Project Manager Dan Workman makes sure that everyone at MPW has the right tool for the right job. “For me, I’m tasked with managing all of the vacuum truck rentals and temporary labor for industrial services that are required to meet the outage and project demands of our customers in the Midwest, South-Atlantic and Western districts,” he said.
Workman, who joined MPW in 2006 as a pricing administrator, coordinates with each district’s regional and operations managers to ensure equipment and personnel are moved around as necessary. “I track and process all invoices related to vacuum truck rentals as well as all invoicing for the temporary labor we utilize,” he said. “This includes ensuring we accurately track and process CLC hotel stays for each outage or project. And of course, other duties as assigned.”
Workman admits processing the CLC hotel stays isn’t one of his favorite duties, but he really enjoys interacting with MPW personnel and learning new facets of MPW’s operations. He also enjoys searching for ways to improve processes, such as better tracking, reporting, and utilization of equipment and personnel.
“The biggest challenge by far is learning how to move equipment and personnel to support our customers,” Workman said. Another challenge, which faces the entire transportation and logistics industry, is a shortage of available people and drivers to meet the work demand. “Secondary to that is being able to hire and retain them,” he said. “I know as a company we’ve looked into competitive wages, benefits packages and so on.”
There’s no reason for a project manager to be bored. Workman said each day begins with walk-arounds to track what equipment is onsite for post-trip inspections and what equipment is in maintenance, fabrication, or paint and body for repair. Next, he tracks what equipment is stationed on the Ready Line to be sent out locally or to other MPW branches.
“I review the Hebron deployment schedule so I know what jobs we have for the day,” Workman said. “And, depending on the day, I have scheduled meetings with other districts and branches to discuss their schedules and needs for equipment and personnel.” He said there are also random calls for personnel and equipment support that come in daily from other branches. “Everything requires follow-up by phone, text or email, so the days are normally quite busy.”
Away from the office, Workman is a self-proclaimed traditionalist. “My two kids, Olivia and Logan, are my focus. Even though Olivia is off at college at Miami of Ohio, we talk and text frequently,” he said. “I visit as often as I can.”
Workman said Logan keeps him busy with his interests. “Mainly football with weightlifting in his junior year. It’s the off-season so this is a break for me!” Workman said. “I recently got back to the shooting range, which has been a welcome addition to my weekends.” He said he enjoys reading and tries to watch as much college sports on television as he can. “But, it is outage season, so right now my mind is on that.”