February 1, 2018
Established in 1958 in Edmonton, Alberta, International Cooling Tower (ICT) started as a small company focused on optimizing facilities’ cooling capabilities by using only the highest-quality materials and components. This still holds true today, but ICT has grown over the years into a North American market leader in industrial cooling tower design, manufacturing and field services. ICT has expanded across the U.S., with offices in locations such as Deer Park and La Porte, Texas; Tampa, Florida; and Mexico City. Integrity, experience and striving for innovative solutions have formed the foundation on which ICT’s current long-term business relationships are built.
Continued success
ICT’s bread and butter as a company is the ability to perform quick-turn projects, whether it’s a turnaround with a finite timeline or a project that involves a rental tower that’s costing the client per day. Having a limited amount of time to build a complete cooling tower is where ICT shines.
“Every company is going to deal with tight deadlines, but we complete projects with deadlines that may scare away the competition,” said Mike Zazulak, project director — Gulf Coast, ICT. “For example, we completed a project in Phoenix that involved nine cells to be built in six weeks. Working quickly and efficiently on large, quick-turn projects is what we do best.”
This past year, ICT has completed projects for some of the largest refining, chemical and petrochemical companies in the Gulf Coast. The company worked closely with a refinery in Houston on a tower that had previously burnt down, and ICT had to rebuild a 16-cell tower in nine weeks. ICT also provided its cooling tower services to a state-of-the-art plant in the Gulf Coast and to an electric company in the Southwest, where ICT built a 10-cell tower. ICT has had tremendous success in Louisiana and Texas, where it rebuilt a large eight-cell tower for a manufacturing site.
“ICT offers turnkey industrial cooling tower solutions that offer clients enhanced cost management and a dedicated design, engineering, procurement, construction management and implementation team that ensures a project is completed on time and within budget,” Zazulak said. “With all of these services, ICT manages everything internally on a single schedule instead of having to work with multiple, outside companies.”
ICT is a close-knit company that emphasizes family values and camaraderie, which are what the company built its safety program on.
“We teach our employees if they see something they wouldn’t do, it’s their job to stop it and teach the right way to do it,” said Tommy Gunter, regional construction manager — Gulf Coast, ICT. “You are your brother’s or sister’s keeper. ICT is a family, so we watch out for each other and want everyone to be safe at all times.”
Gunter emphasized ICT is committed to ensuring all its employees return to their families and friends safely every day. ICT challenges employees’ skills and talents daily to continually improve products, services and their relationships with clients.
“ICT’s talented and dedicated workforce is our greatest asset,” Zazulak said. “Our operations complete over 750,000 man-hours annually, and our safety programs are the underlining factor in our organization’s success.”
Taking the lead
Another factor that sets ICT apart from the rest is how it performs project planning and execution in the field. When it comes down to it, the design of all cooling towers is practically the same. But the planning and execution that goes into constructing the tower can make or break a project. ICT puts a large emphasis on field-directed planning instead of, for example, an estimating team relaying a schedule to a project controls team and then a project manager relaying information to the field.
“Our field superintendent foreman and lead hand sit down and create an execution plan,” Zazulak said. “It’s up to the construction management and project management teams to make sure the plan can be completed. The people who build the towers are the guys out in the field, so we want them involved in the planning every step of the way. Field-directed planning is the way we do things at ICT. We provide complete cooling tower construction and assembly services using ICT’s experienced project management teams and field crews.”
Not slowing down
ICT has grown exponentially in the past year in not only its client base but also its personnel. In operations, the company has grown approximately 25 percent over the past year, and ICT has brought on board new construction and project management personnel and new designers and estimators.
“New people bring new ideas, new perspectives and new ways of doing things,” said Zazulak. “It’s been fun to see this growth and be a part of it all.
“With strategic locations across the U.S. and Canada, we’ve built an efficient infrastructure of offices, manufacturing facilities, warehouses and storage yards to fully service the North American cooling tower market,” Gunter said. “Our on-site field technicians and field services division are supported by an extensive stock of major components and ICT-owned equipment: telescoping forklifts, manlifts, swing stages, work platforms, service trucks, tool containers, mobile offices, etc.”
ICT’s commitment to safety, quality and environmental sustainability has been the focus of its business practices for the past 60 years. In 2019, ICT isn’t slowing down. The company will continue to build on its momentum of success in 2018. ICT understands everything related to cooling towers, because that’s all ICT does.
For more information, visit www. ictower.com or call (832) 780-6900.
