Despite the current challenges to the economy, Pro-Tec’s Mod Series (Modular Aluminum Trench Shields) have never been more in demand than now.  Even when manufacturing for steel products slowed, we had a good backlog of aluminum orders, particularly Mod Series.

Pro-Tec’s rental division has struggled to keep up with the demand.  We have always had a consistent need for rentals involving spot repairs seem to have evolved into large, multiple shield orders. Read the rest of this entry »

Going “back to basics” is a simple sounding concept, but it gets harder to do the more a person is indoctrinated into a system.  This is even true when it comes to businesses, and especially true when it comes to Pro-Tec Equipment.
With the core of Pro-Tec’s staff having around 10 years of time on the job, more or less, we have been able to go through the whole learning curve.  Starting with the basics (how to size a trench shield) and going all the way to the advanced classes (custom shields and Slide Rail Systems).  However, the more and more a person deals with the advanced classes, some of the basics start to fade away.  Once you’ve mastered a calculator, it’s tough to do division, long hand, with a paper and pencil. Read the rest of this entry »

About a year ago someone decided that it would be a good idea to go ice-skating.  Now I’m pretty competitive when it comes to any type of athletic endeavor, but no one has ever asked me to play hockey.  Truth be known, I have a difficult time just getting the skates on.  Come to think of it I’m equally pathetic at bowling. (I’m thinking of giving curling a try.)  Anyway, while we were standing in line to rent our ice skates I overheard a father and his 2 young sons. The father said, “Son, you just have to wait another minute.”  To which the son replied, “But Dad, we’re waiting as fast as we can.”

Many of us are waiting for the economy to turn around and like the little boy we are getting pretty anxious.  Will 2010 be different, business wise, than 2009?  Is anyone out there getting a clear reading from your crystal ball?  Like you, I listen carefully to the news, read the papers, bounce around on the internet and listen to all the talking heads on the radio.  This is what I’m hearing “the unemployment calculator indexes for the 3^rd quarter commodities market dropped .032 points for the 4^th Tuesday in a row amidst a rapid gain in the yen which sparked a rally on the NASDAQ preferred futures….”  What does it all mean?   I’m pretty sure we are all in the same boat, waiting to hear some good news.  My non-audited, unscientific poll results are coming in and people are telling me that things are a “little” better.  A little better sounds pretty good right now.  In some circles, patience is seen as a virtue.  I tend to think of patience as a way of life.

Well, I wish I could say that 2009 was a year of records and good times, but that would be lying, and I don’t want my mom to wash my mouth out with soap.  So I will just write exactly what 2009 was.  2009 will go down as one of the toughest years in the history of Pro-Tec Equipment.

We could mostly likely classify 2009 as the  year of extremes.  We have gone from being extremely slow, to extremely busy, back to extremely slow.   President Obama calls for hope, and that is really what the underground construction industry has boiled down to, hope.

However, 2009 hasn’t be a lost year, good things have happened for Pro-Tec Equipment this year.   Through our innovation program,  we have released the 7.5’ tall Aluminum Trench Shield line, saving, in some cases more that $500 in trucking.   2009 also will go down as the year that Pro-Tec Equipment went social, networking that is.  With the launch of a Facebook and twitter page, Pro-Tec Equipment has set itself up to have the most open communication in the industry.

So what does 2010 hold for us?  Well, there is the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. BC (Russia vs.  Canada in hockey, what a match that will be), the World Cup in Brazil (could the USA Team make it to the semi’s) and probably the most important item, the release of the bulk of the “Stimulus” money from the U.S. government.  Here’s to putting 2009 in the books and starting 2010 with a bang!

“If you never do what you never did, you’ll never get what you never got.”  That is my paraphrase of an old saying.  In today’s business climate, we are trying hard to get the market share we used to, and also trying to get the new sales we never got.

We have had an “Innovation” program at Pro-Tec Equipment for almost 2 years, giving monthly incentives to employees for coming up with ideas.  So far we have had hundreds of suggestions, some better than others, to help improve either our product line or manufacturing processes.  This program has really helped keep everyone thinking about how we can be better at our product offering and fabricating procedures. Read the rest of this entry »