Spring 2016 Employee Newsletter

The Grubb Dispatcher
Issue 21 Volume 7
Spring Company News Report
WHO’S IN THE SPOTLIGHT??
WHAT’S NEW THIS EDITION:
Page 2:
• 5th Annual Awards Banquet
Page 3:
• Richmond welcomes Misty Buchanan
• Baltimore welcomes Gary Linder
• Rigging Division completes Blackbird
• Wilmington project
Page 4:
• Project updates in Richmond, Baltimore
and Portsmouth
• Congrats to Bob Burgee!
Page 5:
• Manitowoc MLC300
• Wilmington welcomes Derrick Thompson
Cecil Griffin joined W. O. Grubb in 1990 and has
never looked back. Perfection is what Cecil is all
about. You see, everything he puts his hands on
becomes a representation of him, therefore
second place is not an option. The pride he takes
in everything he does is truly inspirational and is
what led him to be this year’s Willie Grubb
Against All Odds winner. It is this attitude that
made him a state champion in 1998 and 1999 in
Virginia’s loudest car competition. How loud is
loud? Well his car was 165 decibels loud, and to
put that in perspective, a turbo fan jet engine is
118 decibels.
Cecil Griffin after all these years, still loves what he
does every day and would not change a thing. He
often tells his employee’s “to take things in bite
size pieces so it doesn’t overwhelm you.” He was
recently asked what he loved about W.O. Grubb
and his response was he loves working for a first
class company.
Page 6:
• Crawler Division welcomes Brian Showalter
and Lindsay Greene
• Portsmouth and Steel Division Projects
Page 7:
• Safety Corner
Page 8:
• Employment Anniversaries
• W. O. Grubb Word Search
Written By: Megan Ciesielski
Editor: Michelle Grubb-Solaimani
Cecil lives in Chesapeake, Virginia with his wife,
Denise. They have one daughter who is married
with a 4 month old son. He is fascinated with solar
energy and likes to “make stuff” and “fix stuff” in
his spare time.
Employment Anniversaries
January - March 2016
The following is a list of employees that have been with the company for five plus years between January and March.
January
February
Quinton Anderson, Baltimore 8 years
Douglas Brown, Baltimore 16 years
Dallas Cooley, Alexandria 12 years
Ken DeBord, Baltimore 8 years
David Gerber, Steel Division 19 years
Daniel Hendricks, Baltimore 15 years
Chris Lewis, Richmond 5 years
Robert McClenny, Portsmouth 9 years
Frank Natale, Rigging Division 13 years
Connie Pulliam, Baltimore 15 years
Ronald Ridgell, Alexandria 16 years
Cecil Wilmoth, Richmond 5 years
Doug Adkins, Richmond 19 years
Daniel Burchell, Alexandria 5 years
Jeff Collins, Richmond 5 years
Mike Davenport, Richmond 20 years
Nemo Lingerman, Baltimore 7 years
Dorothy Richardson, Fredericksburg 15 years
Wayne Shinault, Richmond 5 years
ALEXANDRIA
ALLTERRAIN
BALTIMORE
BOOMTRUCK
CARRYDECK
CONVENTIONAL
CRANERENTAL
CRAWLER
CRAWLERDIVISION
FREDERICKSBURG
GOLDHOFER
HEAVYHAULING
MAJORPROJECTS
PORTSMOUTH
RICHMOND
RIGGING
ROANOKE
ROUGHTERRAIN
SAFETY
STEELDIVISION
STEELERECTION
TELECRAWLER
TRUCKCRANE
WILMINGTON
WINCHESTER
March
Robert Belote, Portsmouth 14 years
Jason Buchanan, Richmond 6 years
Bob Burgee, Baltimore 18 years
Dan Criner, Richmond 15 years
Chris Douglas, Richmond 6 years
Robert Meisner, Alexandria 12 years
George Moon, Baltimore 5 years
Glenn Parsley, Steel Division 37 years
Michael Kestler, Crawler Division 13 years
Celerino Perales, Richmond 14 years
Doug Radcliffe, Richmond 23 years
Scott Snead, Richmond 20 years
Mario Tellez-Ocana, Alexandria 5 years
Martin Van Dyke, Alexandria 12 years
William Waybring, Rigging Division 11 years
Richard Wyatt, Steel Division 39 years
Grubb Word Search
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J
2015 Awards Banquet
February held the 5th Annual Awards Banquet for the salesmen of W. O. Grubb. The event took
place at The Westin in the West End of Richmond, Virginia. The event space was beautifully decorated wtih an ice sculpture and candy buffet. We celebrated the achievements of the salesmen for
the 2015 year, and danced all night. Congratulations to all of the award winners!
