By: Jeff Coale
The definition of essential is summed up best in two words – “absolutely necessary” or “extremely important.” Being designated an essential business comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility. It means that people are counting on your business to perform all the time, even when you’re in the throes of a worldwide pandemic. That is the operating philosophy that Victory Energy employed during the first few of months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Afterall, the byproduct of our boilers and heat recovery products is steam which is essential to many. Where would the world be without steam?
Our “Full Steam Ahead” operating philosophy became more apparent during the initial months of the pandemic. Our plant maintained our manufacturing capabilities while employing maximum health and safety protocols – both on the plant floor and in the offices. Customers counted on us to meet the project and delivery specifications. Our concept-to-completion core promise was never more important.
During the March through June timeframe, three major HRSG projects moved through the plant in various stages of production, each with differing levels of manufacturing and production complexity – both on site and off site at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. These projects required a concentrated effort of orchestration with a multitude of inhouse resources and partners to ship products. Our in-house logistics team worked to make this happen seamlessly.
What is more essential than food? Over the course of the pandemic, the light has been shining brightly on the food supply chain. Disruptions were felt by consumers all across the nation in the way of empty shelves in supermarkets and shortage of products. Suddenly, the nation began to better realize the value of food producers and the impact that they have on their daily lives.
Many food processing customers looked to us to supply emergency rental boilers to maintain aggressive production while asking us to “fast track” projects from normal lead times of 12-14 weeks to fewer than eight. Being essential comes with its own set of expectations from customers and our self.
Recognizing the importance of being an essential business, we rose to meet the challenges. Many great things occurred as we pushed the normal boundaries during an extremely abnormal time. All of these remarkable successes are captured in our newest communications campaign – “This What an Essential Business Looks Like”
The campaign highlights significant achievements and milestones that Victory Energy realized over the past four months. Various segments of the business − from industrial and firetube boiler products, to burner retrofits, and on through to rental boilers that were continually deployed throughout the crisis − are featured in individual communications within the campaign. They depict the breadth and depth of the product line. The campaign captures the passion of the people of Victory Energy and how we’re laser focused on meeting customer covenants, even in the face of a worldwide pandemic. Being essential is a true responsibility. It’s one that we readily accept.
