PartnersINProgress SMACNA & SMART—Building a Future Together
November 2020
“Out with the bad, in with the good” SMACNA and SMART make it happen
PartnersINProgress SMACNA & SMART—Building a Future Together
JOSEPH SELLERS, JR. ANGELA SIMON Co-Publishers KAARIN ENGELMANN editor@pinpmagazine.org Editor-in-Chief
8 CONTENTS
November 2020 - Volume 14, Number 11
3 PARTNERING TO ACHIEVE OUR GREATEST CALLINGS SMACNA and SMART come together to face the challenges of a pandemic,
poor air quality in schools, and innovating to take on new markets.
4 HEALTHIER SCHOOLS That 36,000 American schools need upgraded or new HVAC systems is no surprise to the sheet metal professionals going in to make a difference.
7
CAROL DUNCAN: MY JOURNEY
From real estate agent to controller to working mother to CEO—adaptation is Carol Duncan’s superpower.
8
MEET THE COVID KIDS When the rest of the province said, “Go home” one training center
said, “We’ve got this.”
JESSICA KIRBY jkirby@pointonemedia.com Editor POINT ONE MEDIA INC. artdept@pointonemedia.com Creative Services
Partners in Progress is a publication of the Sheet Metal Industry LaborManagement Cooperation Fund. All contents ©2020 by the Sheet Metal Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Fund, P.O. Box 221211, Chantilly, VA 20153-1211. Find Partners in Progress online at pinp.org or at issuu.com/ partnersinprogress. An archive of all issues is available and printed copies may be ordered for a minimal fee. For comments or questions, email editor@pinpmagazine.org.
11 WILL YOUR ORGANIZATION (FINALLY) ACHIEVE INCLUSION
AND DIVERSITY? No longer the talk of a utopic future, having a solid inclusion and diversity
plan is the best thing an organization can do for its success today.
1 3 THE ELECTRIC FUTURE
Northwest Sheet Metal and the skilled and education workforce at Local
280 are contributing to a greener future in electric vehicles.
2 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
S HE E T M E TA L | A I R | R A I L | T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
Partnering
To Achieve Our Greatest Callings Last issue, we covered a presentation by SMART leadership to SMACNA contractors during which SMART’s General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Powell emphatically stated that “schools will not be safe for our children until skilled and knowledgeable sheet metal workers and contractors are able to ensure the quality of the air is safe for them to return.” He said this was not just a societal need or a once-in-a-life-time opportunity but possibly, “the greatest calling our industry has ever faced.” Powell’s remarks were well-founded and are backed by a United States Government Accountability Office report to Congress estimating that 41% of the nation’s school districts, amounting to 36,000 schools, need to update or replace their HVAC systems. The importance of proper ventilation in schools is not a newsflash for our industry. SMACNA contractors and their skilled craftspersons have been applying their expertise to school HVAC projects for many years. Their efforts have not been limited to the “hands-on” work required. SMACNA and SMART have been advocating for funding for clean air in schools long before the COVID-19 pandemic reared its head. That advocacy required educating the public, legislators, and school boards on the impact that improper ventilation can have on students’ health and performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an urgency on repairing and updating inadequate HVAC systems in classrooms. “Healthier Schools,” beginning on page 4, describes industry efforts to improve school air quality on both coasts. Learn how California Locals and contractors partnered to pass legislation for state funding to upgrade HVAC systems in public schools. Read on to learn how Albany, New York, SMACNA contractors in Albany, New York, leverage their reputations, years of experience, and solid relationship with Local 83 to contribute to their success. “My Journey” (page 7) features the unique career path of SMACNA National Vice-President Carol Duncan. Carol shares her progression from real estate agent to controller to working mother to CEO of General Sheet Metal (GSM) in Clackamas, Oregon. Carol credits her involvement in SMACNA and a good relationship with Local 16 with inspiring her to take part in the conversation on the importance of labor-management collaboration throughout the industry. As Management CoChair of the SMACNA/SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force, Carol is well situated to do just that. After reading about Carol’s management philosophy and the culture she and her team have established, you will understand why GSM employees nominated GSM as a Top Workplace and why GSM has been consistently recognized among Oregon’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