Silver Level Award
Jim Eller, Richmond
Steve Hoke, Baltimore
Jerry Matthews, Winchester
Mike White, Crawler Division
Gold Level Award
Wirt Blackwell, Richmond
Mike Davenport, Richmond
Olen Helmick, Fredericksburg
Brad Yauilla, Portsmouth
Platinum Level Award
John Ferrie, Portsmouth
Tommy O’Donnell, Alexandria
Henry Potter, Portsmouth
Presidents Level Award
Bill Crowder, Richmond
Billy Brown, Fredericksburg
Ed Walters, Steel Division
Fred Day receiving
the Branch of the
Year Award
Nemo Lingerman
receiving the
Eagle Award
Jerry Matthews
receiving his Silver
Level Award
Cecil Griffin and his
wife, Denise
Eagle Award: Top performing salesman
NEMO LINGERMAN, Baltimore
Rookie of the Year: Top performing first year salesman
MIKE WHITE, Crawler Division
Small Shackle Award: Smallest single transaction
FRED DAY, Fredericksburg
Block and Tackle Award: Most individual transactions
JIGGER TANNER, Major Projects
Big Hook Award: Largest single pick
EDDIE DUFFIE, Crawler Division
Out of your Chart Award: Sold the furthest job from their
home base
MICHELLE SOLAIMANI, Richmond
Henry Potter
receiving his
Platinum Level
Award
John Ferrie receiving
his Platinum Level
Award
Michelle Solaimani
receiving her Out of
your Chart Award
Safety Excellence Award: Presented to the branch with the highest
record for safety
RIGGING DIVISION
Branch Incentive Award: Presented to the branch with the most
increase in sales from the previous year
WINCHESTER BRANCH
Branch of the Year Award: Presented to the branch with the highest
profit margins, while maintaining safe work environment
FREDERICKSBURG BRANCH
Bill Grubb and Isabell Shearin
Willie Grubb “Against All Odds” Award: Awarded to the individual
who, through selfless attitude and belief in his or her people, with
sheer will power and determination, accomplished something
nobody thought was possible. They embody the tireless effort and
determination that our founder Willie Grubb displayed
Ray & Mariana Hand, Shawn Mowdy,
CECIL GRIFFIN, Richmond
*Check out our Facebook pages for more photos!
Chris Bennett and Jason & Windy Miller
Steve Hoke receiving
his Silver Level
Award
2
Richmond Headquarters would like to welcome Misty Buchanan as
the new Administrative Assistant! She will be assisting Jean Walton
with Payroll and Andrea Profitt with the billing. Misty has 20 plus
years’ experience in administrative work. She grew up in Chesterfield,
VA where she still currently lives. Misty started school for nursing, but
had her daughter and decided administrative work was more up her
alley! Her daughter, Miyah, is 8 years old and in third grade. Misty likes
to spend time with her, fish, hunt, go camping and street race her
supped up Honda!
W. O. Grubb and the Baltimore Branch would like to welcome Gary Linder as Baltimore’s
new Sales Representative! Gary has been involved with steel, precast erection, and
crane rental his whole life, but started full time in 1978. He graduated from Towson
University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. Gary and his wife Joan have 2 sons Eric
and Mike. Eric is a Project Manager and Mike is a crane operator. Along with his 2 sons
he has a 7 month old grandson. Gary enjoys boating and driving his 1967 Pontiac Firebird
that he’s had since his junior year of high school!
RIGGING DIVISION
After a lot of engineering, hours on the job, and nights with no
sleep, the SR-71 Blackbird is set in the Science Museum of Virginia!
