Organization: MCAA

Find Talent for Your Company’s Future Growth with the MCAA GreatFutures Jobs Board

MCAA members looking for talented young people to ensure their companies’ future competitiveness can get a helping hand from the MCAA’s GreatFutures Job Board. Visit the board and login with your MCAA.org password to post your company’s internship and job opportunities. While you’re there, be sure to browse the student resumes to connect with potential matches. If you have any questions, please reach out to Megan Walsh.

Learn How to Best Identify Potentially Critical Issues from Former Enron Corp. CFO, Andrew Fastow at the 2021 MCAA Virtual Education Conference.

As part of our Virtual Education Conference (VEC) Essential Learning for Unconventional Times, you will hear from Andrew Fastow.

When is it acceptable to engage in a transaction that technically complies with the rules but may be misleading? Can a transaction that technically complies with the rules be considered unethical or illegal? Is it ever appropriate to depart from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)? In “Rules Versus Principles” Fastow will cite examples of such transactions at major companies, discuss the rationalizations made by executives to justify their decisions and discuss examples of how these decisions can cause great harm to stakeholders.

Andrew S. Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer of Enron Corp. from 1998 – 2001. In 2004, he pled guilty to two counts of securities fraud and was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He completed his sentence in 2011 and now lives with his family in Houston, Texas. Fastow currently provides litigation support at a law firm and consults with public companies.

Register today and join your MCAA friends and colleagues online at MCAA’s first Virtual Education Conference (VEC) Essential Learning for Unconventional Times, March 22 – 25, 2021.

Registration is available for individuals and for companies (up to 10 registrants per company registration). Questions can be directed to eventregistration@mcaa.org. We look forward to seeing you in March!

Thank you, CNA for sponsoring this session and your continued support of MCAA.

REGISTER NOW

Find the Latest from Nu Flow Technologies and Craftmark Pipe Markers in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:

Nu Flow Technologies
The Nu Drain System is used to rehabilitate aged or failing sewer, drain, vent and waste piping without digging, trenching or destruction inside buildings. This CIPP system can clean, line and reinstate pipes with diameters as small as 2”.

Learn More

Craftmark Pipe Markers
Craftmark is a world leader in Pipe Markers, Valve Tags, Equipment Signs and Safety Products for Leading Mechanical Contractors across the U.S. MCAA members receive a 40% discount on all pipe markers!

Learn More

Need Something Else?

Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!

Visit the Virtual Trade Show

Speaking of Smart Solutions

Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS

New Buyer’s Guide Is One of Many Ways to Connect with MCAA Supplier Partners

The newly updated 2021 Buyer’s Guide is one of many ways MCAA connects you with the supplier partners that make up your strategic supply chain. Take a look for detailed information about their products and services, then use the contact information inside to learn more.

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MCAA members can also learn more about our industry’s top manufacturers and suppliers in several other ways.

Find Out What’s New in the Virtual Trade Show

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council. Connect with participating companies for highlights and links to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest.

VISIT THE VIRTUAL TRADE SHOW

Connect with Manufacturer/Supplier Training Opportunities

As part of MCAA’s ongoing efforts to connect our contractor and manufacturer/supplier members, we have added a new Manufacturer/Supplier Training area on MCAA.org. Find it under the Resources menu. Visit any time to connect with the latest training opportunities from our supplier partners, including many virtual options.

VISIT

Learn from Contractor-Supplier Partnerships

This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS

Resource Highlight: MCAA’s Change Orders, Productivity, Overtime—A Primer for the Construction Industry

Each week, MCAA will highlight one or more of the educational resources that are free to MCAA members as a benefit of membership. This week, we focus on the 2020 edition of MCAA’s Change Orders, Productivity, Overtime—A Primer for the Construction Industry. The revamped resource provides guidance to contractors that are looking to measure the impact that delays, PPE and manpower limitations have on the construction sites that they are working on. The guide helps contractors identify and quantify activities before and after the start of the pandemic in order to build change orders correctly.

DOWNLOAD

You might also like these webinar recordings featuring the publication’s authors:

Plus, don’t miss this related resource:

Project-Specific Loss of Productivity Analysis Methodologies

MCAA Welcomes Steve Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer for Winsupply, Inc. in Sponsor Spotlight 13

In the thirteenth episode of MCAA’s Sponsor Spotlight series Rick Gopffarth, MCAA Co-Vice President/Assistant Treasurer welcomes Steve Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer for Winsupply, Inc. the Win Family of Companies headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. The Sponsor Spotlight Series is a new way for MCAA contractor members to learn more about the Manufacturer/Supplier Council (M/SC) Governing Board members, their products, their relationship with MCAA, and what being a member means to them.

