Nov 3, 2011
THOSE WERE THE DAYS…THESE ARE THE DAYS!!

Almost 19 years ago to the day, I was the owner of a struggling security guard and alarm installation company.  I wasn’t making any money and, to make matters worse, I was dealing daily with a whole host of frustrating—and frightening—issues.  My security guys would be caught sleeping, making inappropriate comments to the cleaning lady, or wave a firearm around without just cause.  There had to be a better way to make a living, right?

It just so happened that one of our security clients was a major public utility company, and they were looking to outsource their work area protection needs—traffic control—to a responsible vendor.  Somehow, I convinced them that AWP was that vendor.

And, so the journey began.  When I think back to those early days now, I have to laugh.  There was no “how to” manual available on how to structure a traffic control operation, no commercialized training, and very few DOT or local regulations.  We made it up as we went along—trial and error.  It took a long time before we settled on full sized company owned pickup trucks for deployment—we first used employee vehicles, then cars, then compact  pickups.  We used vinyl mesh signs (not retroreflective) mounted on “pogo” stands, i.e., one piece stands with a sharp spike at one end that you stood on to drive into the ground. There were no employee cell phones—we communicated with a central office base station radio and hand held radios in the vehicles.  We made our own STOP/SLOW paddles out of wood or plastic, serviced our own vehicles and, most important, thought we would really be a big time, big deal traffic control outfit when we were putting out 50 flaggers a day.  That day arrived in 1997.

And look where we are today!  In October, 2011, a new, all time company record was set when a total of 823 AWP employees were hard at work throughout our 20 state territory in a single day!  Of the five highest daily deployment totals in AWP history, all of them occurred in October.  We now have more than 1000 people on our payroll, and our 2011 revenues will set a new record as well.  To be sure, as the CEO, I’m proud of how far we’ve come.  More importantly, I am immeasurably grateful to all of our AWP associates—now 1000 strong—for the hard work and dedication it took to get us there.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I better get back to making some more STOP/SLOW paddles—looks like we’re going to need them!

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