This iconic supersonic stealth plane will be the focal point of the
museum’s new gallery, Speed. After taking the plane apart and
hauling it piece by piece to the museum, our riggers had to get
these pieces in a hole in the wall no bigger than 15x15. Then slowly
piece it back together inside the building. Once it was all pieced
back together, they had to lift and tilt the plane to get the wings
fully extended. An awesome job was done by Frank Natale, John
Price, Norman Arthur, Travis Wells, Gene Dubay, Barry Edmonds
and Jason Buchanan who ran the Link-Belt HTC-86110, 110 Ton
Truck Crane to lift the pieces 3 stories to that hole in the side of the
building.
3
BALTIMORE
Baltimore’s Grove GMK5165/2, 165 ton All Terrain
Crane setting 51,000 pound trusses at Merriweather
Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Ken Debord was
the operator and Brandon Jenkins was the oiler.
PORTSMOUTH
Henry Potter’s job along with Jigger Tanner and Jeff
Collins support for Colonna’s Shipyard. Portsmouth’s
first large Goldhofer move was a 375,000 lb barge 110’
long, 30’ wide and a height of 10’.
Crew on the job:
Bob Crundwell, Chris Reed, Doug Brown, Johnny
Gunnell, Ryan Lewis, Brian Hartung, Craig Anderson,
William Stallings and Danny Harmon
RICHMOND
Jim Eller’s job assembling one of Liebherr’s largest
cranes at the Port of Richmond. Doug Radcliff,
operator, and Bryan Herndon, oiler, ran the Grove
GMK7550, 550 Ton All Terrain while Stump (George
Pennington), operator, and Shane Eley, oiler, ran the
Grove GMK5165, 165 Ton All Terrain in this double
pick.
RICHMOND
Congratulations to Bob
Burgee with the
promotion to Regional
Manager! The former
Baltimore Branch
Manager will now
oversee the Baltimore
and Alexandria
branches.
Mike Davenport’s job changing out cooling towers
on the James Madison Building in Richmond, working for Coastal Services. Alexandria’s Grove
GMK7550, 550 Ton All Terrain Crane was operated
by Jim Tracey and his oiler, Kevin Roche.
4
The Steel Division
would like to welcome
back James Herndon
as General Superintendent and Quality
Control Manager.
James will be a man of
many hats working
directly for Ed Walters.
The Wilmington Branch would like to
welcome Derrick Thompson as the new
Mechanic. Derrick has worked in the
crane industry since early 2007 as a crane
mechanic. He grew up in West Virginia
but has lived in North Carolina for the
past 14 years. In his free time he likes to
hunt and fish, also do bass fishing tournaments when he can. He also likes to
spend his free time hanging out at the
beach!
WILMINGTON
W. O. Grubb is one of the first to purchase 2
Manitowoc MLC300, 330 Ton Crawler Crane.
This is the first lift at Morehead City State Port
Terminal in North Carolina. We are loading
steel bridge beams onto a barge destined for
a new bridge crossing the Hudson River in
New York that will replace the Tappan Zee
Bridge. The crane is configured with 177.2’ of
main boom and 474,400 lbs. of counterweight.
WILMINGTON
Larry Horrell, operator, and David Gandee,
truck driver and oiler, on the Demag AC350/6,
400 Ton All Terrain Crane. Wilmington’s second
job with this new crane setting bridge girders in
Morehead City, NC.
5
Wilmington Update!
We closed on our property.
We’re going to start moving
dirt as soon as possible in
preparation for the new building located at 5531 Barbados
Boulevard, Castle Hayne,
North Carolina 28429. The
building will be conveniently
located right off of I40. Stay
tuned for more updates.
The Crawler Division would like to welcome Brian Showalter as an Assembly and Disassembly Supervisor. Brian has worked around and operated
cranes for 20 years now, and has been around them all of his life. He used to
go to work with his dad and stand behind the seat of the crane. Brian has
done A&D off and on for about 5 years. Brian and his wife, Chrisanna, have
been married for 14 years and have 2 awesome children. Hanna who is 12
and C.J. who is 10. He enjoys hunting and fishing, and collects die-cast scale
models. “I'm excited to come to work here. I've wanted the opportunity to
work here since the early 90's.” -Brian
The Crawler Division would like to also welcome Lindsay Greene as an
Assembly and Disassembly Supervisor. Lindsay is from Alberta, Canada and
very new to the Richmond area. He has been in construction for 19 years
working for general contractors and crane rental companies. For the most
part on the crane and heavy rigging side. Before joining Team Grubb Lindsay
was a crane and rigging superintendent for Entrec. He is a journeyman crane
operator. His wife’s name is Candice and he likes to fish, hunt and build diesel
race trucks in his spare time.
PORTSMOUTH
The final concrete beam being set on the
MLK Extension project for Martins Construction Corporation. Operator, Bobby
McClenny was on the Link-Belt 298HSL,
250 Ton Crawler Crane.
STEEL DIVISION
The Steel Division, with help from the Richmond Branch and
Major Projects, erected a new ride at Kings Dominion. The Delirium Ride took a triple pick and heavy hauling to set and erect. Bob
Crundwell ran the 4 line Goldhofer Trailer, Van Stowers ran the
Link-Belt HTC-8675, 75 Ton Truck Crane, Wayne Shinault ran the
Grove GMK5120B, 120 Ton All Terrain, and Stump with the help of
his oiler, Shane Eley, ran the Grove GMK6350, 350 Ton All Terrain
Crane. The iron workers: Dan Cogar, Mike Gerber, Johnny Brooks,
Morris Vicars, Aaron Legum and Richard Rogers assembled the
legs, seat, and platform along with bolting it all together.
The ride is set to open this spring.
Be sure to check
out and follow
our new Safety
Blog!
6
SAFETY CORNER
Mobile Crane Stability
A mobile crane is built around the design principals of balance and leverage. In short, a crane must be capable of lifting
heavy loads, through the use of leverage, while remaining in balance.
In material handling, we have to consider the Center of Gravity (or CG) of a load. The “center of gravity symbol”, illustrated by the black and white circles on the illustrations below is used to show the location where an object’s CG lies. The
CG of any object is said to be the point in the object where the weight is evenly distributed. Meaning the leverage on
one side of the object must be equal to the leverage derived by the other side of the object. (See Photo A)
Now let’s look at a balance beam, which is similar to a basic crane model. The beam, balanced on a fulcrum, remains in
balance as long as the leverage on one side of the fulcrum is equal to the leverage on the opposite side of the fulcrum. If
either of the weights placed on the beam is larger than the other, the beam will tip in the direction of the heavier object.
The only way to keep the beam in balance is to move the fulcrum closer to the heavier object, as illustrated below. By
moving the fulcrum, the beam remains in balance and each object counter balances the other. (See Photo B)
Counter balance is dependent on each object’s leverage being equal. Leverage is the result of an object’s weight, multiplied times the distance the object lies from the fulcrum. In the illustration below, the load of 300 pounds is multiplied
by the distance the load lies from the fulcrum (5 feet). The 100 pound weight is multiplied times the distance it lies from
the fulcrum (15 feet). If the two sides of the equation are equal, the beam must remain in balance. The math is fairly
simple. You multiply the 300 pounds times 5 feet which equals 1,500 foot pounds. Then multiply the 100 pound weight
times its distance from the fulcrum. The result of 1,500 foot pounds illustrates that the same leverage is derived on both
sides of the fulcrum (foot pounds is the result of multiplying distance in feet times’ weight in pounds.) (See Photo C)
Now let’s apply this to a mobile crane. In the illustration below, the right side of the balance beam is raised up, much like
the boom of a crane. As long as each object’s leverage remains equal, the beam remains in balance. (See Photo D)
Now let’s take it a step further and suspend the load below the beam, like it would be from a crane. In the illustration
below, the beam can remain in balance if the leverage derived from each object remains equal. This example is great, as
long as nothing changes, but we know this is not likely to happen. As soon as the weight of the object on the right is
increased (like picking up a heavier load) you must compensate by increasing the leverage on the left side of the beam. If
the object on the right moves closer to the fulcrum (like retracting a boom), you must compensate by decreasing the
leverage of the object on the left side of the beam. (See Photo E)
While these examples show how balance is derived, we know a crane must be able to remain in balance under a variety
of load changes, radius changes and other factors which influence balance. In the field we think of balance as “stability”—and the ability for a crane to stay stable while accomplishing the task at hand is the end goal.
Photo B
Photo A
7
Photo D
Photo C
Photo E