KBR recently completed construction of the Air Products Hydrogen Plant located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. KBR Canada has been building and engineering for the oil and gas industry since 1951.

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There can be nothing more reassuring in business than a strong brand name, KBR Canada President Christian Brown says. For its clients in the oil and gas industry, the security of having one of the most respected names in construction means they can sleep well at night, he says.

“Brand is predictable performance, and with KBR that means we’re going to deliver the project even when it gets tough,” Brown says.

For 57 years, KBR has stuck with the Alberta energy industry, providing construction, turnaround and fabrication services to clients in the refining, petrochemical, power and mining sectors. The company provides a full range of services, including construction, construction management, turnaround, shutdown, pipe fabrication and modular assembly. Despite the numerous challenges it faces in its markets today, Brown says, KBR has the resources and the strength to come out on top.

Not only does the fact that KBR Canada is a subsidiary of global construction leader KBR mean that clients in Alberta can feel good about working with the company, but Brown also says KBR Canada benefits a great deal from its parent. He says the capabilities, resources and worldwide reach of KBR only serve to make KBR Canada a stronger entity.

“We’ve got an $8 billion U.S.-based parent behind us to help us with our projects,” Brown says.

A strong brand and financial resources are only two of the five differentiators that Brown says put KBR Canada in a position of leadership in Alberta. Beyond those, he says, the company also brings a wealth of human resources, globally tested project control systems and the ability to draw upon KBR’s worldwide expertise to the table.

The company has a number of technological capabilities that make it very comfortable in the Canadian market. Altogether, he says, KBR Canada has the platform to launch itself into new territories and markets.

Helping Hand
Being part of KBR gives KBR Canada a significant advantage compared to the rest of the industry, Brown says. Compared to many of its competitors, KBR Canada benefits from the intense financial backing the parent company provides for it.

“A lot of the competition in Alberta are privately held companies with limited financial resources,” Brown says.

“Having a parent in the form of KBR is an absolute benefit for us in terms of giving us the financial support [we need].”
    
Genius Pool
Whereas other companies might be limited to their own experiences in a small region and wouldn’t be able to try something new without considerable risk, KBR Canada knows it can pick the brains of some of the industry’s best minds, no matter where they are. “We’ve also got skills and people from our international projects that we bring into Canada,” Brown says.

This means that KBR Canada can use what its parent company has learned on projects and apply that knowledge to similar projects in Canada. This saves the company time and money that would have been spent developing its own processes.

“We basically take these systems and bring them into Canada and hone them and fine-tune them to suit Canada,” Brown says.

If general expertise isn’t enough, KBR Canada also has the option of pulling experts out of the field from KBR’s London, Houston or other offices around the globe, to lend a hand on a Canadian project. Brown says that’s something competitors based solely in Canada can’t offer.

“There’s always that insurance there if we need it,” he says. “Clients like having that insurance.”

Outside Help
KBR Canada can turn to its parent company to bring experts from outside to Canada, but “on the craft labor side, that’s a different story,” Brown says. Although KBR Canada currently has a full work force of labor that is 98 percent Canadian, Brown says there will be huge increases in demand in the near future. The increase in demand for labor will likely leave many firms in the lurch by the end of 2008, but Brown says KBR Canada are positioned to manage the challenge.

According to Brown, KBR Canada will be able to put its international expertise to use to secure labor from overseas. Also, he says, the size and reputation of KBR helps when negotiating with the government and labor unions to grant temporary worker status to the foreign work force.

“One of the crucial success factors on the craft labor side is this supply chain strategy,” Brown says. “As we move into the end of the year, we’re going to need these people.”

Projects are getting bigger and more complicated, he continues, making it even more important to have worldly, experienced employees available. “We need a stronger, more intelligent work force,” he says.

Young Blood
KBR Canada is doing its part to make sure tomorrow’s work force and leadership has the education and incentives they need to continue being a contributing factor in the company’s success, Brown says.

“We’ve got a very active and very integral part of our business in succession planning and development, where all managers have a list of high-potential employees and a succession plan that’s reviewed every six months,” he says.

Despite the high turnover rates in the industry, Brown says KBR Canada has been able to retain many of its most-skilled employees through sponsoring their ongoing education and giving them an exciting and challenging work environment. The incentives have been working so far, he notes.

“We’re also seeing a lot more young people wanting to come to the industry, and that’s good news for all of us,” he says. “Educators and employers are doing a good job getting the message out that this is a booming place to be.”