Page 7 - Graypvine August 2022

Spec Engineering the infamous Hanoi Hilton. The Admiral survived his
with Tyler Cundiff captivity and he pointed out that the key to his survival
President, Food & Beverage was confronting the brutal facts while never losing
Group, Gray, Inc. faith. Jim Collins called this lesson the “Stockdale
Paradox” and I think there are some parallels. While
Almost every night around the dinner table at my we have had to face brutal facts in order to improve,
house, my family and I have a tradition of sharing our the Spec team has shown the faith required to see our
“high, low and grateful” for that particular day. These mission through.
conversations over the years have often given me a gift That faith can be realized in small victories one day at
of reflection and perspective, so I thought I would share a time. Those victories at Gray often come in the form
an update about Spec in this light. The context of this of living out our core values and recognizing those.
update is that over the past month there has been a Many individuals on the Spec team have taken on new
change in leadership and Dan Green has taken over as roles or additional roles over the past several weeks in
Interim President. These changes are significant and the face of change and uncertainty and those actions
are certainly a challenge to all involved, but the good exemplify our 2nd and 3rd core values. 7
news is that with challenge comes opportunity and I’m
extremely proud to acknowledge that the Spec team is Spencer Bristol
embracing change and grasping new opportunities. Engineering
First, I am grateful for the Spec team and everyone’s with Cuong Dinh
resilience to work hard and maintain a positive attitude President
through a challenging business transition. I am grateful
for Dan Green and Jeff Manon who are both only in their Time has flown in 2022! Our teams remain busy
first months on the Gray, Inc. team and have stepped in supporting design and construction projects through
to provide leadership and improvement initiatives. challenging market conditions. It’s hard to believe that
Second, we have some exciting news – a high – to increasing equipment lead times, rising interest rates,
share. In May, Spec moved into their new office and and a tight labor market have resulted in customers’
fabrication facility located in Naperville, Illinois. The needing to speed up delivery of current and future
facility boasts a 64,000 s.f. fabrication shop with two projects. Many promising opportunities with multiple
10-ton bridge cranes and 11,000 s.f. of modern office challenges to be overcome are on the horizon.
space that will serve as Spec’s new headquarters. In March, we welcomed Jake Millard to our team
Another high to celebrate is a recent project win as our Food & Beverage Director. This strategic
with Gray Construction for a significant amount of hire continues our focused growth in the Food &
stainless steel specialty platforms for project Storm. Beverage sector. Jake brings a wealth of experience
Perry Henderson with Anderson Dahlen has taken in the design, operation, and planning of food facilities
over sales and marketing leadership and he and the and this has resulted in exciting opportunities to
team are already identifying a potential pipeline of expand our service offerings beyond design to include
new opportunities where Spec and Anderson Dahlen equipment procurement and program management.
can collaborate. More importantly, these projects have presented
Thirdly is the low. When I think of this perspective opportunities for Spencer Bristol Engineering and
of the business. I think about the book by Jim Collins Gray sister companies to collaborate on delivery of
called “Good to Great” where he describes the story projects as a cohesive team.
of Admiral James Stockdale during the Vietnam War. We are looking forward to a strong finish to 2022
Admiral Stockdale was captured by the Viet Cong and and further improving our processes, services, and
held as a prisoner of war for seven and a half years in teams to set up another record year in 2023.