Steve Edwards joined Winsupply in 2006. He began his career as a broadcast journalist working at television stations in Cincinnati and Dayton. He has had communications positions of increasing responsibility at Paramounts Kings Island, NCR Corporation and LexisNexis. He has won several communications awards and has extensive experience in crisis communications. Edwards graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in broadcasting.

North Mechanical Proves that Fabrication Can be Profitable on a Smaller Scale

Small and medium contractors have some advantages when it comes to both innovation and fabrication. Innovation is far easier to implement when there are fewer people to train on a new process. Fabrication can be highly productive in smaller spaces that require less overhead.

On Thursday, February 11, 2021, North Mechanical Contractors, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana shared some insights on how they drive an amazing amount of productivity through innovation. The presentation, led by North’s VDC and Technology Manager Trent Leinenbach and Tole Burnett, the company’s Manufacturing Manager, demonstrated the process, software and hardware that allow them to approach fabrication from a manufacturing mindset.

Their presentation largely featured a software integration with GTP Stratus that allowed them to connect their VDC and BIM department with the fabrication shop and the field. The software not only assists in their organization, process, purchasing and scheduling, it can be used to drive manufacturing equipment more efficiently. One of the many processes North shared in the video demonstration was how the software provides automated cut lists that can minimize waste by driving a Tigerstop to automate pipe lengths before cutting them automatically.

It also allows computer workstations at fabrication stations access to more information. This includes 3D models that can be rotated and zoomed with dimensions and hidden systems available to be seen.

An archived video of the webinar is available free to MCAA members.

WATCH NOW

Scissors Lifts Load Sensing/Operation Issue

SkyJack, Genie, and possibly other brands of scissors lifts that have been outfitted with load sensors are experiencing problems. While the sensors help the user comply with the recently revised ANSI A92.20 standard’s load sensing requirements, the lifts’ new sensor systems allow the user(s) to elevate with an overload and may leave workers stranded at elevation.

This occurs when platform elevation is stopped at around 10 feet high or higher. The overload light comes on and the lift will no longer operate. Apparently, the load sensors are in the lift cylinder, so they cannot start measuring actual platform load until the main lift cylinder is almost vertical.

If your company is using these types of lifts, make sure your workers know the lifts’ load limits and have an alternative way to accurately calculate the total load (for example, their body weight(s) plus the weight of tools, materials, etc.).

It is also a good idea to have a plan to get the workers down safely if needed. This might involve proper use of the lifts’ rescue functions or use of another nearby lift.

Highlighting NEI Instructor Kathryn Crosby

MCAA’s National Education Initiative (NEI) Seminars bring our best programs to your local association or your company thanks to instructors like Kathryn Crosby, owner and founder of C2 Consulting, Inc.

Kathryn has more than 30 years of industry experience, including time as the Vice President and CFO for a mechanical contractor. A past member of the MCAA Board of Directors, Kathryn now focuses on education and training. She serves on the faculty of MCAA’s Institute for Project Management (IPM), the Construction Education Institute, and the UA’s Instructor Training Program.

Her Job & Company Operations (JCO) Seminars give field and office leadership teams the good operational practices and solid procedures they need to deliver less problem prone projects, reduce duplication of effort, and allow your company to measure tangible results.

Like our other NEI instructors, Kathryn brings her unique blend of industry and teaching experience to virtual courses, a new NEI offering. Providing top notch, accessible education for everyone in your organization is what the MCAA’s NEI is all about! Even during the COVID-19 era. Visit the NEI website for more information about these seminars and a full list of the NEI courses available to MCAA members.

Need the Bottom Line on OSHA’s Recent COVID-19 Guidance? MCAA’s Summary Has It

OSHA recently released guidance to help employers protect their workers and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the workplace. MCAA’s new summary highlights the bottom line items in the areas of COVID-19 Prevention Programs, Return to Work Criteria, Social Distancing Measures, Engineering Controls, Face Coverings and PPE, and Sanitization, Cleaning, and Disinfecting Practices.