On page 8, we turn back to education, focusing this time on the quick thinking and action plan implemented by the Local 280 Training Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, to continue training 41 apprentices (aka “The COVID Kids”) amidst the challenges presented by a full-scale provincial lockdown. The flexibility their Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee built into their “back to school” strategy will position this training center to quickly adapt to future challenges long after the current pandemic is in the rear-view mirror. With social justice matters rising to prominence on the world stage, many organizations rushed to adopt policy statements on diversity. A policy statement may be a start, but refer to page 11 to find out what kind of courageous leadership and transformational change it takes to make large-scale meaningful progress on achieving inclusion and diversity (I&D) within any organization. Our SMACNA and SMART partners share many industry callings, including innovation and mastering leading edge technology. An industry success story requiring extreme innovation wraps up this edition of Partners in Progress. “The Electric Future” (page 13) demonstrates the winning formula allowing Northwest Sheet Metal and its highly skilled and educated Local 280 employees to excel at a complex job that many other vendors were unwilling to tackle. Their contributions designing and fabricating components for an electric truck powertrain prototype could very well lead to the launch of the next wave of energy-efficient vehicles used throughout the construction industry. ▪ « Calling all INDUSTRIAL ATHLETES »
Check out the brand ambassador recruitment and referral campaign from Partners in Progress to find out why sheet metal workers say, “My Job is My Gym!” . ▪er Visit facebook.com/IndustrialAthleteOfficial and instagram.com/industrialathleteofficial/ to learn more, and tag your photos with #mjmg for the chance to win $100 from Amazon each month. Partners in Progress » November 2020 » 3
Healthier Schools SMART and SMACNA have long been advocating for proper ventilation in schools, and their hard work is paying off. By / Natalie Bruckner
Student health and safety have long been focal points in the education system, and the pandemic has shone a spotlight on one related issue in particular: Many schools are operating outdated and broken HVAC systems that don’t even come close to meeting minimum ventilation standards. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—which provides fact-based, nonpartisan information to Congress—estimated that 41% of school districts need to update or replace heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in at least half their schools. In fact, the GAO estimated that 36,000 schools need HVAC updates. 4 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
Speak to SMACNA contractors and SMART craftspersons in the industry, and this comes as no surprise. Labor and management across the country were lobbying for financial aid for schools to update their systems long before the pandemic hit. If there’s one positive to come from COVID-19, it is the greater urgency that is being placed on replacing poorperforming HVAC systems in classrooms. “Up until this year, we have continuously been out of sight, out of mind, no matter how much we have tried to educate the public on the importance of better ventilation in schools,” says Local 104’s Political Director Rob Stoker. “COVID-19 has brought
“Change like this really couldn’t happen without the partnership we have between labor, management, and our other business and education partners,” says Rob Stoker, political director, Local 104.
with it a greater understanding about the importance of HVAC systems beyond feeling warm or cold. It has pushed ventilation to the fore and shows we have been right. It has certainly put the wind behind our message.” Stoker is one of many who played an integral role in the California Assembly Bill (AB) 841 that directs state energy efficiency funding to upgrade HVAC systems in public schools, prioritizing schools in underserved communities and those near freeways or industrial facilities. Through the bill, grants will be provided to local educational agencies to reopen schools with functional ventilation systems that are tested, adjusted, and—if necessary or cost effective—repaired, upgraded, or replaced to increase efficiency and performance. It may have taken years of knocking on doors to get there, but when AB 841 was approved in the final hour by the governor on September 30, 2020, Stoker literally jumped for joy. “Change like this really couldn’t happen without the partnership we have between labor, management, and our other business and education partners,” Stoker says. He’s right. Duane Davies, CEO of National Air Balance Company (NABCO) and president of California’s chapter of SMACNA; National Energy Management Institute’s (NEMI) Chris Ruch; the team at University of California, Davis; and Local 104 all contributed effort to this bill. Though most were only made aware of their work when the bill was approved, they have been working on improving classroom ventilation and promoting periodic inspection of school ventilation systems for many years.
