Doing things the same old way won’t bring new contracts, CEO says
By B.C. Manion
Motorists buzzing down Gunn Highway in Odessa likely are oblivious to a German-based company that has its U.S. headquarters on a side street called Byrd Legg Drive.
But the company – Bauer Foundation Corp. – is known throughout the world and recently landed a $106 million contract to install a barrier wall at Center Hill Dam in Cookeville, Tenn.
While other companies are giving employees pink slips or holding steady on their staffing, Bauer is hiring.
The company especially needs engineers, said Charles Puccini, president and CEO of the company in Odessa. He’s especially interested in people who can think through solutions.
Winning contracts, Puccini said, means figuring out ways to do things faster, better and cheaper than they were done in the past.
“We have to outthink our competitors every day and be better every day,” Puccini said. “If we re-tender the same idea we had last time, we lose.”
When they fail to secure a contract, Puccini tells his employees: “We were outthought by our competitors. We didn’t think about it enough.”
He also reminds them they always have to be looking to the future. Something that used to be acceptable may not be good enough today, he said.
In other words, “In 2002, it was a great idea. It’s going to be 2012 in a couple of days. You have to be improving every day,” he said.
The company leader places paramount importance on an educated work force. That’s why his company offers robust internship and training programs.
“You pull the economy out through technology and the only way you get technology is through education,” Puccini said.
The company is constantly looking for ways to improve its equipment, to get better results in the field, he said.
The company began as Coastal Caisson in the 1970s and was purchased by its parent company, Bauer Spezialtiefbau GmbH, based in Schrobenhausen, Germany, in the 1990s.
Bauer is a leader in the execution of complex excavation pits, ground improvement, deep foundations and in-ground walls, utilizing the most up-to-date equipment and installation techniques.
Loren Winckler, who has been with the company for 20 years, said he explains what his company does this way: “I work for a construction company, but you don’t see anything we build because everything we build is under the ground. Once we get to the ground level, we’re done. It’s all foundation work.
“We’re in the beginning processes of building a bridge, building a building. We’re the first ones on the scene, the first ones on the job,” he said.
Winckler handles much of the company’s training program.
“Drilling into the ground is a very specialized field,” he said, noting interns at the company generally spend six weeks learning about various facets of the company.
“What our company makes is the equivalent of a tunnel boring machine, but we go vertical instead of horizontal,” Puccini said.
So, instead of tunneling through an area and pushing away the debris, it drills down.
“We have to lift up all of this rock chips and cuttings – it’s just tons of materials,” Puccini said. “This is not easy. This requires lots of research and development.”
Puccini said the company chose to move to Odessa because it had outgrown its site on Ulmerton Road.
It wanted a site that had ample room to accommodate growth, was on a trucking route and was in an area with good roads that was not heavily developed.
Pasco County, near the Hillsborough County line, fit the bill.
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