| Vol. 3, No. 5 | Winter 2008 |
| A spirit of excellence at PPI Group | |
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Q. You mentioned the longevity of staff members, including three who have 35 years or more with the company, and two employees who left the company but later returned. To what do you attribute the loyalty from PPI employees? A. I tend to think the reason people seem to “stick” with us is that we still are a family owned business that recognizes the value of our staff. This comes form the top down, having leadership that casts a vision of success, issues a challenge of opportunity, and gets out of the way for their people to achieve. Q. PPI recently established a charitable education foundation. What is it and what is its purpose? A. The PPI Fund for Survey Instruction is a charity which helps support Oregon and Washington schools with dedicated land survey programs. We found in discussion with leadership within our survey community that the state organizations already had successful scholarship programs but the schools were desperate for assistance. PPI initially donated the seed money to begin the fund and takes the responsibility to facilitate fundraisers such as The PPI Fund Golf Tournament (which Topcon is a corporate sponsor) to raise money each year. Half of the monies raised go into the fund nucleus with the goal of eventually being somewhat self sustaining; Half is given through an application process through the PPI Fund Board and awarded at each states annual conference. The awards have no obligation attached of products and services coming from PPI. In fact we open up all fund raising opportunities to our competitors. They are annually invited to be a part of the golf tournament, to host a hole, or be recognized as a contributor to the fund. Q. Describe the customer/PPI relationship model. A. I firmly believe that if you are looking out for the best interest of your customer you can develop trust and loyalty which will grow your business and your reputation. PPI has been in business 81 years; we are in this for the long haul and know we need to take care of clients the way we want to be taken care of as consumers. |
From left: Jamie Williamson (TPS), Mark Contino (TPS), John Bond (TPS), Paul Rydell (PPI), Steve Ike (PPI), Jeff Peterson (PPI), Tigue Howe (PPI), Murray Lodge (TPS), Ken Shersty (PPI), Ray O’Connor (TPS), and Bill Painter (TPS). |
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Tigue Howe, principal of Topcon dealer The PPI Group, was recently honored with the Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) Spirit of Excellence Award at the Topcon 2008 National Dealer Meeting in San Francisco. Howe is the sixth recipient of the annual award which is the highest commendation presented to an individual within the TPS organization. Topcon Today recently visited with Paul Rydell, PPI’s public relations manager, about the company’s history and what PPI does to provide a “spirit of excellence” that is evident to anyone having the opportunity to work with Howe and the PPI organization. Q. What is the history of PPI? A. PPI (originally Portland Precision Instruments) was started in 1927 selling surveying and nautical instruments. In the 1960’s metrology was added and software solutions (Autodesk) in the 1980’s. We have |
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| TrenchSafety fills need with ‘How To’ manual for site-prep contractors | |
We work with Topcon equipment everyday and we know it really does work! Now we just need to help people understand how it works,” said David Dow, vice president of TrenchSafety and Supply, Inc. With this mission, Dow and his team at TrenchSafety, which serves as a Topcon machine control dealer for west Tennessee, Arkansas and northern Mississippi started writing material to explain machine control technology. “We didn’t want the manual to read like sales material,” Dow is quick to point out. “That’s not what it is. It’s for the purpose of information and no other book has as much information on machine control as what is contained in those 70 pages. Information is available in many places and we wanted to pull it all together in one book that could easily be read, start to finish.” This isn’t the first time Dow has recognized a need and sought to provide a solution. It’s a daily goal at TrenchSafety and an integral part of the company’s mission. Melissa and David Dow opened TrenchSafety after attending a trade show in 1993 where they had an opportunity to talk with several shoring and shielding equipment manufacturers. When they returned to Memphis, they called on contractors, utilities, OSHA officials, as well as equipment distributors in other parts of the United States. They quickly saw the need for a distributorship that focused on underground safety and training. Besides laser and machine control equipment, TrenchSafety rents, sells and services trench shoring and shielding equipment, pipe plugs and test equipment, steel road crossing plate and some related equipment. The company also offers six different construction safety courses. In fact, over 10,000 people have been through TrenchSafety’s day-long courses since 1994. The manual, “Make More Money with Construction Machine Control: A ‘How To’ Manual for Site-Prep Contractors,” is laid out in simple language using a plethora of photos and graphics for visual reference. It’s straightforward from the Introduction, which clearly states what the objective of the book is, to the Conclusion that recaps the material that has been presented. “We recently sold equipment to a contractor who came back and asked for four more copies of the book,” Dow said. “We’ve had people who have |
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| used machine control for years tell us that they’ve read the book and then re-read it.”
A review of the manual, “A New Text for Machine Control” by Harry O. Ward, PE, ran in BNP Media’s Site Prep magazine. Ward wrote, “I am unaware of anything like this on the market,” and many have agreed. Dow said they have received calls from as far away as Australia requesting copies after the article ran. “Once someone uses and understands machine control technology, they don’t want to give it up. Take a Larry Cox (a small family-owned and operated grading and excavation contractor using Topcon satellite 3D technology in Arkansas). You can’t take it out of his hands now that he’s worked with it. And he’s not the exception. “We want people to understand machine control. It’s an exciting technology and this book provides what they need to know to make their operations more productive and profitable.” Read Ward’s review here. |
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