“We already had legislation proposing periodic inspections of school ventilation systems, but that legislation got stalled because of COVID-19,” Ruch says. Ruch is NEMI’s director of training and sits on ASHRAE’s epidemic taskforce for schools. “When it became apparent early on that airborne transmission was one of the problems of COVID-19, the white paper we created titled “Proposed Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification/Repair Program for School Reopening” gained traction. Even if COVID-19 gets solved tomorrow, it is still highly relevant.” Surprisingly, however, there is still some pushback. “We have engaged with many different schools, and what we found was private schools saw this as an opportunity to show they
Partners in Progress » November 2020 » 5
Healthier Schools
are ahead of the curve. Public schools aren’t moving nearly as fast, and some are turning a blind eye, as they don’t want to know how bad things are. Alongside NEMI, NEMIC, SMART, and our contractors, we are now focused on educating school districts about how to access these grants,” explains Davies, who is president of SMACNA California. Because of the high level of skills and training required to do this work, AB 841 will result in job creation for SMACNA contractors. But the labor shortage poses an immediate problem. “While there are huge opportunities for labor and management to secure a lot of work hours, there’s just not enough labor right now,” Davies says. “TABB persons are already inundated. Recruitment remains a focus for us and our partners at SMART Local 104.” This is also a challenge outside of California. On the East Coast, the skill of SMACNA contractors is securing them work in schools, but staffing is a common concern there, too. Josh Monahan, Local 83 member and vice-president of J.E. Monahan Metals, Inc. in Queensbury, New York, explains: “During the pandemic we have been busy on school projects, and lack of staff has been a big concern. We have been working closely with our Local to ensure we have enough humanpower to meet demand.” This year J.E. Monahan won Phase 3 of the $180-million Albany High School project to retrofit the existing HVAC system. “Only union contractors could bid on the job, and our experience and reputation helped us secure the project,” Monahan says. Despite the pandemic, the scope of the project hasn’t really changed, as Albany School Board initially planned to install a sophisticated system that allows them to make minor 6 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
adjustments as required. Operations have also remained somewhat unchanged because, as Monahan explains, “Safety is always our number one priority.” In New York State, just like in California, the pandemic has highlighted the need to update ventilation in schools. However, New York State officials have yet to investigate this even after 46 teachers from nine schools in Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor asking authorities to investigate ventilation across city schools. Monahan believes it is important now for SMACNA and SMART to stay one step ahead and continue to advocate for the changes that need to be done. “There is no doubt in my mind that the sheet metal industry will continue to be a big part of safety discussions in schools,” he adds. “We work closely with our Local and other contractors on this topic.” One of those contractors is Gerald Jannicelli, president of Technical Building Services, who says, “Most of our work is in the K-12 market. We have been working right through the pandemic with both service and installation in many different school districts. Every day is different.” In Saint Paul and Minneapolis, school districts have an indoor air quality department staffed by SMART TAB technicians. Together, SMACNA and SMART—alongside industry partners—are proving that when it comes to issues related to health in schools, they are ahead of the curve, but they are all in agreement that they cannot take their foot off the gas. ▪ Natalie is an award-winning writer who has worked in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, the United States, and Canada. She has more than 23 years experience as a journalist, editor, and brand builder, specializing in construction and transportation.
