Multi-skilled, safety conscious operator

SPARKS MAINTENANCE CONTRACTING I PROFILE

Award-winning Missouri-based Sparks Maintenance Contracting offers a multi-level approach to industrial contracting for many high-grade clients in the US. With safety at its core, the company has continued to grow apace in a highly competitive environment because of its can-do attitude. Andy Probert reports.

Established by Brad Sparks in 2000, Sparks Maintenance Contracting (SMC) is a multi-faceted company that handles a range of contracted industrial projects across industry. Bryce Sparks, Justin Edmond and Josh Edmond all joined the business in 2015, helping to accelerate the company’s growth.

From industrial maintenance, installations, fabrication and welding to machining and rigging – and everything in between –the company is a specialist in many different trades.

SMC, operating out of Bowling Green, Missouri, has a 75,000 sqft production facility capable of any size fabrication job. It is specialised in tool and die, builds, maintenance, production machining and contract assembly.

“We are often called to act on large scale industrial projects from extracting a production line and putting a new one in, to the installation and removal of all types of paint, blast, and wash booths,” detailed Ryan Niemeyer, Director of Operations.

Unique capabilities

The company, which employs around 100 people, has experienced 25% growth year-onyear for the last five years, due to its unique offering of being able to go that much further on a job.

“Often, we are called in to do one job for a client, and often that then leads into another,” said Mr Niemeyer. “Our unique

SPARKS MAINTENANCE CONTRACTING I PROFILE

capability is that seemingly disparate services that we offer often fit well together to provide the customer the total package to meet their needs.

SMC’s crews are regularly on the road working for clients in a multitude of industries, such as oil and gas and industrial, as well as being experts in industrial power distribution, energy management systems, fabrication, welding, pipefitting, PLC and blast booths.

The company’s mechanical contractors also oversee mechanical projects for organisations, and these responsibilities run to industrial heating or cooling systems, refrigeration, piping, and plumbing of a building.

SMC also offers top-of-the-line epoxy flooring to restore and transform floors to meet clients’ standards, while it is also capable of being a contractor to fabricate steel structures such as buildings, platforms and mezzanines.

At its facility, SMC makes use of many different tools for each project. CAE programs and CAD programs allow employees to design and fabricate what their clients require. These can include production lines, ventilation systems, suspension systems, pipefitting, and HVAC projects.

Offering a full range of commercial and industrial fabrication, modularisation and pre-assembly work, SMC’s projects range from in-house to on-site installations, repairs and removal. SMC also has CNC fabrication equipment, including a shear, press brake, plasma table, machining centres, lathes and a new laser table to complete any given project.

When it comes to rigging materials and crane operations, the company has employees certified in that core area, enabling them to set machinery, heavy equipment, or install entire production lines. And when it comes to crane work, the company utilises its rigging workhorses – the Traksporter and Hoist 40-60 Forklift –to carry out jobs.

Mr Niemeyer emphasised that no matter what the workforce was engaged in, safety was at the core of everything.

“Safety is not only a practice that we train and perform on; it is a culture that our workforce lives by,” he added. “This culture is formed by shared values at every level, perception and competencies that ensure each employee has the determination never to give safety a day off. This means at work or home, our culture never stops. We are dedicated to having a progressive safety culture.”

This involves employee participation, auditing, and program evaluations to ensure they constantly follow the industry’s best safety practices.

Innovative and reliable

Given the demand for services, SMC is currently engaged in investing in a new facility in Bowling Green, which will be eight times as big as the existing headquarters.

Mr Niemeyer commented: “It is an exciting phase in the company’s development, and the new facility, which is due to open by mid2022, will be able to offer even more industrial capabilities for clients, such as our new laser cutting technology.”

The business’ dedication to clients recently earned SMC an award from Toyota for outstanding performance on projects in Toyota Motor North America Inc.

And in line with its innovative approach, the company has developed tension monitoring anchor bolts and studs for use in any industry requiring the anchoring of heavy machinery. The Acura Monitor Bolt permits the ‘wrench-less’ checking of the tension of the anchor bolt.

The repeatable accuracy of the Acura Bolt tension indicator makes the use of a torque wrench obsolete. The bolt is repeatable under operating conditions to a plus or minus 5% of the desired tension, considerably better than plus or minus 25% commonly attained with a torque wrench.

SMC also supplies steel soleplates and two-piece shim able dyno chocks. According to Mike Smith, Director of Sales, it helps insulate epoxy grout for longer life and better bond strength to soleplates.

The company also allows shimming up or down to correct the ‘hot alignment’ with a two-piece chock design. The soleplates are also factory sandblasted and coated.

Mr Niemeyer said that while the company has adopted successfully pandemic measures and restrictions enabling teams to continue working out in the field, the biggest challenges were being felt with supply chain issues and the availability of critical materials.

He said that the main differentiator between SMC and other companies in the industry was not only its facility capabilities but the staff’s work ethic to provide options and solutions on jobs in the field.

“We are always communicating with the client and ensuring that the job we do is of high quality. When we come across an issue, we don’t plough on but communicate and cooperate with the client to find a solution.

“We always retain a can-do attitude, and given the industrial contracting sector that we are in, we maintain transparent and honest relations with customers that help foster long-term partnerships.”

Mr Niemeyer concluded: “SMC has built a reputation over the past 22 years as being a highly reliable contractor, no matter how complex the job. We have built a client base built on word of mouth, recommendation and return business, and these are the foundations to our success.” n