Only about one-third of construction companies survive beyond 10 years and less than 0.5% of all companies, regardless of industry, survive their centennial. So how, then, did Sentry Equipment beat both of those odds?
Construction Executive sat down with Sentry’s Marcease Warren, vice president of manufacturing—who has been with the company over 20 years—to discuss Sentry’s secret sauce when it comes to company vitality, staying relevant, keeping up with industry trends and creating some of their own.
How have you seen Sentry evolve over your 20-year tenure? How has the company evolved over its 100-year history?
It started off as a family-owned company. The first owner handed it off to his kids, they took it over and continue to treat their employees really well. Their whole thought process was when they retired, their kids didn’t want to take it over. So, instead of selling it to another company, another firm or someone else, they ended up creating an ESOP. So, we’re also celebrating 40 years of being an ESOP this year.
Over the years we’ve evolved from strictly power generation. We do a lot of work for power plants of all types: nuclear, coal, natural gas; we’ve added different product lines and through that we’ve seen ourselves shift from being the traditional old and dirty manufacturer to really focusing on adding new technology—fiber optic lasers and other things—so that we can be more vertically integrated. Over my tenure I’ve seen a shift from really relying on our supply base to really bringing in a lot of that technology and skillset in house to where we can control our own destiny.
Let’s talk about that technology angle coupled with increased demands for power, especially when it comes to the demands on the power grids and water facilities.
We are in the process of getting more involved with water and wastewater instead of traditional power generation. We didn’t anticipate it being a growth engine for us moving forward, but over the past several years, we’ve seen it take off. So now not only do we have what we were investing in for water/wastewater, but now power generation is starting to surge. What we were anticipating as being maybe 30% of our business is going to be a much more significant portion. Plants that were going to get decommissioned are now looking at expanding.
Are you anticipating that trend to hold steady, say into 2030? Or do you predict it to taper off?
The next five plus years into 2030 and beyond will continue to see this boom. We’re probably actually behind right now. We talk about our infrastructure, our grid, we know that’s been in place for 60, 70 years; we have to catch the grid up as well as continue to meet the new power demand. It takes a long time to get plants up and running, so this is going to continue for a while.
Are there any physical tools of technology that you’re using to help the manufacturing process?
We’ve been really focused on fiber optic lasers and being able to fabricate our own components as well as using press brakes. It’s technology that’s not necessarily new to the industry but is newer to us. When we first acquired our laser and our press brake, we actually took someone who was in a different department but was interested in operating it and got him trained within two to three months; he became proficient in under a year. We’re seeing the older technology evolve in a way that makes it really easy to get new people involved.
It seems there is enthusiasm across the company for taking on these types of changes. Would you say that is what has sustained Sentry for the last century?
I would say that is part of what has sustained us—you have to be changing. If you’re not changing, then you’re falling behind. Our ESOP culture has certainly made that change easier. When looking to expand, most people will simply hire additional people to keep up with the workload. Now, we look first at how we can leverage technology, which has made our shop employees and our company overall really embrace the use of technology.
Is Sentry feeling the effects of the workforce shortage?
We’re feeling it, too. We’ve been doing better recently and that’s primarily due to a lot of referrals—employees refer us to friends or friends of friends. We’ve had some success that way, but one specific department that’s been challenging is the machining department. There are not a lot of machinists out there, so if you want to get someone, you’re typically stealing from a company that already has them, so that’s been a challenge.
In an earlier discuss, one of the main points was “how Sentry’s business has diversified, as well as the reemergence of the capital Power Industry.” Talk more about that.
The diversification came into getting more involved with water/wastewater. Sentry acquired a company out of Salt Lake City called Rebuild-it Services Group, whose work ties into infrastructure—and there is a lot of old infrastructure revolving around wastewater treatment. What we will aim to do is rebuild equipment instead of a company or municipality replacing that equipment. That is how we’re starting to diversify from strictly power generation, but like I said earlier, now that’s coming back. So now we’re trying to ramp up our capacity in house to handle this resurgence.
With all of the change Sentry is embracing, how does it maintain its founding values as a family company and an employee-owned company?
One of the things I remember when I first started is you knew every employee’s name, you knew their spouses, their families. And now that we’ve grown, that’s become a challenge. But we still focus on those core values. We still have town hall meetings. We have events we call O.J. With Owners where we’ll connect employees who might not see each other on a day-to-day basis. We really try to focus on different ways to connect now that our employee base is not only just in manufacturing but in these other facilities as well.
Where do you see not only the state of the company, but the state of the entire construction industry and then the company’s position within the industry by 2030?
I see us still being heavily involved with infrastructure and helping make sure that infrastructure is positioned well for growth. I see 2030 as a starting point, not necessarily the ending point when it comes to construction. I think that’s just us getting caught up; once we get caught up, what’s the next thing that we’re going to be able to do?
SEE ALSO: PRIORITIZING SUCCESS: SUCCESSION PLANNING BEYOND THE COMPANY WALLS
The post Powering Up: How Sentry Equipment Has Lasted 100 Years in Manufacturing and What It Has Planned for 100 More first appeared on Construction Executive.