CAROL DUNCAN: MY JOURNEY
CEO, General Sheet Metal Management Co-Chair, SMACNA/SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force
I was a real estate agent performing accounting, rental home repairs, and cleaning for my broker in 1982 when I got a call from my dad asking if I was interested in the controller position at General Sheet Metal (GSM). Interest rates were 15%, and wallpapering, painting, and cleaning were not as fun as they sounded, so I said yes. My dad, uncle, and a third partner purchased General Sheet Metal in 1972. Growing up, I had worked in the roofing company they all ran together and always enjoyed being around the crews and in the office. In March of 1982, I started as GSM’s controller. By May of 1986, I married my husband, Dave, who I love to say was the “best damn tinner in town.” Dave started in the trade out of high school in 1967. He worked in the field showcasing his architectural and mechanical skills, and was known for his shop expertise. He started at GSM in 1976 and was an estimator when we met. We made a great team, running the business together for over 25 years prior to his retirement in 2008. There was a line of responsibilities, and as long as neither of us stepped over that line, things ran smoothly. It was the perfect labor and management relationship. In the late 80s and early 90s, my first priority was raising our two daughters. I worked part-time in the office and parttime from home so I could be there with the kids after school. As the girls got older, I returned to focus more time on the business. From my perspective, I raised my daughters and then began raising GSM. In the mid 90s, I started to get involved with SMACNA by attending conventions. It was wonderful to get to know other contractors, learn about their businesses, and gain insight into how they operated. I soon realized how generous SMACNA contractors were—willing to share and assist whenever possible. By the late 90s I started getting involved with SMACNA committees on a local and national level. Through participating on various committees, I gained more value than I felt I contributed. Through SMACNA, I fed a constant thirst for knowledge and support, always walking away with new ideas and tricks of the trade. It was through the support and insight from contractors that I was able to create a vision for GSM that continues to this day.
Our local contractors and Local 16 have usually had a good labor-management relationship. We’ve been through a lot together. Roughly eight years ago, the National Joint Best Practices Committee came to Portland. Local parties were asked as labor-management partners to present our programs and practices. It was that meeting where I realized I wanted to be part of the larger conversation on best practices for labor and management. I currently co-chair that committee and am extremely proud of the group of people and commitment we all share to making our industry better. We’ve done some incredible work! A business doesn’t grow and thrive without both parties working together. At GSM, we’ve always felt like a family, and I know the people who make it all happen are the most important piece of the puzzle. My job as a leader is to remove obstacles—no matter what those are—so others can be successful. Every job is important, and every position matters. We have been fortunate to create a great culture at GSM, and although it’s not perfect, we keep striving for improvement. We engage our employees through a yearly exercise called “7 Things To Get Done”. Everyone within the company gets to put down seven things on a sticky note they think we need to accomplish in the next year. We then place those stickies on a wall in our building hallway, moving items from “To Do” to “Doing” to “Done,” so results and action items are visible and employees can see the progress. As my journey starts to wind down, the next generation of leaders is now at the table with the current leadership group and making decisions that will drive the future of GSM. Within that group of next generation leaders is my youngest daughter, Ashley. I have great faith in our young leaders throughout GSM and in their abilities to steer the company towards a very bright future. ▪ Partners in Progress » November 2020 » 7
Meet the COVID Kids
The Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre flexed its resilience muscles during COVID using technology, ingenuity, and first class support for its students By / Jessica Kirby • Photos courtesy of SMWTC Pick up any newspaper, open any news app and there is no shortage of COVID-19 news—most of it disheartening. In that climate, it can be hard to remember that with upset comes opportunity and with obstacles come solutions. The Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, created something positive from the circumstances that arose from the pandemic, and though it wasn’t always easy, managed to keep its doors open and students safe and learning, while making important steps towards adopting the future of education. Back in March when British Columbia went into initial restrictions, there were 41 students attending SMWTC in Levels 1, 2, and 3, and there was a lot of fear. Including the instructional staff, there were 48 in the building at once, which met the provincial health officer’s (PHO) 50-person limit and meant the school could stay open. “At full lockdown, the limit was only five, so in a weekend 8 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
everything changed,” says Training Coordinator Jud Martell. “We sent those students home on Friday and told them to wait for an email on Monday. On Monday we taught everyone how to Zoom and had a Zoom meeting in which I introduced the new normal moving forward.” And a new normal it was. Martell and the instructors spent the weekend putting online the materials students would require to complete the final two weeks of their training. They cobbled together a learning package, scrounged loaner computers for those who didn’t have them, and provided access to the server for all then-current students—a cohort they nicknamed “The COVID Kids”. “We feel like this was the safest boat to be on in the construction trade during that time,” Martell says. “Other schools shut the doors and told students to go away. They didn’t even get to pick up their things.” In many ways, the pandemic expedited a situation already
in the making—the digitization of part of the training centre’s offering. Over the past two years, Martell has inched the centre closer to accepting more technological advancements, a mission that started with implementing a server the staff could access remotely. The centre’s COVID response hinged on that implementation. Getting through those first few weeks required several pivots or areas of adjustment. The first pivot was shutting early, following the decision of the trustees and the provincial health officer’s (PHO) directives. “We had one week’s notice and then went on to discuss with the training board what closing would look like,” Martell says. “The next pivot was to develop a way to ensure 70% completion by offering the final two weeks of instruction online.” The third pivot was helping students stay in school and collect unemployment insurance because they would otherwise have to return to work in the middle of a crisis where their health and safety was not ensured onsite.
