THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
SUNDAY, JULY 11, 2010
F3
BOOMS ‘IT’S BEEN SIX WEEKS NONSTOP’ CONTINUED FROM F1
big demand for booms, Brussow had six employees and a steady business in Comstock Park making awnings for restaurant decks and mobile food carts. By May 10, three partners formed Prestige Boom division, secured financing through Florida-based United Capital, leased half a warehouse in Walker and put in three boom production lines. They also quickly hired 50 people, bringing the total to 92 last week. In its outer lobby, Prestige has staged a small desk and freestanding mailbox for job seekers. “We’ve had thousands of applicants,” Brussow said, with a sigh; far more than even a booming business can absorb. Those who got in the door early find themselves working more than full time. Eighty percent were without a job for more than a year, and the other 20 percent were working lowwage jobs, making $8 to $10 an hour. Prestige is paying $10 to $12 to start. “Our employees have worked so hard,” Brussow said. “It’s been six weeks nonstop.” That means working weekends, holidays and any other spare minute. “We went from using 70,000 yards of fabric a year to 75,000 yards of fabric a week,” he said. This week, he expects to knock out a wall and expand the operation into the adjoining half of the warehouse. The pace is typical for emergency responders. “Whatever I need today, I’m already three days late,” Rickel said. He is living in temporary quarters here. The third partner, Larry Crochet of New Orleans, is working in the Gulf region. Ramping up to meet an emergency is not a simple drill. First, there is money: Rickel tapped United Capital for backing, because the Florida investor quickly approved funds. Rickel chastised local banks for being too conservative in a crisis. “This is a capital-intensive project,” he said. “(United Capital) supported our cash position. Eleven days later, we were in production.”
The chain problem
Brad Brussow
Brian Rickel
“We went from using 70,000 yards of fabric a year to 75,000 yards of fabric a week.” — Brad Brussow, partner, Prestige Products LLC Boom Division aluminum, the same bit could stay sharp for a month. A truck load of foam arrives daily from a supplier in the Thumb area, while the vinyl is from an Ontario supplier. A Michigan-based tool-anddie maker produces the end caps for connecting lengths of booms. The rapid rise in demand is affecting Prestige’s suppliers, too. The vinyl supplier typically shuts down for a month each summer. Not this year. And the foam supplier is buying a new machine to fill the demand from Prestige, Brussow said.
No. 1 with BP Although Prestige and its suppliers have ramped up quickly, their manufacturing prowess has put them in good stead with BP. Of 38 boom makers in the mix, Prestige has moved to the No. 1 spot, Brussow and Rickel said. “The others couldn’t keep up,” Brussow said. “We’re really setting the standard. BP has a full-time person here. He checks the quality of everything going out.” Average price for a 100-foot boom? $1,500. Prestige ships three truckloads a day to the Gulf. “With us at No. 1, ExxonMobil has already called us to build booms for them,” Brussow said. But first, BP needs all the booms Prestige can make.
BP PLC PHOTO
Protection: Booms spread out in the Gulf of Mexico are meant to stop the flow of oil to the shores of several states.
And the orders likely will not subside in the short term. The scale and destruction of the oil spill is likely to keep demand high for oil-retaining gear. The Exxon Valdez spill took five years to clean up, and that was one tanker. “We’ll need to fill warehouses with booms,” Brussow said. “We believe it’s going to be mandated that every drilling platform have some boom on it.” The Gulf crisis will keep Prestige employees busy in the meantime. “The leak is over 60,000 square miles. That’s the same as the Great Lakes,” Brussow said.
that sector and supplies many of the small awnings protecting golf course mobile food carts. In the rush to supply emergency booms, he is getting about four hours of sleep each night, crashing on an air mattress in the front office as needed. He can count his days off on one hand since the BP
contract began. While the pace is rugged, the crisis clearly motivates workers as they crank out miles of boom each day. The mission is satisfying for the partners, too. “We worked so hard for so many years,” Brussow said. “Now, to help with something
like an environmental disaster is great.” For Rickel, who like Crochet lives in a Gulf state, the stakes are even higher. “We hope it goes away, without killing the Gulf,” Rickel said. E-mail: jbauer@grpress.com
Made in the shade The three partners met through a mutual friend about 10 years ago and, since then, have been friends and business associates. Brussow, 47, a Northwood University graduate, began working for an awning maker serving the recreational vehicle industry while in school. He came to Grand Rapids in the late 1980s to start his awning business. Before the Gulf oil disaster, Brussow was busy with high-design awnings for The Gilmore Collection, Reds on the River in Rockford and TGI Fridays in Michigan. The company also makes seat covers for Kentucky Fried Chicken in Traverse City, among others. Until booms took over, the restaurant awning business was about 60 percent of sales, Brussow said. He still serves
Some technology is common between awnings and booms: CONNECT heat-sealing seams and using heavy-duty vinyl, for example. prestigeproductsllc.com But awnings don’t demand http://bit.ly/c3jztH (video of BP miles of chain and truck loads engineer describing how booms work) of rolled closed-cell foam. Each 100-foot length of bright ifitwasmyhome.com yellow boom has a wide pocket (website that overlays Gulf oil zone along the top edge for flotation to your home location) foam, a narrow pocket at the bottom edge for chain ballast, and anchor points at the ends and middle of the run. “The chain is the hardest to get,” Brussow said. “When this first happened, speculators bought up warehouses of chain. The price went from $1 a foot to $5 a foot overnight. “It was really a problem in the beginning.” Crochet found a Louisiana source that sold chain for $1.80 a foot, roughly double the standard rate. Boom vinyl isn’t the common truck tarp, either. The heavyduty vinyl is resistant to rips and tears. It also quickly dulls drill bits, Brussow said, at the rate of a bit a day. Through Ready to go: Workers unload booms near the Gulf.
Steve Green 1957 Chevrolet BelAir Dorr, MI
Collector's Row Join us in showcasing our local collectors by placing a photo feature in the First Annual Collector's Row. This feature will publish in The Grand Rapids Press' special 28th Street Metro-Cruise section on Sunday, August 22, 2010.
BP PLC PHOTO
See yourself and your "toy" in print. We will be featuring hot rods, antique cars, muscle cars, street rods, antique tractors, etc. Submit a photo to publish in black & white for $25 or in color for $35. Your "Collector's Row photo feature" will include the collector's name, hometown, and make, year & model of the vehicle. Please put the collector's name on the back of the photo and send a selfaddressed stamped envelope for return of your photo(s). Photos without names and addresses cannot be returned.
Collector's Row O Order d Form F
®
Please print clearly
Collector's Name ________________________ Hometown _____________________________ Make,Year & Model of Vehicle ______________ ________________________________________ B & W Pic $25 _________ Color $35 __________ Your Name _____________________________ Address ________________________________________ City State_______________ Zip Home Phone Day Credit Card No. Expiration Date Release: The Grand Rapids Press has my permission to publish my photograph in the Collector's Row on August 17, 2008 Signature:
Deadline is Thursday, August 12, 2010 Mail Entries to: The Grand Rapids Press, Collector's Row, 155 Michigan St. N.W., Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Deadline for receipt of photo and entry form: Thursday, August 12, 2010 Publishes: Sunday, August 22, 2010 Send order, photo and payment by Thursday, August 12, 2010 to:
PRESS PHOTO/EMILY ZOLADZ
Booming business: Prestige Products workers Ivan Lopez, left, and Hipolito Martinez, both of Grand Rapids, load a stack of booms for shipment at Prestige Products LLC in Walker.
The Grand Rapids Press Collector's Row 155 Michigan St. NW Grand Rapids, MI 49503 3750298-03