G.A. West's services include sandblasting, painting, galvanizing coded pipe and vessel fabrication

Plenty of market factors have contributed to the growth spurt G.A. West & Co. Inc. has experienced in the last few years, including. These include stronger EPA regulations on coal-based energy producers and the expanding food and beverage industry in the United States.

But Randy Rowe, business development manager, attributes G.A. West’s success to owner Gary A. West’s ability to retain key people by making his company an employer of choice. Rowe says West provides a positive work environment with a comprehensive, competitive benefits package that employees would receive if they work in plants for its clients.

“The reason we have grown so much is that [West] is one of the finest guys I have ever known,” Rowe says. “The turnover here is minimal, and we’ve been able to take on many maintenance contracts and larger projects because we’re able to retain people longer.”

G.A. West, based in Chunchula, Ala., offers flexible construction and maintenance service operations. Founded in 1987, the company is a true general contractor, handling site preparation and concrete and civil work, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, steel fabrication and erection, code pipe work, painting, demolition and plant relocation, boiler code work, heavy rigging and equipment rental.

Big-Time Growth
G.A. West has undergone a series of expansions in the last three years to keep up with the demand for its services. Two years ago, the company added a 115,000-square-foot fabrication facility in Mount Vernon, Ala., that has three 60-ton bridge cranes with 40-foot hook heights and barge access to the Mobile River.

The company can roll up to 1.75-inch-by-12-foot-wide plate steel as well as plate specialty fabrication and welding services. G.A. West also doubled its Chunchula facility, increasing its pipe fabrication space from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. This will increase its capabilities as a pipe code fabricator along with adding American Society of Mechanical Engineers-code vessel tank fabrication capabilities, Rowe adds.

Rowe also says plans are in the works to add a 50,000-square-foot structural steel fabrication shop to the Chunchula facility. This addition should be operational by the end of the year.

To accommodate its rapid growth, G.A. West has also added a large training complex to cross-train its craftsmen as well as train new, inexperienced employees. Since growing from 850 employees to approximately 1,000 in just two years, Rowe says about 100 of its new people came through the G.A. West training program.

“Our training runs from the specs and learning the correct terminology to what we actually do and how to do it in a quality fashion,” Rowe adds. “We’ll also show how to do things safely, as well as how to do it right the first time.”

Producing the Products
Once a custom order is received, G.A. West verifies its engineering capabilities and its available materials at its steel job shop in Chunchula.

The shop’s services include sandblasting, painting, galvanizing coded pipe and vessel fabrication. “Usually, a customer has drawings to fit their plans,” Rowe says.

An on-staff steel and pipe detailer manufactures the isometrics needed to make pipe and steel structures. To maintain the company’s manufacturing quality standards, G.A. West craft-tests all employees regularly to ensure that its craftsmanship is still at a viable level in the plant.

When it comes to inventory, G.A. West maintains a complete purchasing department that competitively bids all materials for construction, shop or maintenance.

The company buys in large quantities to maintain a lower price. “All our suppliers work with us on a bid basis and on a quality basis,” Rowe says.

Safety First
G.A. West says safety is its No. 1 concern. “We at G.A. West firmly believe that we cannot fulfill our clients’ needs if any of these areas are not foremost in resolving situations,” the company says.