classes scheduled between April 2020 and early 2021 had to be cancelled. “At that time, some people still thought the whole thing would be over in June,” Martell says. “The plan was to see if we could come up with a safe, sustainable way forward.” They scheduled a Level 4 class to begin June 15. It would run for four weeks remote learning and three weeks in the school, knowing that if necessary, the students could achieve 70% completion with the remote portion alone. “That is how we built in resilience,” Martell says. “The idea was to get Level 4 through and get them to write the interprovincial exam (IP).”
The fourth pivot was extending the technical training as far as possible, which engaged the students in helping the centre design its remote capabilities and online modules and test its online platforms. Although all of those decisions were made with the utmost consideration, not everyone reacted favourably. “There was a strong reaction from some who believed we were making the wrong call,” Martell says. “We shut down our socials for months. I truly believed that the best course was not to get out of the boat. My own son was in that class, so there is no doubt I made each decision thoughtfully.” That was in March and April, the heart of the panic. After the initial action, SMWTC cancelled the remaining class schedule for 2020-2021 and spent several weeks informing students that a new schedule would be developed once it was safe and appropriate to do so. Because the classes are concurrent, all 40
On June 15, the SMWTC started three classes of eight Level 4s. It began with a Zoom meeting that included 30 people. They covered COVID protocol to train onsite, gave everyone iPads and computers on loan, and set a goal to write the IP on July 31. The staff and instructors spent four weeks designing the online learning modules and developing protocol for bringing the students in. That meant considering social distance, helping people feel comfortable, and having regular safety meetings. “On July 31, we held a graduation ceremony—everyone graduated in masks and people came and sat outside to watch from the lawn and parking lot,” Martell says. “The very next day we had three separate locations of eight each writing the IP, and we heard back shortly after that all 24 passed. In ten years, if those 24 are the leaders of our industry, we will be in good hands.”
The staff and instructors spent four weeks designing the online learning modules and developing protocol for bringing the students in. That meant considering social distance, helping people feel comfortable, and having regular safety meetings.
