Rockford Corporation: Fueling America

Thanks to international and national crises, energy has become a buzz word for major political decisions and controversies. At its core, however, it is the same as it has always been: the fuel of every sector of the global and America’s economy. Playing an intrinsic role in its foundation, Rockford Corporation has, for over 40 years, been laying oil and gas pipelines to transport this energy around the country. Founded in Alaska in 1967 by Lemmie Rockford, Rockford Corporation specializes in oil and gas pipeline construction, maintenance of facilities, directional drilling and facilities support. “Anything related to oil and gas” is how Frank O. Welch, president of Rockford, describes the company’s specialty. With Rockford for 10 years, Welch has been in the industry for 36 and began his career in pipeline construction on the Alaska North Slope. Prior to this position, he worked for Texaco and Halliburton. “There was no one else to work for but the oil companies,” he commented. When he got the opportunity to work on Alaskan pipeline, he jumped on the chance and has been in the industry ever since. Headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon since 1990, Rockford has integrated restructuring of the company to meet the growing demand in the energy sector. Working throughout the Northwestern and Southwestern United States, the company also has offices in Toledo, Washington, Rio Vista, California, Queen City, Texas, Buckeye, Arizona, and a new office in Houston. Rockford has enjoyed steady growth in the 1990s and in 2005 extended their geographical reach into the mid and southwestern regions of the country. In July of the same year, Rockford acquired a primary investment partner and now acts as a privately held company owned by Second City Capital, Lorne Stoppler, Lemmie O. Rockford, Patrick Rockford, and Frank Welch. Since this time, the company’s workload has more than doubled and Rockford is not slowing down, still hiring new employees and increasing their influence throughout the western part of the country. Their headquarters in Hillsboro perform major pipeline construction while their office in Rio Vista completes facilities upgrade and maintenance in California. The Toledo, Washington location performs compliance inspection, pipeline upgrades, and maintenance throughout the state. Rockford has a fleet of pipeline equipment that includes 55 sidebooms and related lowboys, service trucks, skids, and mats, among other necessary equipment needed for large and small pipeline projects. Working to meet the energy needs of the west coast, Rockford has 60 employees and an impressive annual revenue of $250 million. Self-performing everything related to pipeline construction, Rockford relies on subcontractors only if there is something unusual involved in the project, such as directional drilling. In this event, the company turns to the same subcontractors with whom they have an established relationship. On the Inside “We are always on the lookout for good people. We have some young college kids who work over the summer and we attain them as we can,” said Welch. Rockford knows they need to hang on to their employees and the company provides a benefits package to ensure that this happens. “We really try to get steady work, mitigate the peaks and valleys, and in doing that keep a real competent group of people working for us. Steady employees are important,” said Welch. Always aiming to “run as lean as possible,” Rockford enjoys a minimal amount of debt and invests their money where it is most important: their equipment. “We buy $5 to $10 million of equipment each year,” commented Welch. Investing in two spreads, manpower and equipment, Rockford knows what it takes to build their pipelines and invests in the “necessary stuff,” though the price tag can reach between $30 and $40 million. Impressively, Rockford does not do any marketing. “We just rely on word of mouth,” said Welch. This approach has certainly worked well. Laying Their Pipes Rockford recently completed work on the Transwestern Phoenix Project. Their portion of this endeavor alone is comprised of 144 miles of 36-inch diameter pipe traveling from north of Phoenix to near Casa Grande, Arizona. Mainly a desert construction project, this pipeline also maneuvers its way through some highly congested areas. This project was somewhat unique in that it required directional drills and special dry wash construction. For the Gulf Crossing Pipeline Company, Rockford completed 54 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline for their Gulf Crossing Expansion Project, laid in the thick of eastern Texas and traveling into Louisiana. This project also included directional drills and wetland construction. In November 2008, Rockford completed an installation of two 3801 compressors and all associated piping and filters. This project also included installation of 4,100 feet of 12-inch pipe which will connect three well pads. Scheduled to begin in 2010, Rockford is in the planning stages of the Ruby Pipeline for the El Paso Corporation. The entire project has a budget of $3 billion in new pipeline infrastructure that will connect clean-burning natural gas reserves in the Rocky Mountain area of the country to expanding markets in the western United States. This impressive feat will span 670 miles of 42-inch natural gas transmission pipeline, beginning at the Opal Hub in Wyoming and ending at an interconnect in Malin, Oregon, near the Northern California border. The initial capacity of the pipeline will be between 1.3 billion and 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, depending on the amount of customer commitments attained by completion of the project. Rockford will be responsible for 92 of these energy-transmitting pipeline miles, installing the stretch in southern Oregon. As with every market in the construction industry, there are sustainability concerns and precautions that Rockford follows to do their part in preserving the environment. To achieve this in the energy sector, all projects are regulated by Federal Regulation and Oversight of Energy, or FERC, and Rockford abides by their requirements faithfully. “It is a big deal on every job, to mitigate turbidity in water and let the sediment get off right away,” said Welch. Making it Happen Since Welch came to Rockford 10 years ago, the company has grown from a $7 or $8 million a year company to the revenue they enjoy today. “We haven’t thought about it a lot that is just the way it happened and we hope we can keep making it happen,” said Welch. Even in today’s economy? Acknowledging that some hard times may lay ahead, Welch also knows he is in a prosperous market. “It’s a healthy, good industry.” Rockford hopes to expand their annual revenue to approximately $350 million, depending on the amount of projects available, in the next two years. Already off to a strong start with their Ruby Pipeline project, Rockford Corporation is thankful to be in the energy business and the company is sure to continue powering much of the western United States.