A leader and friend retires

Every business has its milestones, memorable as waypoints in the company history that are looked back upon as "the good old days." Tim Shaw's retirement at the end of 2009 marks one of those waypoints in our company history that now extends back 80 years to when Robert Douglas Shaw and Rudy Kauth began the business with $200 each in the depths of the Great Depression.

There were several Shaws in the company over the years, including our founder, R.D. Shaw, and his children, Ruth, Kathleen, and Douglas Shaw. All were partners in the business at some point. Tim Shaw, R.D.'s nephew, is the last remaining namesake and with Tim an era comes to a close.

Tim joined Shaw Electric while in college as a part-time draftsman. Cutting-edge technology back then meant you had an electric eraser instead of the pink Eberhard Faber erasers. If you were really on your game you could produce an ink drawing using a fountain pen and a Carter's ink well. These drawings still exist today, but it requires a visit to a museum to see them.

Tim Shaw is a success by anyone's yardstick. This is an industry where conflict is often the norm and a thick skin is as a job prerequisite. However, after 30-plus years in the business, you will not find a person that will speak ill of Tim Shaw. Anyone who met him through business or sat across the table from him in a meeting respected Tim and many, many called him "my friend."

So where did this ability come from? Tim certainly entered the business with no sense of entitlement as a result of his name. He understood the value of hard work from the first day on the job. His wife Cindy once remarked "You know, people just don't realize what a hard job this is. Tim works his tail off every week. There's no such thing as leaving early on a Friday afternoon like you might see in other jobs."

Tim understands the difference between right and wrong and has the character to stand by his beliefs. That quality garners respect in any profession. Tim is also a "nuts and bolts" guy. Putting an electrical project together means dealing with thousands of details and Tim was never shy about diving head first into the deep end when a new project was dropped on his desk.

As the years rolled by, Tim became known as one of a very few project managers who could take on the large projects without breaking a sweat. In every respect, Tim led by example. He will be missed.

Best wishes to Tim and Cindy as they enter retirement.

Your friends at Shaw Electric Co.

Shaw management changes

Tim Shaw's retirement as President of Shaw Electric Co. brought about some changes in our senior management team. Effective January 1, 2010 the following people assume new roles within the company:

• Robert Minielly was promoted to President of Shaw Electric Co. Bob first worked for Shaw as a laborer while in high school starting in 1979 and moved up in the organization, first in the warehouse and subsequently in our estimating department. For the past five years, Bob has been Vice President of Estimating and Preconstruction Services. Bob is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University.
• Arthur Wood was elected to the Board of Directors of Shaw Electric and Secretary of the corporation. Arthur first worked for Shaw in 1999, then moving to Detroit Electrical Services for nearly 10 years before returning to Shaw Electric in early 2009. Arthur is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

We would also like to extend a somewhat belated welcome and acknowledgement of a new employee within our subsidiary company, Shaw Systems Integration. Jeff Brown comes to us from a career within Johnson Controls. Jeff is the Vice President of the new Shaw Systems Integration.

C.S. Mott project nears halfway point

Shaw Electric is nearly halfway through the electrical contract to bring power to the new 1.1 million-square-foot C.S. Mott Women's and Children's Replacement Hospital at the University of Michigan. We've purchased nearly 85 percent of the materials to complete the project.

The facility will consist of a nine-story clinic and a 12-story tower devoted to inpatient care. Nearly 855,000 square feet will be devoted to inpatient, 245,000 square feet will be used for clinics, and offices and 180,000 square feet will be used for future growth and expansion. We have a long history of health-care projects, like our various projects at Beaumont Hospital, but we always appreciate a new challenge.

We have nearly 100 Local 252 electricians in nearly every area of the new facility. Their task is to furnish and install temporary power, 120-volt branch power and the complete power distribution system for the hospital and clinic spaces. Over the course of the project, Shaw will install nearly 107 miles of conduit and 585 miles of wire throughout the hospital.

The project is being coordinated in 3D. In essence, we build a digital prototype of the building that allows us to manipulate areas of the project to see how it affects or conflicts with the rest of the building. Potential conflicts between the contractors are also caught in this phase, ultimately reducing coordination issues and errors in the field.

The project broke ground on Oct. 6, 2006, and is on schedule to open in the fall of 2012.

Project Manager: Dan Cervenan
Project Superintendent: Craig Theros

Oakwood CSO project on target for 2011 opening

We've hit the halfway point in our project to install pump motors and a control system to the $154 million PC-755 Oakwood Combined Sewer Overflow Control Facility and Pump Station. The project began in the fall of 2007 and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2011.

The City of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is building the facility in southwest Detroit to eliminate untreated sewer overflows into the Rouge River during heavy rain storms. As part of federal mandate, the city is replacing the existing Oakwood Pump Station and constructing a 9 million-gallon combined sewer overflow retention basin and a pumping station.

Shaw's $11 million share of the project includes a 15KV Switchgear lineup that feeds two 1,500 horsepower, 15KV Storm Pump motors and six 2,000 horsepower, 15KV Storm Pump motors.

These motors pump the pre-treated sewage from the pump station through a series of screens that remove solids. The water is then stored in the CSO basin. As the rain subsides, the water is released to the main waste water treatment plant in a controlled manner. The project also has provisions to feed a 13,200V/480V double-ended substation to distribute power throughout the facility.

Like many of the DWSD waste water facilities, the project requires that we install an Ovation control system that operates the entire facility. It is used to start and stop motors, report levels within the facility, report alarms or fault conditions when there are problems, and inject the proper dosage of chemicals to pre-treat the sewage. One of the many benefits of the Ovation System is that the entire facility can be monitored and controlled at the remote DWSD Central Station.

Project Manager: Bob Marsh
Project Superintendent: Doug Debastos