Partners in Progress » November 2020 » 9
Meet the COVID Kids
On August 24, SMWTC started Level 1 and Level 2 classes running in parallel. A week later, the Level 3s started, and once again 48 students in total were remote or in-person learning. Making that work meant hiring six instructors and redesigning the entire space to have separate upstairs and downstairs areas where each class will only be on one level at a time. The schedule has 24 online and 24 in-class at one time, alternating by the week. Into October, three more classes—a Level 1, a sheet metal Level 3, and an architectural Level 1—began to finish the year. Looking forward, SMWTC is leveraging its successes and setbacks during this transitional phase to begin offering its drafting portion online. As of the time of writing, Martell has secured a partnership with Microsoft that will allow the training center to receive 300 student software seats. A partnership with AutoDesk provides 1,200 student software seats. Martell is currently in discussions with Lenova about a hardware donation. “Standardizing the hardware and software is a major goal right now,” Martell says. “We need that so there is always a touchstone students can come back to if they get lost.” Online learning has been the saving grace for the training center, but it also has challenges. It is harder to identify online
when a student is struggling, and having instructors on-hand to motivate and give individual feedback is irreplaceable. As well, students’ physical fitness suffers when they are not onsite. “We give students lots of breaks and asked them to exercise, go for walks, and look after their health,” Martel says. “We have a dedicated instructional staff that can’t check in with students the same way. There is also a provincial health emergency going on and the background health emergency—the opioid crisis—all coming together at once. It definitely isn’t easy. “We are working in the ‘new normal’ while taking all of this into account and putting our students’ health first,” Martel says. “The iTi has been the most dedicated partner through all of this, implementing incredible, dedicated support to the training center every step of the way. “We have built resilience and flexibility into our programming and will continue to adjust things as necessary so the students get the most out of their training and we get the most out of the way they are helping our school evolve and grow.” ▪ Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering construction, architecture, mining, travel, and sustainable living for myriad publications across Canada and the United States. She can usually be found among piles of paper in her home office or exploring nature’s bounty in British Columbia’s incredible wilderness.
Will Your Organization (finally) Achieve Inclusion and Diversity? By / Alaina Love This article was originally published on SmartBrief on Leadership. I recently had a frank conversation with colleagues about the struggle we’ve observed our clients experiencing with achieving true inclusion and diversity (I&D) in their organizations. While our first instinct was to discuss possible solutions to what seems like an insurmountable problem, we had to admit that I&D is an issue fraught with complexity. “Most organizations say they believe in inclusion and diversity, but we believe that workplace intention and commitment must be met with action, or no sustained change will be possible,” said CB Bowman, CEO of Workplace Racial Equality. Solutions, we concluded, needed to be holistic, address the systemic roadblocks that prevent inclusion from becoming a way of life inside organizations, and acknowledge that interpersonal blind spots can foster them. “In all of my years working with leaders and teams, I’ve not seen any sustained and consistent improvement in my client’s success with creating real inclusion and diversity,” lamented Tony. As an executive coach of C-suite leaders, Tony found that he was frequently addressing this challenge with his clients, particularly over the last six months, as social justice matters have become more evident around the world and more widely reported in the media.
“As a white male talking to mostly white male clients, I’m just not sure of how best to advise them,” he admitted. As our small group began to unpack possible solutions, we structured a framework for thinking about the major organizational and leadership components that would need to be part of any I&D solution, regardless of organization type. They include the following: Board commitment The governance body of any organization has ultimate responsibility for all matters that affect the success or failure of a business. When a company experiences major manufacturing, product or sales issues, those challenges are raised and monitored at the board level until they are addressed. These are the kinds of issues that influence shareholder value, market position, and customer satisfaction. While inclusion and diversity should be no exception as important issues, they first require appreciation among the board for their value to the business beyond that which is morally, legally, or ethically appropriate—an appreciation that puts I&D on par with product development and sales growth. When an organization is struggling with achieving meaningful improvement in the diversity of its workforce Partners in Progress » November 2020 » 11
Inclusion and Diversity
and the inclusion of a range of people and viewpoints in the dialogue of the business, the board plays an essential role in resolving this difficulty. Leadership development No real improvement in the area of I&D is possible without an aware, educated and impact-driven leadership group. Much of what has been accomplished in I&D thus far has focused on awareness—most recently in the form of unconscious bias training and other awareness initiatives—yet more is required. Around the subject of inclusion and diversity, our group of colleagues arrived at a few important conclusions through our analysis of the leaders with whom we have worked. Many leaders do not know themselves well when it comes to their understanding of the tenets of race, ethnicity, and culture that have shaped their mindset as it relates to people different from themselves. Many leaders shy away from the “unmentionables” and struggle with the deep and potentially divisive discussions that would improve their capacity to appreciate others’ life experiences. Fear, and the lack of safe spaces and processes to have tough conversations about what is happening in