DDC Journal: Rethinking Steel

Leader In Steel Erection And Fabrication Leans On Innovation And Teamwork To Reimagine Construction Solutions

BZI, a leader in steel erection and fabrication, is using technology and innovation to make construction safer, faster, and more efficient. The young company was founded in 2006 and reorganized in 2016, and in the five years from 2017 to 2021, it had grown its revenue 10- fold. Today, BZI is ranked among the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America, including #1,795 overall, #82 in the construction category and #1 in the Cedar City, Utah, region.

What sets BZI apart is its ability to challenge the steel industry’s status quo through innovation. Its primary focus is on steel erection, including mezzanines and roofs, walls, and platforms. BZI also operates a steel fabrication facility in Cedar City, whose capacity of 2,500 tons/ month lends greater efficiency to the company’s projects. The firm’s sister company, Innovatech, LLC, specializes in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of innovative construction equipment that allows BZI to perform with greater efficiency and safety on every job. Together, these company divisions have integrated products and systems that deliver unbeatable timeframes and better results to clients across the nation.

“Normally, you’d go out [and] there’s a steel erector, and then there’s somebody else that’s doing steel fabrication and somebody else that’s doing wall systems. We’ve been able to integrate many of those elements, so we can provide under one roof the qualified teams and systems and approach to mitigate scope gap – that’s a financial risk for our clients – and provide a higher-quality deliverable,” says James Barlow, CEO of BZI.

TEAMWORK, INNOVATION AND ACTION

The driving force behind BZI’s tremendous growth these past eight years is the company’s motto: “Teamwork, innovation, and action.” These three core tenets have placed them firmly on the path toward intentional excellence, both internally and on every project.

BZI’s team of over 800 employees remains committed to each other and to the mission of delivering results. These people are who push the company’s innovations forward, keeping them on the leading edge.

“Innovation is about our commitment to approach opportunities with open minds and actively pursue new methods that will improve (the industry),” Barlow says. “We target specific attributes of innovation — meaning it’s not just about how we can do something different. It’s ‘How can we improve safety?” and “How can we improve efficiency?” We’re very intentional about the way we approach our innovation initiatives. And then action characterizes our commitment to deliver results to our clients. We have this mantra of ‘Over-promise and over-deliver.” We always want to beat the status quo in our commitment, and we always want to beat our commitment when we approach the final outcome. It just lends to a great environment for continuous growth in the business and continuous improvement to ourselves as team members.”

Following this motto has led BZI to create and implement several industry-defining tools and processes. Its PanelTable™ system brings a unique level of efficiency and productivity to the job site, paired with the security and safety brought by the MezzMaster™ telehandler attachment. BZI’s newly debuted WallMaster™ was recently recognized by the Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards, landing a spot as a finalist in the architecture category. The material handling attachment is specifically designed to build and transport insulated metal panel (IMP) assemblies without disrupting nearby trades.

These products have diverse applications and offer several value propositions to clients. Most important, though, is their ability to produce safer, faster, and higher-quality deliverables.

“Across the industry, there’s kind of a hue and cry of labor shortage. With our processes, we are reducing man-hours pretty significantly in some cases, between a 30-40 percent man-hour reduction. That’s a great response to a labor shortage problem,” Barlow says. “We’re able to deliver these projects and do so in a safer manner, because our philosophy that’s driving a lot of the innovation is taking the aerial hours’ time that would be spent up at height, at risk of falling and put as many of those hours on the ground as possible. Reduction of exposure by engineering out the hazard is a huge value, I think, to our clients, and obviously to us in trying to provide a better service.”

PARTNERS IN INNOVATION

Another core element of BZI’s approach is its atmosphere of collaboration, inside and out. Internally, BZI’s growth has opened new doors for its team members’ careers, helping catapult them to new opportunities within the steel industry. This keeps employees committed and fosters even greater innovation.

Externally, BZI has built a network of leading developers, contractors, and vendors to partner with. To continue exceeding expectations, BZI prioritizes finding like-minded companies that are equally dedicated to innovation. Barlow notes Nucor, which provides joist and deck, IMP, and structural steel components, as a prime example of the kind of partner his company seeks out. By working together, BZI and its external partners have forged new territory in the steel industry and achieved greatness on landmark projects across the nation.

“It’s pretty much paramount-both at the vendor level as well as the client level-to have fabricator and contractor partners that are interested and willing to go the distance on the proving of new processes and, at the engineering level, providing support for specific connection designs and those kinds of things that are necessary in order for us to make the processes work,” Barlow says. “All of those are pretty much must-haves if you’re going to take on some of the challenges that we do from an innovative standpoint while revolutionizing the industry.”

Original article available at: https://www.ddcjournal.com/issues/spring2024/