Partner Spotlight: Samuel Engineering, Inc.

Samuel Engineering and UCEC partnered to provide panels for this plant in Weld County, CO. Photos courtesy of Samuel Engineering. 

By Mark Inboden

In today’s Partner Spotlight, I’m pleased to introduce Samuel Engineering, Inc. a valued partner in UCEC’s success.

This Denver Tech Center, CO-based engineering firm is a full service, multi-discipline, project development and execution company focusing on three industries: mining; oil and gas; and electric power. Within those industries, Samuel has diversified into renewable energy; utilities; and transmission and distribution.

With satellite offices in Rock Springs, WY; Durango, CO; and Salt Lake City, UT, Samuel is known for dedication to its customers and for tremendous technical knowledge. They were awarded "Rocky Mountain Engineering Company of the Year" in 2014 and 2015 at the Oil and Gas Awards.

A goldmine tailing filtration plant, Guatemala. 

Several folks from Samuel gathered in a conference room recently to tell our readers more about their company.   

Claire Wilson, Automation Engineer: Samuel Engineering has a very family oriented culture. The firm was started by the current CEO, Claudia Samuel, MSEE, BSEE, in 1996. Her husband, Everod Samuel, PE, MSEE, BSEE, MBA, the current President, came on board in 2000.

Our company culture promotes a unique, challenging and secure workplace. We hire for the long term. Even during the 2008 downturn, we didn’t have any layoffs. We relied on diversifying our existing business; repeat customer business; and a commitment to providing for our employees and their families.

Andraé Alexander, Automation Engineer: Our family-oriented culture helps everyone work better together, not only to get the job done, but to have the satisfaction of doing a great job. The owners of Samuel Engineering provide for the employees and that makes the employees want to work hard for them.

Dave Nowicki, Chief Electrical Engineer: I’ve never worked in a company before Samuel Engineering where I could go to the CEO with a problem, and be pointed in the right direction on whatever technical level is required. I also know I could go to a first-year person and get the help we need. Knowing you have that kind of backing from your colleagues—it’s important and the fundamental basis for highly functioning teams. This means our clients, vendors and business associates have full access to that kind of intellectual horsepower.

Jeff Whitlock, Chief Automation and Instrumentation Engineer: We have Christmas parties, other events and some of us play on a soccer team. The company does a lot of events. We celebrate everyone’s birthday, too.

After a while, the conversation turned to how Samuel Engineering and UCEC work together.

Jeff: Usually, Samuel does the panel design and UCEC builds it. They do the testing right there in the shop. We’ve worked with UCEC for more than 10 years, and they are always very easy to work with. If any problems are found with the panels, UCEC works quickly to get it changed right away, on the spot.

Claire: There is a significant amount of communication that goes on between Samuel and UCEC. This dialogue goes back and forth, after the job has been bid, even through testing, commissioning and beyond.

Andraé: UCEC understands how we work, how we do things as a company. We both understand ways to make the process go faster. When this happens, we’re able to go above and beyond what our clients ask of us. For instance, a panel project might be completed weeks earlier than planned.

Claire: UCEC shares a lot of our core values: safety, accuracy, attention to detail, use of technology. They build the panel in the best way. We don’t have to tell them what to do; they have already covered it. We expect the same level of excellence from UCEC that our customers expect from us.  

Jeff: I think our two companies share a dedication to diversity of thought. There’s a lot of discussion generated between us and UCEC, and that builds a relationship. We both end up on the same page.

Thanks for joining us for this “roundtable” discussion. We look forward to the next decade of our successful relationship with Samuel Engineering.

Mark is CEO and President of UCEC.

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