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When construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in 1933, concern for worker safety was a rarity.  This video highlights the vision of Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer in charge of overall design and construction of the bridge project.  Strauss incorporated safety measures on a scale never before conceived in the construction industry.

Click here to learn more about  the Golden Gate Bridge.

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Dr. Robert L. (Bob) Bowen, P.E. was inducted into Indianapolis Public School’s Hall of Fame in October.  Bob, a 1957 graduate of Shortridge High School, earned a degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University.  He founded Bowen Engineering Corporation in 1967.

The Hall of Fame was founded to honor IPS graduates who, through their life achievements, inspire all future IPS graduates to work hard and be successful.

Read more about all the 2009 inductees here.

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Bowen’s relationship with American Water continues to grow as they announced October 1, 2009 their award of the operation and maintenance of the water and the wastewater systems at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and Fort Meade, Maryland. The fifty year contracts include a significant capital upgrade program that Bowen will perform for American Water – Military Services Group. This work is in addition to work Bowen is already supporting American Water on for Ft. Rucker, Alabama and Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Read more

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On August 5^th and 6^th , 2009 Bowen held ribbon cutting ceremonies for three water treatment plants recently completed for Indiana American Water. The Davis Ferry and Happy Hollow plants are located in West Lafayette, IN and the London Road facility is in Shelbyville, IN. All were fast-track design-build projects awarded to Bowen in 2008 and completed 15 months later.  These mirror a similar project Bowen did for Indiana American Water in 1996 with three facilities in Crawfordsville, Franklin and Noblesville. Read more

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Bowen’s Knoxville team recently organized a highly successful golf outing with proceeds benefiting East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.  This was a repeat performance for the Knoxville team, as they also conceived, planned and hosted this event successfully in 2008.

This year’s outing raised over $24,500, bringing the two year total to over $40,000.   See photos by reading more! Read more

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You just know success when you see it.

Granite City, IL:  It doesn’t take you very long to walk onto a jobsite and determine whether or not it is successful.  At Bowen, a successful job is defined as one that delights our client with safe, quality production and, most importantly, finishes with zero injuries. Read more

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Time is the most important thing you can give to the people on your team.  Here is a brief video that we produced to help Bowen’s mentors pack added punch into their monthly one-to-one meetings with direct reports.

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Bowen leaders Bill Thompson, Jed Holt and Pat Johnston talk about how encouragement has positively affected them and the people around them.

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Doug Bowen has been named Chief Executive Officer of Bowen Engineering Corporation.  The appointment was made by Bowen’s board of directors during its meeting in July.

Dr. Robert L. (Bob) Bowen, P.E., Doug’s father and founder of the company, will continue to serve as Bowen’s chairman of the board.  “Doug has shown tremendous leadership as president of Bowen Engineering.  We are passing the leadership of this company on to the next generation, and I feel proud and blessed to witness a change that will be so good for our company,”  Bob commented.

Doug began his career as a Bowen foreman, later moving to San Jose, CA to work as a project engineer.  He returned to Bowen Engineering in 1998 and has led the company as president since 2006.  In addition to serving Bowen as CEO, Doug will retain his role as president.

Doug earned a B.S. degree in Business Management from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Business Management.  He recently completed Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program (OPM).

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In 2008, Bowen Engineering implemented an in-house program to enhance the supervisory skills of our field leadership.  This year-long program, which kicked off in July of 2008, graduated its first class of participants on July 17, 2009.  Participants included both new and seasoned Bowen superintendents. Read more

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On Monday July 13th, Bowen celebrated one year at the AEP Mountaineer Carbon Capture jobsite without a recordable injury.  Over 40 pipefitters, 30 electricians, and 20 office support staff enjoyed a smoked/pulled pork lunch as the noted milestone of this event.

The celebration was jointly funded by Miller Electric and Bowen and the craft was served by staff members from both companies.  The safe work culture has been a project team commitment since inception in 2008.  Bowen’s focus has always been to have people go home to their families each night.