our world and our workplaces, is preventing leaders from doing the important work required to understand the current state. This understanding includes the cultural experience for diverse people in the organization and the hurdles they leap (that others don’t) just to come to work in the morning. Developing true subject knowledge in this area is critical for creating a leadership team that can foster and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture. Without it, leaders cannot begin to imagine the new possibilities that they have the power to create, whether internally or in the surrounding community. Until it becomes personal in some way, there are leaders who do not feel the need to transform. They hold on to systems and long-established workplace norms because they are, on some level, benefitting from them. Until leaders shape cultural systems in a way that better balances the benefits for everyone, attracting and retaining diverse talent will continue to be a challenge, and sustained change will be nothing more than wishful thinking. 12 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
Transformational change capability As we continued exploring our framework, it became clear that achieving I&D requires a large-scale transformational change process in most organizations. Noel Tichy, professor of management and organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, would say these processes are like creating a “revolution” inside the organization. All successful revolutions, he asserts, require control of the police, the media, and the schools. As it relates to I&D, it matters how an organization monitors and sets examples around how individuals are valued and included. In essence, how the organization polices behaviors and fosters fairness in systems and processes determines what becomes acceptable as cultural norms. What are the messages and stories that get shared in your organization? This is the “media” that influences how others perceive the I&D transformation that’s underway in the company. How can you encourage and empower your workforce to put these ideas into broader practice? By highlighting the organization’s success stories, learning moments, and examples of diverse viewpoints, you help others understand how inclusion is making a difference in the business.
Developing true subject knowledge in this area is critical for creating a leadership team that can foster and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture. It’s important as a leader to help all employees learn about themselves and develop an appreciation for individuals who may have had different life experiences. Do you have “schools” in place (formal and informal) where your teams can gain greater exposure and experience across various dimensions of diversity, including cognitive diversity? Are there opportunities and tools for teams to practice inclusion, not just talk about it? Finally, do you have a prepared cohort of leaders who are equipped to lead a transformational change inside the organization and within the community it serves? Achieving sustained improvement in inclusion and diversity requires knowledge and capability in change leadership and an appreciation for the complex suite of solutions essential for ongoing improvement. Without a doubt, it also requires courageous leadership. Are you ready to make it happen? ▪ Alaina Love is CEO of Purpose Linked Consulting and co-author of “The Purpose Linked Organization: How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results” (McGraw-Hill). She is a recovering HR executive, a global speaker and leadership expert, and passionate about everything having to do with, well, passion.
The Electric Future
Northwest Sheet Metal had the human powered expertise and state of the art technology to pivot in chaotic times By / Jessica Kirby • Photos courtesy of Northwest Sheet Metal
The words “agility,” “nimble,” and “pivot” have become commonplace these past several months, and in conversations about a new project from Northwest Sheet Metal this is no exception. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based contractor took on construction of battery and engine boxes for an electric vehicle powertrain prototype designed by powertrain engineering firm Litens Automotive, which is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The system was constructed as a one-off research and development platform that will be used to test new electric vehicle-focused products in the areas of thermal and battery management. University of Toronto will also use this vehicle as part of a joint battery research project. “Today, everything is controlled by software, which is protected and would require source code and modification in order to do the kind of adaptation that we need,” says John Antchak, vice-president of Litens Automotive, who is related to the Antchaks who own and operate Northwest Sheet Metal but is not affiliated with the company. “With this project, we started
with an open source vehicle controller and built out from that. Everything in the vehicle is controlled by it, including the interior functions, lighting, steering, and others.” The ultimate goal was a modern, first-class OE level electric powertrain, and the results have been outstanding. The ET187 is an all-electric truck built in house by the Litens’ engineering team. The prototype will start off as a new Ford Ranger 4x4 minus the standard powertrain and associated life support systems, which will be replaced by the electric system. The heart of ET187 is a fully engineered low center of gravity lithium-ion battery system delivering 80 KWh capacity mounted under the floor between the frame rails. Muscle is provided by two 3 phase AC PM motors in series taking in 400V through two inverters and delivering 840 Nm of torque to a single gear reducer and out to the original transfer case and rear axle system. Keeping the simple and effective driveline was one of the developer’s targets and ultimately resulted in the unique and innovative battery case design that accommodates the propeller shaft running through it. Partners in Progress » November 2020 » 13
The Electric Future
Northwest Sheet Metal fabricated the battery case, battery management housing, and vehicle mounting system for the prototype. Four six-foot-long Tesla battery modules were extracted from a Tesla underfloor battery case and re-engineered to fit under the floor of the Ranger with the driveshaft for the rear wheels running down the center. Together, the batteries weigh 1,000 pounds.