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What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws

Find the Latest from Trimble and Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co.® in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:

Trimble
Trimble MEP delivers sophisticated solutions that transform workflows from the office to the field. The Trimble Constructible Process allows specialty trades to build beyond BIM to automate fabrication and fieldwork with reliable construction data. With access to the largest library of manufacturers content and a broad portfolio of hardware and software solutions, Trimble optimizes the entire design, build, and operate lifecycle.

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Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co.® a Member of Morris Group International
An air gap is a vertical break between the supply pipe and the receiving source to provide backflow protection into the potable water system. This is required by code to prevent contamination of the potable water system. Optional finishes are chrome-plated brass (-CP) and nickel-plated brass (-NP).

Learn More

Need Something Else?

Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!

Visit the Virtual Trade Show

Speaking of Smart Solutions

This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS

MCAA’s Sponsor Spotlight Episode 12 Welcomes Greg Christopher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mueller Industries

In the twelfth episode of MCAA’s Sponsor Spotlight series Bob Bolton, MCAA Senior Vice President/Treasurer welcomes Greg Christopher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mueller Industries. Mueller Industries, Inc. is an industrial manufacturer that specializes in copper and copper alloy manufacturing while also producing goods made from aluminum, steel, and plastics. It is headquartered in Collierville, Tennessee and comprises a network of operations in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The Sponsor Spotlight Series is a new way for MCAA contractor members to learn more about the Manufacturer/Supplier Council (M/SC) Governing Board members, their products, their relationship with MCAA, and what being a member means to them.

Greg Christopher is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mueller Industries, Inc. Joining Mueller in 1992, he has spent much of his career in varying leadership roles within the company. Throughout his profession, Greg’s deep belief in the importance of relationships has kept him actively involved with customers and industry associations, including MCAA. Greg grew up in the Upstate region of New York near Buffalo, and today resides in Germantown, Tennessee, with his wife, Angie, and their two children, Henry (21) and Sophie (21).

MCAA Sponsor Spotlight 12: Greg Christopher, Mueller Industries

Greg Christopher is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mueller Industries,
Inc. Joining Mueller in 1992, he has spent much of his career in varying leadership roles within the company. Throughout his profession, Greg’s deep belief in the importance of relationships has kept him actively involved with customers and industry associations, including MCAA. Greg grew up in the Upstate region of New York near Buffalo, and today resides in Germantown, Tennessee, with his wife, Angie, and their two children, Henry (21) and Sophie (21).

Friday, February 12, 2021 | 2:00 p.m. EST

Highlighting NEI Instructor John Koontz

MCAA’s National Education Initiative (NEI) Seminars bring our best programs to your local association or your company thanks to instructors like John R. Koontz, MCAA’s Director, Project Management Education.

John has logged hundreds of days on the road each year since the NEI’s inception. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he has brought his unique blend of academic and practical experience to virtual courses, a new NEI offering.

A former tenured associate professor in Purdue University’s Department of Building Construction Management, John has been teaching since 1992. Before that, he spent 15 years in the employment of MCAA contractors in roles including senior project manager, project manager, project engineer, and estimator.

His Fundamentals of Project Management (FPM) Seminars feature topics that will help project managers run more productive and profitable jobs, from planning and time management to cost controls, scheduling documentation and people management.

The Field Leaders Education (FLE) Seminars for Construction offer a similar grounding for those in field leadership.

Finally, his Other Seminars (OS) for Construction explore how to forge strong foremen/project manager partnerships, improve operations, and provide an appreciation of MCAA’s Change Orders, Productivity, Overtime publication.

Providing top notch, accessible education for everyone in your organization is what the MCAA’s NEI is all about! Even during the COVID-19 era. Visit the NEI website for more information about any of these seminars and a full list of the NEI courses available to MCAA members.

Transform Lessons Learned into Business Growth. Learn More from HVAC Contractors Scott Berger and Kip Bagley at the 2021 MCAA Virtual Education Conference.

As part of our Virtual Education Conference (VEC) Essential Learning for Unconventional Times, you will hear from two successful HVAC contractors, Scott Berger, President/COO of Arista Air Conditioning Corporation and Past Chair of the MSCA Board of Managers and Kip Bagley, Vice President Service with EMCOR Services Mesa Energy Systems and Past Chair of the MSCA Board of Managers on how they have been able to refocus their service sales priorities and implement unique and proactive strategies.

“Lessons from Best in Class Service Contractors – Leveraging Key Performance Indicators to Drive Results” explains how top service providers found a way not only to survive, but to grow during these constantly changing times. Building owners and facility managers are now more than ever dependent on their mechanical service provider to provide them with the latest information, innovations and recommendations for keeping their building occupants safe and healthy. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to re-educate your customers and reinvent your offerings.