“Safety is everyone’s responsibility”, said General Superintendent Burt Bush.   “All employees of Bowen and all craft workers are accountable for themselves and each other.  It’s not just the safety people’s job – safety is everyone’s effort.  Each day, the craft makes us successful with their safe work.”

Chris “Schmo” Schmalz is Business Development Director for Bowen’s Columbus, Ohio team.  Chris joined the Bowen team in 2006.

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click to enlarge photo

Last Wednesday, Bowen poured the last two turbine foundations for the Meadow Lake wind farm project.   During the month of June, the team poured 56 of the 121 foundations.  The attached picture is from our celebration with all involved on the civil and concrete phases of this project.  We gathered nearly everyone involved (approximately 200) and staged it on top of one of the last foundations.  And yes, those are the windmills sprouting in the background.  They have had plenty of water, so they are “growing” fast.

As of today, we have all foundations installed, with only a handful remaining to be backfilled, 42 turbines are erected, the interconnect switchyard is nearly complete (July 31 deadline), and we have begun restoration of the roads and farmland.  We are right on schedule (quite a feat considering the weather challenges and just shy of 4 months  of work!  It was only fitting that it rained during the photo shoot.  Of course, why not!!

Again, there are too many names to list, but we especially want to thank our friends at IMI, Patriot Testing, Davis JD Steel, and Midwest Pumping for all their efforts in this successful adventure (yes it has been quite an adventure).   We appreciate everyone’s support At Bowen.

Dennis Ward is a Senior Project Manager for Bowen Engineering.  He has been a member of the Bowen team for nine years.

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Dear Team,

For the third consecutive year, Bowen Engineering has been named one of the top 25 Best Places to Work in America (Medium-Sized Category) by the Great Place to Work® Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The award is based on a number of criteria, and a key component of these is a random, anonymous survey conducted by the Best Places organization.  The survey collects information from 200 randomly-selected Bowen employees.  The survey asks a number of questions about Bowen’s culture, day-to-day relevance of our core values, and the trust level between employees and supervisors.

Competition for this award was greater than ever this year, with a significant number of companies competing for the first time.  To be named top 25 for three years running is proof that YOU bring our core values to life every day at Bowen Engineering.

YOU are the reason that Bowen Engineering is such a great place to work.  Congratulations on this win!

Doug

(Click here for more information)

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The AEP Mountaineer CO2 Capture Project, with technology by Alstom Power, is designed to remove carbon dioxide from flue gas that is emitted from the coal fired power plant.  Bowen Engineering has completed the site preparation, grading and drainage culverts, underground piping and concrete foundations.  The team is currently self performing the mechanical piping (20,000 lf), insulation (sub) and heat trace (sub) with a Bowen staff of approximately 80 people working two shifts 6 days a week.

The project, which began in July of 2008, will be substantially complete at the end of August 2009 and online in October 2009.  Upon completion, we will have utilized approximately 100,000 Bowen personnel hours to support this project.  I am excited to report that on July 13th, 2009 we will be celebrating a full year of construction without a recordable injury. Read more

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Bowen’s SQP (Safe-Quality-Production) training sessions include exercises to emphasize how SQP can be incorporated in all types of activities, both business and personal.  Bowen Senior Vice President and Division Manager Jeff Purdue recently attended a Construction Industry Institute course in which the group participated in a bicycle building  competition.  The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate how proper planning positively affects the process of building a project.  The exercise was so successful, that upon learning about it, the Bowen SQP Steering Committee decided to incorporate a similar competition into the spring 2009 SQP training program that was held at Bowen’s corporate headquarters.

Read more

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Click here to visit Bowen Engineering on Facebook.

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“Drivers and car occupants suffer four out of five fatalities in U.S. highway work zones. For some reason, safety experts say, that statistic has more power to get drivers to ease up on the accelerator in work zones than any concern they may have for the lives and safety of construction workers,” Angelle Bergeron reports for ENR.

Read the full article here.

