Decorated with a giant wreath, 75 feet of fresh garland, and a Christmas tree atop the boom, Southern's 100-ton crane was the largest participant in the Raleigh Christmas Parade - a first for area crane companies.

The need for repair was urgent as flags are lowered at half-staff to honor South Carolina soldiers killed in the line of duty. Sadly, three soldiers were killed in June.  This was a job for Southern Crane’s Liebherr LTM 1160-5.1, dubbed “The Bear,” whose powerful 203-feet of main boom and 141-foot jib could easily reach the 190-foot radius needed to lift crews to the flagpole’s peak at 186 feet.

“That was a dark cloud week for me,” said Capitol Facilities Manager David Martin. “I was relieved to find Southern Crane and its ‘Bear’ could so quickly help us restore the flagpole.”

Replacing the broken bearing wasn’t the only challenge facing Southern Crane’s workers. Federal law requires flags to fly 24 hours a day unless they are being exchanged for new flags. Crews created a unique solution to keep the colors flying: they tied the flags to the crane lines as they installed the new bearing.

“That way when the crane was in the air, the flag would be flying as much as possible,” said Kenneth Mullens, Southern Crane’s Columbia branch manager.

With the flags back in place, The Bear’s job was done.  Or so they thought.

A few days later, Martin called Southern Crane with another urgent problem: the pre-fabricated flagpole cable had broken and the flags were lying on the roof of the State House.

“A storm blew by and destroyed that cable,” Martin said. “That’s a day that’s going in my journal. To have something go wrong twice in a row sent us all into a panic. When I called Southern Crane, they were very accommodating and rushed right back to the rescue.”

The Bear was on its way back to North Carolina, but crews quickly returned to Columbia to rescue the flags once again. They started work on a Tuesday morning, and within a few hours the flags were back in position, flying high above the Capitol.

About Southern Crane
Southern Crane is among the Southeast’s most comprehensive crane and rigging service providers. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Industrial Constructors, one of the largest private employers in North Carolina. Southern Crane operates in Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington, N.C., and Columbia, S.C. The company is a passionate advocate nationally for industry safety standards requiring its crane operators to be certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO). All Southern Crane operators have been awarded NCCCO certification. http://www.southern-crane.com

The need for repair was urgent as flags are lowered at half-staff to honor South Carolina soldiers killed in the line of duty. Sadly, three soldiers were killed in June. This was a job for Southern Crane’s Liebherr LTM 1160-5.1, dubbed “The Bear,” whose powerful 203-feet of main boom and 141-foot jib could easily reach the 190-foot radius needed to lift crews to the flagpole’s peak at 186 feet.

“That was a dark cloud week for me,” said Capitol Facilities Manager David Martin. “I was relieved to find Southern Crane and its ‘Bear’ could so quickly help us restore the flagpole.”

Replacing the broken bearing wasn’t the only challenge facing Southern Crane’s workers. Federal law requires flags to fly 24 hours a day unless they are being exchanged for new flags. Crews created a unique solution to keep the colors flying: they tied the flags to the crane lines as they installed the new bearing.

“That way when the crane was in the air, the flag would be flying as much as possible,” said Kenneth Mullens, Southern Crane’s Columbia branch manager.

With the flags back in place, The Bear’s job was done. Or so they thought.

A few days later, Martin called Southern Crane with another urgent problem: the pre-fabricated flagpole cable had broken and the flags were lying on the roof of the State House.

“A storm blew by and destroyed that cable,” Martin said. “That’s a day that’s going in my journal. To have something go wrong twice in a row sent us all into a panic. When I called Southern Crane, they were very accommodating and rushed right back to the rescue.”

The Bear was on its way back to North Carolina, but crews quickly returned to Columbia to rescue the flags once again. They started work on a Tuesday morning, and within a few hours the flags were back in position, flying high above the Capitol.

About Southern Crane
Southern Crane is among the Southeast’s most comprehensive crane and rigging service providers. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Industrial Constructors, one of the largest private employers in North Carolina. Southern Crane operates in Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington, N.C., and Columbia, S.C. The company is a passionate advocate nationally for industry safety standards requiring its crane operators to be certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO). All Southern Crane operators have been awarded NCCCO certification. http://www.southern-crane.com

The nonprofit supports the crane, rigging, millwright and transportation industries by conducting research and by providing education and scholarships to students preparing for careers related to transportation or construction management.

