New Jobs Coming to Griffith

New Jobs Coming to Griffith

BY ANDREA HOLECEK

March 22, 2008

GRIFFITH Valdes Engineering Co.'s new office scheduled to open here in fall could bring nearly 100 well-paying engineering jobs to the region.

"We hope -- in time -- as we grow our customer base and reach other customers, it could grow to that number," owner/founder Bob Valdes said this week. "We hope it's a positive impact on employment."

The family owned engineering firm based in Lombard, Ill. performs project management, engineering and design services. It was founded by Valdes in 1993. His wife, Donna, is the comptroller. Although the firm's specialty is process engineering, it employs about 200 engineers schooled in every facet of the profession.

The company broke ground for the new, $3 million, 25,000-square-foot satellite office at Ridge Road and Broad Street, earlier this month.

"We've been thinking about Indiana for many years," said Valdes, a civil engineer, who graduated from the University of Illinois. "It's actually a better fit for the work we do than the commercial and residential area we're in here."

The new building is designed to house 100 to 105 employees with the vast majority engineers, engineering technicians and other support staff, who will work on projects based in Northwest Indiana.

"The bulk of the work force will be Indiana people because of logistics," Valdes said.

Having an office in the region, where it already does significant business "will allow us to spread our wings and allow us to reach more industrial clients in the area," he said.

The consulting engineering firm currently performs engineering work for BP's Whiting Refinery projects and numerous other local clients, Valdes wouldn't name, citing confidentiality agreements.

"We hope more clients will look at us as a viable engineering service once we have a presence in Northwest Indiana in proximity to interface with their plants," Valdes said. "Interface is very important. The closer to the plant, the better it is for a project's execution."

Currently, the company's engineers and other staff work in trailers trucked to job sites.

"Trailers, as nice as we try to make them, are never to the level of a permanent office, especially in the date and age of highly technical equipment," Valdes said. "There are a lot of tools we have in order to execute engineering projects and there's only so much room in the trailers."

The company broke ground for the new, $3 million, 25,000-square-foot satellite office at Ridge Road and Broad Street, earlier this month. It could bring nearly 100 well-paying engineering jobs to the region.

Source: www.nwi.com
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Valdes Engineering Company (VEC) sets the standard for excellence in engineering serving regional, national and global corporations with on-time, on-budget projects. VEC is a Chicago-based engineering consulting firm, specializing in the petrochemical, refining, coal gasification, power, chemical, alternative energy, and manufacturing industries.