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Bowen recently held SQP (Safe – Quality – Production) training at our headquarters and the Meadow Lake Wind Farm project site in Indiana.  SQP, formerly known as Production Management, acquired its new name as the need for emphasis on Safety and Quality ties into our Zero Injury Culture.

Between both locations, there were approximately 30 participants who completed this training.  Graduates include:  Roger Havill, Josh Kellam, Brian Davis, Corey Padgett, John Vowell, Clay Woodruff, Josh Bohanon, Joe Bastin, Alan Dale, Rem Yoder, Howard McClanahan, Rick Meunier, Joe Gallagher, Chris Jenkins (Miller Electric), Kent Cooper (Miller Electric), Ken Miller (Miller Electric), Carl Hickman (Miller Electric), Todd Brown (Miller Electric), Sam Fackrell, Matt Meyer, Chad Ranson, Bill Freese, Chad Bachmann, Greg Houchin, Mark McClellan, JJ Bray, Paul Creasy, Robert Leary, Brian Panzik, John Armstrong, Scott Staggs, Richard Calvert, and Jacqueline Cardwell.

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We are honored to once again be named one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana.  Bowen placed 6th in the large companies category (250 or more employees) for the 2009 program.  In 2008, Bowen placed 8th in the small to medium-sized companies category (25-249 employees) and has ranked each of the four years that the Best Places to Work in Indiana program has been active.

At the Awards Dinner...From Left: Bowen's Bill Freese and Amy Kroh, Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar, Bowen's Doug Bowen (President) and Dave Barnett

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No hardhats–no fall protection.  This is certainly not the way we build today.  However, this collection of photographs from LIFE.com does provide a fascinating look back to one of history’s great construction achievements.

Click here to view the photos.

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The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption today announced the third annual America’s 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces list recognizing organizations nationwide for their adoption benefits.

This year more than 90 organizations established or enhanced adoption benefits. “We continue to see increases in the number of companies establishing and enhancing adoption benefit policies. Even with today’s tough economy, we found that companies are dedicated more than ever to providing competitive benefits packages to help their employees when they adopt,” said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Foundation. “It is one benefit that employers can add without negatively impacting the bottom line.”

America’s Top Ten
1. Wendy’s International, Inc.
2. Citizen’s Financial Group, Inc. / RBS Americas
3. LSI Corporation
4. United Business Media LLC (UBM)
5. Liquidnet
6. Subaru of America, Inc.
7. Bowen Engineering Corporation
8. Timberland
9. Barilla America
10. Time Inc.

To learn more about the Dave Thomas Foundation, click here.

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Charity Golf Tournament to Benefit East Tennessee Children’s Hospital
Gettysvue Country Club in Knoxville, Tennesee will be the site for the second annual event benefiting ETCH.  ETCH is a not-for-profit, private, independent medical facility serving area children since 1937.

Last year, Bowen team members raised over $15,000 for the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.  For more information about the East Tennessee Children’s hospital and the families they serve, have a look at the video below.

Click here to download the flyer for this exciting event. You can also contact Bowen’s Devan Welch to obtain more information or to make a contribution.  865-293-4042.

Event Date: September 28, 2009

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TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant, located near Knoxville, TN, suffered a complete failure of its coal ash containment dike on December 22, 2008. Immediately following the reporting of the event on national news, many Bowen employees wanted to see if there was a way our company could help with the cleanup efforts. Bowen was recently provided that opportunity and it came in record setting fashion. Read more

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Bowen held two OSHA 30 courses in February, one in the Fishers, IN office and one in the Evansville, IN office.  This safety course is free to Bowen employees, and it is also offered to any of our subcontractors who would like to attend for a nominal fee.

The classes at both locations filled up fast, and because of current demand there will be upcoming opportunities to take the course in May.  Further information on upcoming classes will follow.

Ensuring proper training of our employees is a primary focus of Bowen Engineering as we move toward a Zero Injury culture.  By encouraging subcontractor participation in safety training courses, we seek to lead them down the Zero Injury path and encourage them to embrace the Bowen culture.

