF of office and meeting areas and 11,000-SF of product showcase and demonstration rooms. »» Self-perform trades on this project have included our steel, concrete, general trades and painting divisions. »» The combined cost of the fit-out and shell are $5.75M. »» Field Manager: Brian Locke »» Project Manager: Charlie Bennett »» Assistant Project Manager: Jordan Boeve
WRAPPING UP
Trinity PBS-K - Grand Rapids, MI Renovation Fast Stats
»» This office, which provides a work space to 800 employees, underwent a three phase renovation that included over 110,000-SF of space in need of updates. »» Our teams completed concrete, carpentry and interiors work on the project. »» The value of this project was $7.5M. »» Field Manager: Ryan Geurink »» Senior Project Manager: Brett Lesiewicz »» Assistant Project Manager: Harry Sadler
BUILDINGTOGETHER | August 2019
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Corporate Updates Become Unmistakable, LLC By: Rob Dwortz It’s a good day to BU! Months of hard work are beginning to pay off with much new sales activity and general updates for the BU team. We have a new website! Please check out myumap.com or becomeunmistakable.com. Our branding and messaging have grown up quite a bit and we can now drive an improved customer experience as customers purchase uMap™ and train directly from the website. Equally as important, we can now drive traffic, track leads and measure the success of the site as a sales tool. Cohort 2 of Unmistakable LEADER is scheduled to launch in early October with a full class of 11 participants. Interest has been strong for a 3rd cohort this fall as well, with three signed up and another 10 still kicking the tires. If you know of anyone looking for an unmistakable leadership experience, please send them our way! We continue to add uMap™ clients each month. Of note, Clarios (formerly JCI) joined the ranks in August, and several more are slated for training and launch in September. Our monthly uMap™ training sessions are filling up, running 10+ participants over the past two months. We have begun to offer these trainings “risk-free”, meaning organizations can attend a training free of charge in the event they choose not to purchase uMap™. Also exciting, we have signed up our first uMap™ Referral and Implementer Partners (four in West Michigan and 1 in LA!). We are in discussions with a few more that will give us national reach. The Best & Brightest relationship continues to develop. We just hosted the West Michigan B&B peer group at BU last week and are expecting many of them to return for a private uMap™ training session we will offer them in November. Next up for B&B, Mike and John will take turns telling the EV story on stages in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco later this year. Onward!
EV Group, LLC By: Mike Petrusma EV Group enjoyed continued growth this year with the addition of another Business Development Manager in January to our Holland based team. From the office, we are working on expanding our service offerings to various clients throughout North America and Europe. Currently, EV Group has engaged in various projects in 12 states, Canada and Mexico. The average tenure of our consultants is over four years with five of them consistently engaged over 10 years exclusively for the EV Group. We have expanded our client base to include activity not only in the food and beverage industry this year, but also in the chemical and engineering & architectural design industries. EV Group is positioning itself as a preferred engineering services provider with legacy clients, like Kraft Heinz and Mondelez, while at the same time engaging new clients in the food and beverage industry. Our efforts throughout 2019 have uncovered needs at ConAgra, Nestle, MARS and Campbells. EV Group has also worked with several growing brands that have single site locations. EV Group has increased our employee headcount by 15% and hopes to close out the year with a 20% increase. Our headcount is a direct reflection of the relationship development from the office to the field. Increased demand from business development efforts allow us to employ more and more individuals and continue to grow the business. We have a dynamic team in place and look forward to a strong finish in 2019 and an even better start to 2020.
Join the EV Safety Committee!
Safety Matters! Elzinga & Volkers is looking to revamp our safety committee and we need volunteers. Help make a difference in our company by being part of the committee that sets standards, enforces follow-through and ensures the continued success of our safety programming! If you are interested in joining the committee, beginning in January 2020, call or email Macky Lynn (mackyl@elzinga-volkers.com). Meetings are held the first Thursday of the month at 7:00 AM. Both field and office personnel are encouraged to join!
Financial Peace University On August 13th we had 20 people graduate from Financial Peace University! Those graduates will experience greater financial strength and a better quality of life as a result of the dedication put into learning and practicing the program.
Non-Mortgage Debt Paid Off: $31,367 Money Saved: $33,725 Credit Cards Cut Up: 18
The results speak for themselves. Just during the course of the program the following was achieved:
O P E N POSITIONS BUILDINGTOGETHER | August 2019
Sitework Team Member/CDL A Driver Facilities Services Technicians - Traveling Traveling Field Manager Firestopping Technician Experienced Concrete Finisher Page 4