Brother & Sister Members of the SSMRC,
The Western Region of the SSMRC kicked off the first quarter of 2023 with a bang. Right after the holidays, work has been non-stop and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all.
Arkansas & Oklahoma (Local 216)
In Oklahoma, we signed Dooling Machine to the local agreement, and they have been working at Holly Frontier. Walbridge has continued to have Walmart distribution projects in Oklahoma and Allkraft has been performing work at Goodyear in Lawton OK. On the power generation side APM has had projects at Green Country and Seminole Power while Siemens has had projects at Chouteau and OG&E in Muskogee. We have a major project with Andritz Hydro at Keystone Dam that is ongoing. The second quarter is going to kick off with a couple of papermill outages with IPM and CR Meyer working projects at Kimberly Clark in Jenks, OK. APM will also have an additional project at Green Country in the second quarter and UPS has work at the Ardmore Refinery coming up.
In Arkansas, we have had major projects with Boyed Sanders at the Green Bay Packaging facility in Morrilton and Clearwater Paper in Arkansas City. CCC has also been busy with work at 3M in Little Rock and Westrock Coffee in North Little Rock as well as a project at Kimberly Clark in Maumelle. The first quarter power generation work was off the charts in Arkansas with APM working at Independence Power, White Bluff Power, Hot Springs Power, and Union Power. There were also projects with APCom at White Bluff and Independence. The second quarter will continue to be busy with Boyed Sanders and CCC having papermill projects, RMF Nooter is kicking off new construction on a Remuriate Acid Plant and Stevens Engineering is working on an expansion for Big River Steel in Osceola.
North Texas (Local 1421)
In North Texas, we started the first quarter of the year with eleven power generation projects including two turbine majors that have completed and two additional majors that are ongoing. Our local contractor Alltech Engineering has been working a major project for Lockheed Martin at their facility in Fort Worth and we are averaging 35 to 40 millwrights on site. The Lockheed Martin project is expected to continue for another eighteen months. The second quarter of 2023 is looking busy with another three power generation outages kicking off at the beginning of April and the possibility of a major project for Texas Instruments at a new chip manufacturing facility.
Central & West Texas (Local 1421 & 2232)
Our efforts to grow the Central and West Texas region have been going very well during the first quarter and work opportunities have been plentiful. Griffin Industrial and Corval Group have had projects at the Tesla Gigafactory, while C Young & Co and KCI have been working at the major Samsung expansion in Austin. Dearborn Mid-West, Seither & Cherry, Trademark Industrial, and Alltrades have been working projects on and off at Toyota in San Antonio. Power generation work has been picking up as well with Siemens Generation Services working at Panda Power in Temple and San Miguel Power in Christine Texas. APCom has ongoing work at Calaveras Power in San Antonio and Turbine Pros had a project at Lost Pines in Austin. Industrial Rigging, C Young & Co, and Rocking E have continued to work millwrights steadily on small projects across the Austin and Central Texas area. The second quarter will kick off with a Turbine Pros project, Bastrop Power in Cedar Creek Texas. There will also continue to be ongoing projects at Toyota, Tesla, and Samsung. Carl Young & Co will also be starting projects at the Infineon facility in Austin.
Louisiana (Local 729)
The first quarter of 2023 has continued to produce major opportunities for Local 729 and Louisiana millwrights. APM has been working several projects with more than 60 millwrights between them. Siemens Generation Services and Flour Maintenance Services have had several power generation projects in Louisiana. Milton J Wood had a major project with around 30 millwrights working at the Georgia Pacific Papermill in Zackary LA and Boldt completed a project with around 25 millwrights at the same facility mid-March. The petrochemical market has been extremely busy as usual with UPS, TISS, and Axis Mechanical group performing work across the state. The second quarter is going to be just as busy as the first with an APM project that will need around 50 millwrights kicking off in the beginning of May and a TOPS project for about 30 millwrights kicking off in the beginning of June.
Texas Gulf Coast (Local 2232)
On the Gulf Coast of Texas, the petrochemical industry is still dominant with projects at every major facility, and maintenance millwrights peeking out at around 300 Millwrights working full time. The power gen market has been busier than usual with multiple outages across the area.
Turbine Pros is working a major project at Coleto Creek in the Corpus Christi area and Siemens Generation Services has a huge ongoing project replacing Unit 8 at WA Parish that will continue to run into the second quarter. Siemens has ongoing work at Lewis Creek in Willis and NRG Cedar Bayou that will run into the second quarter.
Work has been slowing down at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport but we still have around 20 millwrights working until the next phase of the expansion kicks off when additional millwrights will be needed.
All of the dedication and hard work of the SSMRC millwrights is paying off with more work opportunities than we’ve ever had, and it continues to be a great time to be a millwright.
Fraternally,
James Rowland
SSMRC Western Region Director