WCI Expands Agglomerator & Precipitator Business to wyoming
Tennessee
Company Expands to Wheatland
BY: Lisa Bennett, Platte County Record Times
December 2, 2004: Whitehead Construction, Inc. (WCI) is opening
its doors in Wheatland this week. The Tennessee company has expanded to
the Wheatland area because its central location enables a quicker response
time to clients in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.
“I’m also somewhat familiar with Wheatland,” said WCI
president Mike Whitehead. “I’ve made personal connections
through work at the power plant; and people [in the community] are willing
to help you.”
WCI fabricates, repairs and maintains air pollution control devices called
“electrostatic precipitators” and “particle agglomerators.”
The units are used in utilities, cement, pulp, paper, steel and incineration
industries to ensure air quality and EPA requirements are met.
The company has an exclusive market on the whole United States with the
products and services they provide.
WCI was started by Whitehead and Mike Ensor, vice-president of the company,
in 1986. The home office is in Elizbethton, Tenn.
“We’re a company that does what we say we’ll do...every
time,” Whitehead said.
“My first contact with WCI was in May,” said Linda Fabian,
director of Wheatland Area Development Corp. (WADCO).
When Wheatland Fire Equipment (WFE) was able to purchase the old Laramie
Peak Motors building through negotiations with the Town of Wheatland and
WADCO, leaving the smaller and more ideal sized property available for
WCI.
“The phone call from WCI was very timely and everything just fell into place with WADCO now selling WFE’s old building to WCI,” Fabian said.
“It took a lot of hard work from many dedicated people,” she continued, “This has been a win-win for Wheatland and Platte County. Good jobs will be created and retained as a result of Wheatland Fire Equipment’s expansion and that of WCI.
WCI already has two employees at the Wheatland office. Mary Martinez, a displaced worker from Imerys - a company that shut down in Wheatland this summer, has been hired as the manager of WCI’s Wheatland office.
“They liked my industrial experience,” Martinez said. “I’m really excited about WCI coming here; we lost a lot with Imerys and it’s nice to bring something back into the community.”
Whitehead hopes to create a work base of 15 people in the Platte County area. “We look for drug-free people who are willing to travel and hold a high standard of safety,” Whitehead said. “It’s not a 9 to 5 job; we work 85-hour weeks during the work season.”
Whitehead employs 80 to 150 people at any given time across the country. Within two or three years, Whitehead hopes to be doing some fabrication of units at the Wheatland location. “It hinges on the capability of creating manpower here,” he said.
WCI is located in the old WFE building at 1851 Oak Street in Wheatland. For further information on the company, log on to their website at www.wci@precip.com or call toll free 866-889-1985.
©
2004 Platte
County Record Times
1007 8th Street
Wheatland, Wyoming 82201
307-322-2627