The scholarships are part of the Association’s new corporate scholarship program, which launches in 2012 and funds scholarships for a period of three to 10 years, depending on a company’s contribution.

Other organizations that have joined the corporate scholarship program include: Terex, of Wilmington, N.C., Bennett International Group of McDonnough, Ga., and Mammoet of Houston.

Southern Industrial has been involved with the SC&RA for more than 35 years. This contribution will fund one $3,000 scholarship each year for five years to help students at four-year colleges or two-year vocational schools find success in fields related to the specialized carriers and rigging industry. Those fields typically include civil engineering and construction-related degrees.

Executive Vice President Earl Johnson, III said that Southern Industrial is always looking for ways to give back to an organization that has provided so much support to the industry.

“Helping the SC&R Foundation provide scholarships to students who want to enter our field is a good way to continue the legacy of hardworking problem-solvers in our industry,” said Johnson. “We owe the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association a great deal of gratitude for what it has done for our company and our industry as a whole.”

The SC&R Foundation has awarded more than $275,000 in scholarships since 1986.

Founded in 1962, Southern Industrial Constructors is among the region’s largest private employers, providing a unique set of heavy industrial construction services to organizations across the country.  These services include: comprehensive industrial construction; industrial electrical construction; complete plant relocations, installations and maintenance of manufacturing and process plants, turnkey rigging and precision millwright work; heavy lift and crane services; industrial process piping; precision civil/concrete work; and specialized metal fabrication/erection.

The SC&R Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, provides support to the carrier, crane, rigging, and millwright industries by providing industry research, education and scholarships. Since its inception, the Foundation has invested more than one-half million dollars to advance the work of the industry.

The nonprofit supports the crane, rigging, millwright and transportation industries by conducting research and by providing education and scholarships to students preparing for careers related to transportation or construction management.

The scholarships are part of the Association’s new corporate scholarship program, which launches in 2012 and funds scholarships for a period of three to 10 years, depending on a company’s contribution.

Other organizations that have joined the corporate scholarship program include: Terex, of Wilmington, N.C., Bennett International Group of McDonnough, Ga., and Mammoet of Houston.

Southern Industrial has been involved with the SC&RA for more than 35 years. This contribution will fund one $3,000 scholarship each year for five years to help students at four-year colleges or two-year vocational schools find success in fields related to the specialized carriers and rigging industry. Those fields typically include civil engineering and construction-related degrees.

Executive Vice President Earl Johnson, III said that Southern Industrial is always looking for ways to give back to an organization that has provided so much support to the industry.

“Helping the SC&R Foundation provide scholarships to students who want to enter our field is a good way to continue the legacy of hardworking problem-solvers in our industry,” said Johnson. “We owe the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association a great deal of gratitude for what it has done for our company and our industry as a whole.”

The SC&R Foundation has awarded more than $275,000 in scholarships since 1986.

Founded in 1962, Southern Industrial Constructors is among the region’s largest private employers, providing a unique set of heavy industrial construction services to organizations across the country. These services include: comprehensive industrial construction; industrial electrical construction; complete plant relocations, installations and maintenance of manufacturing and process plants, turnkey rigging and precision millwright work; heavy lift and crane services; industrial process piping; precision civil/concrete work; and specialized metal fabrication/erection.

The SC&R Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, provides support to the carrier, crane, rigging, and millwright industries by providing industry research, education and scholarships. Since its inception, the Foundation has invested more than one-half million dollars to advance the work of the industry.

Our presence in Raleigh, Wilmington, Columbia and Charlotte allows us to serve the Carolinas and across the Southeast. This enables us to attract the most highly skilled workers, as well as efficiently manage schedules and reduce costs for our customers.

We are excited to have Mark Thomas on board as our new corporate safety and risk manager. Mark is actively involved with our branch safety managers and our insurance relationships.

Mike Torsiello is still in his first year as our chief financial officer and has been instrumental in implementing project controls and reporting systems at all of our locations.

I hope you enjoy this latest edition of our newsletter as we continue to share what makes our organization a leader in industrial construction.

John G. Wilson, President

It didn’t take long to get his wish. Thomas joined Southern Industrial as Corporate Safety Director last November after seven years at Balfour Beatty Construction. Upon his arrival, he was immediately impressed.

“Some situations our guys deal with every day are challenging,” Thomas said. “To see how they solve those challenges and move large equipment through congested areas and into place safely has been nothing short of amazing.”

Thomas grew up in Red Springs, N.C., and spent his summers running a cotton-scouting business. After graduating from UNC-Pembroke, he obtained his master’s in occupational safety from East Carolina University.