“The battery case is complex with many precise dimensions to properly support the batteries and to fit into a very tight package between frame rails, rear axle, and transfer case,” Antchak says. “This required hard adherence to tolerances and precise craftsmanship.” Considering road loads (bumps), cornering, potential impact, and stress from acceleration and braking, the battery system is under tremendous stress, which means it had to be fully validated through extensive computer modelling and simulation. “The welding and forming have to be professional level to match the strength predicted by the computer models,” Antchak says. “The design and fabrication of this system was the hardest part of the truck project.” Gord Gohringer, shop superintendent at Northwest Sheet Metal and Local 280 member, says because the project was a brand new idea, Litens essentially gave the team at Northwest a series of concept drawings that the team had to rework and confirm with the client. “They weren’t exact, so we couldn’t just download them and begin fabrication,” Gohringer says. “We had to redraw the part and put it into the system to see if it would work. They knew the size and what they wanted, and we had to make it happen.” The prototype’s uniqueness and the fact that it had zero tolerances presented a challenge for the team. “In CAD, the drawings are given sizes and allowances,” Gohringer said. “There was none of that. We had to make sure that the samples would work. It required special tooling, and eventually we had to create a bunch of samples to make sure we could even make it with zero tolerance.” Having a cohesive, skilled labor and management team is what makes it possible to complete this kind of one-off, completely outside of the wheelhouse job, Gohringer says. It is what allows contractors to pivot on a dime. 14 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
“Because we are working in a union environment and trained by the union, we have the skilled workforce and management to adapt on the fly,” he says. “Without that kind of team, we couldn’t even begin to tackle something like this.” Another factor is Northwest Sheet Metal’s readiness to adopt new technologies, making it one of the province’s most advanced in that capacity. For starters, the company has a 20-foot laser metal cutting table, complete with fully automatic 4 coil line feed, capable of cutting 1-inch thick steel with absolute precision. It runs a Full Iowa Precision 5-foot coil line, a Vulcan Waterjet Table, which provides a green initiative by reducing waste by over 80%, a 20-foot Vulcan plasma table, and several other state of the art innovations. “Northwest has invested in itself heavily with CNC technology that opens doors that were never available before,” says Bernie Antchak, co-owner and business operations manager for Northwest Sheet Metal. “We believe in it so much that we are looking to expand our detailing department even further.” Northwest uses BIM and detailing on almost every project, and in fact, gets hired by other contractors to perform this task, as well. “We have all the latest in software and drawing programs and the talent here to use it all to its highest potential,” Gohringer says. “The more doors we can open with technology that gets us moving out of the same old routine, the more work and opportunity we can offer our union members.” “It also helps to be connected to two guys who are not afraid to tackle tough jobs,” John Antchak says. “Many vendors were afraid to tackle this job due to tolerances and quality expectations.” At the time of writing, the project had run eight months through the COVID period and involved the collaboration of over 60 people in different disciplines working on subsystem teams: battery, powertrain, chassis, and design. The result is a testament to the talent, commitment, and adaptability of this immense team and a nod to the future. ▪ Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering construction, architecture, mining, travel, and sustainable living for myriad publications across Canada and the United States.
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