Abilene Engineering Firm Expanding Rapidly
September 27, 2009
by Jaime Adame, Abilene Reporter News
Piece by piece, the galvanized carbon steel pipes are joined together at the manufacturing site of Lauren Engineers and Constructors.
Cranes are brought in to assist with the massive project, and, once configured, each rack is roughly three stories high and weighs as much as 900 tons, according to project manager Bill Holmes.
It’s all part of something bigger, in more ways than one. The racks — after some disassembly — get trucked down as oversized loads to a $1.2 billion dollar construction project near Fort Stockton, where, once online, a plant will separate carbon dioxide from valuable methane gas as part of the natural gas production process.
Lauren’s role in the project has led to the hiring of some 60 workers since March, according to Levi Taylor, human resources manager. That’s big news in Abilene, where the dreary economy has led to few opportunities for workers like welders, which have made up more than 40 percent of the hires, Taylor said.
Mary Ross, executive director of Workforce Solutions for West Central Texas, which helps the unemployed find jobs, said Lauren has “been pretty aggressive in their hiring when other people are not.”
“They hired some of the folks who lost their jobs,” she added.
For Lauren, a national company with corporate headquarters in Abilene, the project represents the start of growth it expects to continue.
Taylor explained that Lauren’s ability to put together massive components for heavy industry will help the company expand its Abilene plant, with hopes to grow from about 140 employees to 250 or so by the end of 2011.
He said “more and more companies” building heavy industry facilities are looking to save time and money by turning to such modularization construction techniques — “which is what we do,” Taylor said.
“We’re kind of making a name for us in this regard,” Taylor said.
Largest of its Kind
Looking for natural gas deposits in West Texas, SandRidge Energy found a problem.
While the Oklahoma City-based company found an abundance of methane gas below ground, it was mixed with carbon dioxide.
Last summer, SandRidge began working on what it hopes will be a solution to allow ramped up production from the field, dubbed “the prolific Warwick Thrust” in a letter to company shareholders.
SandRidge and Occidental Petroleum Company announced a partnership to build the largest carbon dioxide treatment plant in the world, based on volume of the gas removed and captured. The Odessa American has tabbed the total cost of the project, known as the Century Plant, at $1.2 billion dollars.
Construction is broken into two phases, and set to be completed in 2011.
Lauren so far has shipped 17 pipe rack modules to the construction site, about 30 miles southeast of Fort Stockton, said Holmes, with orders for another seven.
“We’ve done other modular work, but nothing of this size,” said Holmes. “These are very unique.”
Companies want to know that the components will fit together exactly right, said Holmes, explaining why the pieces are put together and then taken apart in Abilene.
Lauren will also be involved in the Century Plant’s second phase.
“We just started on the second contract,” said Holmes, describing another type of modular construction that will include functional components, like boilers and dryers, as well as electrical instrumentation.
It’s another big project.
“They’ll range from 60 feet by a maximum 20 feet wide to a maximum 20 feet tall. A total of 31 of those should be finishing up somewhere around the middle of January 2010,” said Holmes.
Jobs
A Workforce Solutions official told the Odessa American that some 3,000 people had applied for construction jobs at the plant. There are about 140 workers at the plant, the American reported earlier this month, though the number of jobs could increase to 500 by the end of the year.
“That gets out on the wire service, and everybody and their dog wants to go tomorrow,” Fort Stockton economic official Doug May told the American.
In Abilene, Taylor said Lauren may hire 20 to 30 workers before the end of the year.
This year, there’s been no need to advertise the openings, said Taylor.
“We’ve had a lot of people come in just looking for work,” said Taylor. And he said it hasn’t just been job seekers in Abilene.
“I’ve been contacted by individuals as far away as Ohio, Colorado,” said Taylor, adding that Lauren has a total of 1,000 employees nationwide.
Ross praised the company, however, for its local efforts in finding jobs for people living in the Abilene area. Part of that is through training programs done by the company and funded by the Workforce Center.
In recent months, 16 workers screened through the Workforce Center have been placed in training with Lauren, said Ross. In December, the company was honored by the Texas Workforce Commission for its training program.
Taylor said the company saw its workforce shrink last year to about 85 workers, though there were no big layoffs. It’s now the largest since 2006, he said, adding that anyone interested in applying for an opening should contact the Workforce Center or visit the plant.
