If you want to explore how our team can support your next project or problem, reach out to Senior Vice President and Industry Market Principal Dave Thomson, P.E., at dthomson@hanson-inc.com.

Supply chain challenges for industries are varied and constantly evolving. These activities represent 7% to 10% of a product’s cost. Industrial plants are constantly seeking solutions to reduce their supply chain costs. Developing solutions that are cost-effective and meet investment hurdle rates requires combining disparate operations and objectives in an industrial plant. Balancing and integrating material handling, transportation service providers (truck, rail, barge, pipelines), internal operations and process production volumes is critical. However, identifying the root causes of supply chain bottlenecks requires specialization in many areas and is usually outside the expertise of an individual or company.

Debottlenecking solutions

Hanson’s industry market team has attracted and combined skills across multiple disciplines that allow us to identify bottlenecks and develop debottlenecking solutions. We deliver improved operations (lower costs) and flexibility to accommodate growth objectives. Senior Vice President and Industry Market Principal Dave Thomson, P.E., leads a team that has developed analytical tools to quickly identify issues, map out the processes and provide cost-effective solutions. Dave brings clients more than 40 years of broad experience and a practical perspective shaped by a diverse career. He developed a strong knowledge and understanding of rail operations, infrastructure and management through 20 years with BNSF Railway Co. After his time in the rail industry, Dave owned and operated a construction firm, along with several logistics companies specializing in warehousing, trucking and import/export shipments.

According to Dave, Hanson’s differentiator is the experience his team brings to projects to integrate problem identification, engineering, financial realities, construction challenges and client processes and operations.

The variety of his background has given Dave a unique ability to see projects from a comprehensive perspective that helps him identify and anticipate issues and complexities. He first focuses on the value of solutions to the client, then accommodating near- and long-term objectives and finding ways for those solutions to be constructed with minimal impacts to ongoing operations.

“Our ability to see beyond the obvious sets us apart,” he said of the Hanson team. “We have a reputation for fixing issues, because we look at things differently — how a project comes together as a whole, rather than the individual pieces. We look beyond what’s in front of us.”

Dave strongly emphasizes collaboration and believes that listening well is the key to finding answers. Developing young engineers on his team is one of his priorities. He requires them to participate in client project meetings and tasks them with taking notes and providing meeting minutes, including all action items and follow-ups, which strengthens their listening and communication skills.

“Listening and retaining the details from free-flowing conversations is a learned skill. It is the basis of understanding the client’s project objectives,” he said. “It teaches engineers the complexities of projects, the multiple competing objectives and conflicts and how each individual fits into our problem-solving strategy. It helps them learn what to listen for, how to ask appropriate questions to develop clarity and to help a client develop an understanding of their challenges and why a specific solution may work.”

Better engineers, better people

In Dave’s view, engineering is about more than technical expertise — it’s about growing through experience, staying curious, being open to new approaches and committing to making the best choices for the client. He encourages his team members to spend time learning from one another, gaining experience in different areas and examining challenges from multiple angles. “All of our employees are getting an education that goes beyond how to be a better engineer,” Dave said.

“Hopefully, they’ll be better people too. I want them to be the best they can be on every level, here at Hanson and elsewhere. To me, it’s never about the project. Projects are a result of needing a solution. Project implementation requires people. Your focus needs to be on the individual person — employee, client, agency or the public.

“Clients come to us with a problem,” he added, “and our first job is to help them fully understand the inputs to their problem. We use our tools to rapidly assess and define the problems. This becomes the project’s foundation. We then exercise creative and innovative solutions, brainstorming and collaborating with our internal team and clients.”

‘A student of people’

Dave calls himself a student of people.

“It’s always about the person I’m working with,” he said. “My philosophy centers on quiet coordination — requiring individual team members (internal and external) to work together, helping them navigate through challenges on the way to solving our clients’ problems. We need our clients’ businesses and organizations to succeed. We do that by helping our clients’ project lead succeed within their organization. That is the objective of all industry market team members.”

According to Dave, Hanson’s differentiator is listening to clients and applying the team’s experience to integrate problem identification, engineering, financial realities, construction challenges and client processes and operations. “You have to understand why and how what you are designing is actually used,” he said. “To achieve this, you must ask questions about what a client perceives to be their problems, what they see as needing to change and their end goals. It takes a big-picture view of things to find answers that bring lasting resolution and the ability to grow.”

The industry market’s philosophy reflects the approach of every Hanson market. Our teams collaborate so our clients can access the services they need for a seamless project experience.

“Every single project we work on is a puzzle,” Dave said. “And we’re puzzle solvers.”