A numbers game
Engineering firms
take on more projects
By Candace
Doyle
Editor
Work
appears to be on the up and up for engineering firms across the
state.
But numbers
alone may be deceiving.
A review of
information engineering firms submitted to The Daily Reporter
indicates that the number of projects companies have been juggling
duringthe first six months of this year is sizeable. In fact,
if the pace set in the first half of 2001 continues, many engineering
firms would finish this year ahead of last.
That, though,
is at first glance. A deeper look into the workings of the firms
that supplied information about the number of projects suggests
that may not be the case.
While many
of the firms were optimistic about the economy and predicted a
strong end to the year, they also expressed an uncertainty about
our collective financial strength, especially in light of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and their impact on consumer spending.
Don Arps,
the vice president of marketing for McMahon Associates Inc., Neenah,
said there's still work to be had, especially in the institutional
sector - schools, universities and health care facilities. "There's
a crying need to improve infrastructures," he said.
McMahon reported
it had 550 jobs in the first six months of this year - about two-thirds
the number of jobs in 2000.
But Arps added
that there is less work in commercial and industrial sectors,
and some projects have been put on hold until next year.
"We're
seeing some general reluctance to move ahead on certain projects,
especially in the manufacturing area," he said.
No 'walk in the
park'
"I would
say there's a good chance we won't meet goals given the recent
events," he said. "We thought we'd be able to meet similar
goals. We're still hopeful we'll come very close. (But) it's not
going to be a walk in the park.
"We're
optimistic that there will be a turnaround very soon, but it's
not going to come without some pain."
Cooper Engineering
Co. Inc. is also ahead of last year's schedule in terms of number
of projects worked on. The Rice Lake company was working on 80
projects in the first six months of this year - only 25 fewer
than the number worked on in all of 2000.
Bruce Markgren,
Cooper president, said he expects his company to do well this
year. However, beyond that, the future is too uncertain.
"This
has been a good year for us, but a large amount of our work has
been right here in the city of Rice Lake," he said. "I
know there's not going to be as much in Rice Lake."
"For
next year, there probably isn't as much work out there as this
year," he said.
"Everybody
I've talked to is talking about recession. I do expect it to slow
down a little. Most of the work we do is in the public sector,
which is not as much affected as the private sector."
Some of that
he attributes to the general slowdown in the economy, but he also
said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks could be detrimental to the
industry, especially for those who have relied on airport construction
work.
"Is this
money the government's going to spend on extra security at larger
airports going to affect construction of smaller airports?"
he asked. "That's only maybe three projects a year for us,
but they're nice projects."
Smaller projects
William Mielke,
chief executive officer of Waukesha-based Ruekert/Mielke Inc.,
said his company, so far this year, is ahead of last year. The
company worked on 30 projects during the first six months of this
year compared to 45 for all of last year.
"We have
more smaller projects going on right now," he said. "We
bid some very large projects last year."
Whether that
will mean his company's financial picture will end on a stronger
note this year than last is not clear, he said.
"Everything
that's happened has been so new," he said, mentioning the
slowdown in the economy and resulting postponement of projects.
"Then we had the Sept. 11 tragedy."
"I would
expect that would translate into less physical construction in
the next couple of years," Mielke said.
Kurt Muchow,
engineering manager for Vierbicher Associates in Reedsburg, also
said his company has been working on smaller, albeit more, projects
than in 2000.
"If you
did a mathematical calculation in terms of the number of jobs,
the size of the jobs are smaller," he said.
Vierbicher
in the first half of 2001 had 725 jobs, compared with 875 in 2000.
Tim Anheuser,
vice president of Kapur & Associates Inc., Milwaukee, though,
remained optimistic about the economy despite forecasts predicting
a recession. Kapur & Associates had 74 projects in the first
half of this year; it worked on 115 in 2000.
"Certainly,
today, we have not seen any downturn in our workload," he
said. "Bottom line, we have not seen a slowdown. We are as
busy this year as last."
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