Register today and join your MCAA friends and colleagues online at MCAA’s first Virtual Education Conference (VEC) Essential Learning for Unconventional Times, March 22 – 25, 2021.

Thank you LAARS, A Bradford White Company, for sponsoring this session and your continued support of MCAA.

REGISTER NOW

North Mechanical Demonstrates that When it Comes to Fabrication, Efficiency Matters More than Size

In terms of productivity, the construction industry’s manufacturing has been lagging for years. Fabrication has increased output through robotics, lean principles, digitization and automation.

This has been hard to translate directly to the construction industry because every building, project and system is unique. Although similar techniques are used in every building, no two are the same and applying manufacturing concepts to the process has been a challenge.

In the second session of MCAA’s Fabrication Virtual Mini series, we are focusing on North Mechanical, an Indiana-based contractor that performs plumbing, mechanical and service. They operate a 20,000 square foot fabrication facility that drives tremendous productivity from a moderate space.

During a one-hour online session, North Mechanical will share video from their operations to demonstrate the tools, processes and techniques. Following the video, North’s VDC and Technology Manager, Trent Leinenbach and North’s Fab Shop Foreman, Tole Burnett will be joined by Sean McGuire, MCAA’s Director of Innovative Technologies and Adam Rich from GTP software to discuss and share technical details of the software integration.

The interactive discussion will share manufacturing concepts utilized at North, as well as how they are using new design software to get field drawings fabricated.

When: February 11, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Registration for the Fabrication Virtual Mini II – North Mechanical session is complimentary and limited to MCAA-members only.

SAVE YOUR SEAT

Beyond the Classroom Video Series: Taking The First Step Into the Unknown

A Notre Dame graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Anne Finerfrock was unsure which direction she wanted to take her career in. She knew she did not want to sit behind a desk but had no answers to an important question: is that a viable career option? Fortunately, Anne spent time at a career fair and began a conversation with a mechanical contracting company. Investing her time to seek out answers resulted in an internship at this company and her first step into the industry.

Anne speaks highly of the endless opportunities provided to individuals in a similar position, “The advantage of working for a mechanical contractor versus a large GC is that you really get involved in all aspects of the project.” Now a Project Manager at W.E. Bowers, Anne credits the MCAA GreatFutures program for providing opportunities to explore career options and internship possibilities that offer 8 to 10 weeks of first-hand experience.

The Results Are In From the First Round of MCAA’s 2020-2021 Student Chapter Competition. Congratulations to Our Final Four Teams!

MCAA’s Career Development Committee would like to thank all 19 student chapters that participated in MCAA’s 2020-2021 Student Chapter Competition. MCAA congratulates the four chapter finalists: Farleigh Dickinson University, Kansas State University, Missouri State University, and Virginia Tech Blacksburg Campus.

MCAA’s 2020-2021 Student Chapter Competition project required student chapters to act as the prime contractor on the renovation project to the historic University of Pennsylvania Museum. The Career Development Committee extends its sincere appreciation to MCAA Past President, Mark Rogers, and MCAA Career Development Committee member, Ted McHugh, both of West Chester Mechanical Contractors, Inc. for arranging the use of this project and providing the information and accompanying technical drawings.

This year’s project was challenging in itself and many student chapters had the additional unforeseen challenge of having to work and collaborate on their proposal from afar, with strict COVID-19 restrictions in place limiting team gatherings. Thank you to all MCAA student chapters who worked extra hard to submit a bid this year:

Ball State University
Binghamton University
California State Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
California State University Chico
California State University East Bay
Illinois State University
Kent State University
McMaster University
Oregon State University
Pittsburgh State University
Purdue University
University of Maryland College Park
University of Missouri Columbia
University of Nebraska
University of Southern California

Find the Latest from FARO Technologies, Inc. and Delta Cooling Towers, Inc. in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:

FARO Technologies, Inc.
FARO develops portable 3D imaging devices designed to capture and deliver real world information into the digital world for building and industrial facility documentation during the project lifecycle.

Learn More

Delta Cooling Towers, Inc.
TM Series – capacity from 250 to 2000 cooling tons – Engineered plastic tower provides longer life – Low Maintenance – CTI Certified.

Learn More

Need Something Else?

Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!

Visit the Virtual Trade Show

Speaking of Smart Solutions

This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS