Industrial Project Solutions
Each project performed by Industrial Project Solutions (IPS) is a little bit different – and better – than the last, even if they may seem the same from the outside.
“We are always looking for ways to improve the system’s performance and help our customers to do things better,” says Fabian Ros, president and co-owner of the Birmingham, Ala.-based design/build company. “We don’t just find something that works and keep doing it again and again – we find something that works and still find ways to do it better next time. Every new project we do has value-added services attached to it.”
Ros, a mechanical and electrical engineer with 20 years of experience in the foundry industry, established IPS in 2005. After two years of initially serving just the foundry industry, Ros expanded the company’s services to other markets.
One of IPS’ largest customer bases is the proppants industry. IPS’ projects for this market include dry processing plants and resin coating plants. The company also builds the most innovative transloading and bulk material handling facilities available that directly serve oil and gas customers.
Additionally, IPS designs and builds facilities and process controls for the biomass, bioenergy and solar energy industries. “We have a wide customer base and the ability to move into different markets,” Ros says. “When we see an opportunity in a new market, we move into that market. We’re very dynamic.”
This diversity helped the company earn recognition in 2012 as the “fastest growing company in Alabama” by the Birmingham Business Journal, CFO and co-owner Frances Ros notes. The company that year reported a 346 percent growth in its business from 2011.
Constant Improvement
The technical acumen of IPS’ staff, and the company’s ability to make its clients more efficient, also help drive its growth and success. Process controls engineered by the company are used by clients for functions including monitoring the inventory of fracing sand in transload facilities. Oil and gas industry customers can monitor their inventory online.
A resin-coating technology developed by IPS can greatly increase the amount of fracing sand a resin coating plant can produce per hour. The company has two patents related to its resin-coating processes.
“Before we entered the market, resin coating plants were typically producing about 13 tons per hour,” Fabian Ros adds. “With our technology, plants can produce 18.5 to 22 tons per hour, all with the same amount of capital investment.”
It also works closely with equipment designers, subcontractors and other partners to minimize the energy consumption and emissions generated by its customers’ facilities. IPS’ focus on efficiency and improving its customers’ operations reflects its own belief in continuous improvement. “We learn on every job,” Fabian Ros says. “Our company’s mission is our clients’ success.”
In its relatively short history, IPS has built dozens of facilities or provided process controls for facilities in active oil and gas producing areas.
The company is expanding its services to other international markets such as Canada and Argentina, where it is already developing a positive reputation. “IPS is known in the oil and gas markets for its smart, creative and innovative solutions,” Frances Ros says. “We love what we do and we are very passionate about it, and our customers appreciate that.”