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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Alaska Anvil: As stable as steel Employee-owned engineering firm delivers quality comprehensive service from concept to startup Susan Braund Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
White-hot molten metal on cold steel — with the care of an old-world craftsman, the blacksmith hammers out tools and implements against a heavy, hardened steel anvil.
Just as the anvil provides support and stability for the blacksmith’s work, Alaska Anvil provides a stable platform for clients’ projects to take form. And, just as the artisan guides his creation from molten metal to a formed piece of steel or iron, Alaska Anvil painstakingly shepherds projects — from conception to startup.
“It takes a full complement of disciplines ... we have all the disciplines necessary to deliver complete design/engineering packages,” says Alaska Anvil President and General Manager Frank Weiss.
The employee-owned comprehensive services engineering firm, spawned from Washington-based Anvil Corp., has been operating in Alaska since 1984. The company has a long history of successful engineering projects for oil and gas, local, state and federal governments and the mining industry in Alaska, Canada and the Western United States.
Quality & ISO certification Quality is the Alaska Anvil watchword. Employees are committed to producing consistent work that the company stands behind and quality controls and checks are built into engineering and design reviews and processes. In fact, the company has been working rigorously on its ISO 9001:2000 certifications to improve company efficiency and quality.
ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization, a worldwide organization whose goal is to promote the development of standardization to facilitate the international exchange of goods and services. ISO sets operational and quality control standards for businesses in over 125 countries around the world. The rigorous process of certification requires a close review and usually, revisions to quality manual, procedures, work instructions and forms. The resulting improvements can help a company reduce its operational costs, reductions that may be passed along to customers.
“You’ll see consistency across the company,” says Weiss, “You get one Anvil — geographic boundaries disappear and our consistency becomes apparent. Regardless of location, we deliver the same product and consistency.”
Repeat business and satisfied customers The corporation enjoys long-term relationships with employees and clients and goes out of its way to keep them. At Alaska Anvil, clients are heard —to enhance communications and ensure quality, each project is assigned a client sponsor who has full authority to make front-line decisions.
L.K. Levorsen, company chair and founder, comments: “Our work, not our words, speaks for us. When a project meets the client’s expectations, is completed on time and at a reasonable cost, clients reward us with ongoing work, along with building recognition and reputation in the industry.”
“We really appreciate what Alaska Anvil does for us ... what a fine engineering firm,” says Jim Boltz, chief operating officer of Petro Star Inc. “They do a tremendous amount of engineering and piping design work for us at both our refineries in North Pole and Valdez. They are cost competitive and extremely responsive to our needs. We’ve been a customer for over 10 years.”
Project management: an evolution Although Anvil was originally founded to provide engineering services to the oil and gas industries, project work has evolved to serve all facets of heavy industry and commerce, according to company materials. “This evolution will shape Anvil’s success in the next century as we extend our quality service tradition to our ever-broadening client base.”
Typical projects range from small operations and maintenance support projects to grassroots design of new operation units and oil and gas production facilities on Alaska’s North Slope.The problem-solving project team environment generates ideas that can save clients money. “Project management is an emerging discipline,” explains Weiss. “Our project management team consists of experienced project engineers trained to bring your projects in on time, within budget and with proper scope. They bring a unique skill set to the table, with a wide range of technical expertise and project experience necessary for survival.”
Safety Awards The company has had only three recordable, medical-only incidents and one lost time incident since 1984. In 2001 Alaska Anvil received the Alaska Governor’s Safety Award: “Alaska Anvil’s management has always believed in the importance of safety and has taken great steps to insure safety’s presence in all aspects of its day-to-to day work.”Cost cutting “At Alaska Anvil, we welcome a challenge, and cost-cutting is a big one. Our clients rely on us for innovative and cost-effective solutions; it’s Anvil’s role to provide engineering and design services to accomplish these things, like new ways to do old, familiar things,” comments Jim Zelnik, program manager for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.
“Unlike the significant development periods of the past, the opportunities today are smaller and more marginal. We do what we need to do to maintain profitable investment, so we are constantly working on cutting costs while retaining quality,” says Weiss. “We put together well-defined and concise engineering and design packages to reduce construction costs and we are looking for innovative ways to bring viscous oil online.”
Editor's note: Susan Braund owns Firestar Media Services in Anchorage, Alaska.
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