“I chose construction because of the opportunity to improve safety on jobsites and the fact that it’s very dynamic by nature,” he said.

At Balfour Beatty, Thomas served as the regional safety manager for the Carolinas. He joined Southern Industrial at the recommendation of previous safety manager, Daniel Erwin. Thomas said he’s pleased to join such a great team.

“Without a doubt, my favorite aspect so far has been the people,” said Thomas. “My first chance to meet staff was at the annual project manager training. I walked into the conference room and four or five project managers immediately introduced themselves. From that moment on, I felt like I was a part of the team.”

Thomas said Southern Industrial has an excellent safety culture in place. One he hopes to impact with new ideas for communication among supervisors and employees that will push the company’s stellar safety record to even higher levels.

“My philosophy is if you’re going to get the best out of your safety program you have to get all workers on the project involved. They make things happen,” he said. “Our supervisors really care about the guys, and we’ll keep reiterating that message so it’s part of everyday life on the job.”

Just because Ted Price, Sr. went into retirement last September doesn’t mean he’s officially leaving Southern Industrial Constructors. You see, he’s been working in machines and rigging since 1957.

Long before Price joined the Southern Industrial family, he was acquainted with Founder Earl Johnson, Jr. Big Earl knew then that Price was a lifer.

You may know him as “Mr. Price” or “Mr. Ted.” Either way, he’s known as an expert. Price was raised in Lancaster, S.C., where he worked in the mills during high school. His uncle was a friend of Cecil Wilhoit, owner of Wilhoit Steel Erector and Rigging, Inc., and a legend in the crane and rigging business.

Price was hired by Wilhoit in 1957 and went about learning to rebuild transmissions, differentials and diesel engines at the welding and fabrication shop.

“I went from one thing to another to learn all the trades of the industry,” Price said. “I was just fascinated by the work.”

He was also taking night classes at Midlands Technical College in Columbia at the time.

Fast-forward to the1970s, Wilhoit’s company owned and operated 116 cranes, covering the east coast from Florida to Maine and west from Texas to Utah. Price and Wilhoit designed and built “Big Red,” a mobile trailer crane whose 420-foot boom length was unheard of at that time. Big Red’s lifting capacity was unprecedented, and Wilhoit claimed it was the largest mobile crane in the world.

The Wilhoit-Price pairing was responsible for constructing some enormous structures back then, including the blast platform at Cape Canaveral, the largest steel structure ever built. At Cape Kennedy, they had the heavy-hearted task of dismantling Launch Pad 34, where the Apollo One astronauts died in a fire.

They also installed two of the world’s largest gantry cranes at the shipyard in Newport News to replace reactors on the U.S.S. Enterprise Aircraft Carrier. The lifting capacity of the larger crane is 600 tons with a 600-foot girder length at 400 feet high. Both cranes are still in use today and so big they can be seen for miles.

Closer to home, Price and Wilhoit erected many large buildings in Columbia, including the Carolina Coliseum and the west side of Williams-Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina. Work in uptown Charlotte is still visible today with the 21-story Bankers Trust and the 54-story former Wachovia Corporate Center.

Big Earl affectionately describes Price’s impressive career as “cool, old-school construction.”

“We’re talking Golden Gate Bridge-type work for our region, and they did it from the seat of their pants,” he said. “Those were huge years in construction, changing the face of the world and its cities. And they were fearless in what they did.”

As one can imagine, Price has many good stories and finds it interesting to compare eras.

“You didn’t have much dedication to safety then,” Price said. “Most people didn’t wear hard hats, safety goggles, hard toe shoes, or body harnesses.

“Thank goodness now it’s always good planning and safety first,” he said.

In 1978, Wilhoit relocated to Florida to continue work at Cape Kennedy, so Price started The Crane Company Inc.

“His skills as a crane and rigging professional are unparalleled,” said Big Earl. “There aren’t many people in the world who know what he knows. He physically sketches out everything and goes to painstaking detail to figure out how to do the toughest jobs. He always comes up with something innovative, like Leonardo da Vinci.”

One example is the Thomas Cooper Library in Columbia. It needed new windows, and yet 16 huge, bronze screens that towered 19 feet wide and 25 feet high, stood in the way. Each weighed over 3,900 pounds.

Price designed a cantilever rigging device suspended from a 120-ton crane to connect to the fragile screens, swing them out, and set them down while the windows were repaired.

“Nobody else could have figured it out,” said Big Earl.

Price said that in many cases, you just had to design and build what was needed at any given site.

“There weren’t so many types of equipment available at that time,” he said. “We had to do difficult things and design special rigging apparatus to get the job done.”

Some of his other unique jobs included relocating the U.S. Repeating Arms (maker of Winchester guns) plant from Hangum, Mass. to Columbia, which required hauling 92 tractor-trailer loads of machinery.

His company also relocated a 768,000 pound hopper from Vulcan Materials’ quarry – all in one piece. The hopper was 24 feet wide, 36 feet high and 86 feet long. So big it had to be placed on piers and anchored down.

Though, Price was never one to shy away from tough situations on the job, or off.

In 2007, he rode his Harley-Davidson with The Iron Torch Riders from Fairbanks, Alaska, all the way to Key West, Fla. to raise funds for the Special Olympics. The 21-day trip included one 22-hour day, driving more than 488 miles over the Dalton Highway, which is known as the “Ice Road.”

“That ride on the Dalton was absolutely horrible, dangerous and life-threatening at times,” Price said. “Five of our 43 riders crashed there with injuries such as broken ribs and arms and had to fly home.”

Back in the Carolinas, Price remained friends with Big Earl over all these years.  Sometimes their two companies would even share equipment.

When they merged in 2003, Price said it enabled his team to operate at a new level.

“Southern Industrial is one of the best companies in the state to work for,” said Price. “From the leadership right on down, we’re first-class professional, safety first, and focused on pleasing the customer.”

The Columbia office he started now employs nearly 100 people.

“Mr. Price has unique skills from a lifetime of rigging and crane work. He knows his men, the equipment and the work, and he loves the business,” said Big Earl.

Last September, Price celebrated his 75th birthday by “retiring.” But he still works a couple days each week, gracefully passing on his rigging expertise and wisdom.

“Everything matters,” he said. “My father told me at a young age, ‘Do your work well or you will repeat it in a storm.’ That’s held true all these many years.”

“It’s a big job. We don’t normally do general construction, but we know the work and this is the perfect opportunity to show our industrial construction skills and potentially help install electrical and heavy machinery,” said David Currier, general manager.

The demolition phase was completed near the end of last year, which included stripping the roof and siding and cutting into the steel support beams. There were also concrete mezzanine levels on each floor which were removed by crane.

Chemetall, a subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings, Inc., is a global producer of organometallic compounds based on lithium, sodium, magnesium, and other elements. These chemicals are used by companies in the photography, electronics, building and pharmaceutical industries.

Demolition work carries with it a serious set of risk factors, according to Currier. He points to Southern Industrial’s morning “Tool Box” safety meeting where staff addresses those specific risks.

“Working safely is our number one concern. When we have several crews performing demolition work on different levels, sometimes above each other, we have to coordinate work and make sure to eliminate risks,” he said.

“In the Tool Box meeting we talk about the hazards of the day, where crews are going to be working, and what to look out for,” said Currier. “It’s important for all jobs, but especially on this one because every day is unique.”

This vigilance has paid off with zero incidents or accidents at this site.

Also worth noting, five new crew members joined the team for the Chemetall project and have stayed on permanently. Currier also mentioned Southern Industrial added 10 crew members out of Greenville, S.C., to help with a project for GE Aviation.

This three-year contract began last fall in which Southern Industrial supports machinery and equipment maintenance there. The Greenville plant produces high-pressure turbine blades used in commercial aircraft engines.

“These projects are great opportunities to work with two premier companies,” Currier said. “They both involve really interesting work for our staffers.”

WILMINGTON, N.C.

As many as 80 Southern Industrial crew members worked to upgrade EPCOR’s emissions equipment, helping them adhere to changing state and federal guidelines.

EPCOR’s plants in Southport and Roxboro had been operating using 80 percent coal, 15 percent tire-derived fuel and 5 percent wood chips. The new emissions rules meant reducing the amount of coal to 30 percent.

The huge changeover took more than a year, starting in summer 2009 and finishing last November.

Southern Industrial Project Manager Rick Worley said EPCOR needed the job done in phases. While that presented some challenges, approaching the process differently enabled them to save the company money on projects at both plants.

“The original plan called for a new dump truck system,” Worley said. “That meant digging a 40-foot pit for the unloading station.In the end, we helped them redesign the electrical system so they could install that unloading system above ground.”

“For us, it was a different approach. But in the end, the customer ended up with a stronger system,” he said.