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Mueller Safety Award – Presented to Superintendent Mike Tuley
The Mueller Safety Award, established in 2005 in honor of Bowen’s first Safety Director, is given in recognition of dedication and commitment to making Bowen Engineering a safe place to work.

From Left: Safety Director Brian Crabtree, Division Manager Jeff Purdue, 2008 Recipient Mike Tuley, Division Managers Jim Ankrum and Jeff Chinn, 2007 Recipient Rick Winkles

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Bowen Engineering held its second 2009 Leadership Challenge Workshop session, Model the Way, in December.  Twenty four Bowen proteges and their mentors attended this exciting two-part event.  The classroom session was held at the Eagle Creek Golf Club in Indianapolis, followed by dinner and a special keynote address at the Indianapolis Colts Complex. Read more

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President Doug Bowen Introduces Dave Hile, Vice-President of Corporate Safety.

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From Left: Doug Bowen, Mike McBroom, IMI's George Gremore, Josh Kellam

Indianapolis – On January 13, 2009, the Indiana Ready Mix Association (IRMCA) presented Bowen Engineering with the Outstanding Concrete Achievement Award for work completed in the construction of the FGD Holding Basins at the Hoosier Energy Merom Generating Station in Sullivan, IN. Bowen Engineering’s Doug Bowen, Josh Kellam and Mike McBroom were there to accept this prestigious award, along with IMI’s George Gremore, who nominated Bowen for the award.

Read more

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Each year multiple teams within Bowen Engineering adopt families for the Holidays.  This allows our less fortunate neighbors the opportunity to provide gifts for their family during otherwise difficult times. Read more

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Watch Project Engineer Mark Cvetkovich working hard and supporting his team at Bowen Engineering!

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Park Receives New Bridge

Bowen Engineering Project Manager Holly Tank and Superintendent Brad Wiggins have given their community a gift that will serve generations of outdoors enthusiasts. Holly, Brad and their team designed and built a bridge for Wolf Run Regional Park in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The bridge connects 25 acres of grassland trails not previously available to the public. Holly and Brad inspire us with their concern for the community in which they live!

Read more about this community project here.

Video Courtesy of Mount Vernon News.

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Bowen Project Managers help their clients and teams navigate the path to success. This video follows Project Manager Matt Gentry as he helps his team achieve victory on multiple projects.

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From left: Julie and Doug Bowen, keynote speaker Terry Bradshaw, Jim Ankrum, Bob and Terry Bowen

Community service is an important part of our family culture here at Bowen, and Big Brothers Big Sisters is a cause close to our hearts.  In October, we attended an annual dinner supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana.  We, along with 850 others guests, worked together to raise $250,000 to support the goal of serving 1,200 local boys and girls with positive adult mentors.

We were thrilled to be a part of such a successful effort.

Learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana here.

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Bowen Engineering recently joined forces with the City of Indianapolis and others to replace an important walking bridge in Juan Solomon Park.  The 100-foot-long bridge replaces a concrete one that floodwaters washed out in 2001 at the 41-acre park. The bridge was the only access to 22 acres of parkland across the creek.

Hats off to Bowen Project Manager Bill Lamkin and Team for leading the way!

Read more about this project here and here.

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Knoxville Team Raises $15,000 For Children’s Hospital

Bowen Engineering’s Knoxville office hosted its inaugural charity golf outing supporting the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital on October 20th.  The event was played at Gettysvue Country Club and was a huge success in that Bowen raised over $15,000 for the hospital!  Bowen reached out to all of its key partners for sponsorships and teams.  A total of 32 sponsors and 15 Teams contributed .

Read more

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Ever wonder what it is like to be responsible for the success of a major construction project?  This video follows Superintendent Pat Johnston on a typical day on a Bowen project site.

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The latest in a series of safety awareness posters was recently distributed to all Bowen project sites and offices.  The poster features photographs of the children of our employees.  We think they present a pretty compelling case for working safely and watching out for one another.

click to enlarge

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Sure, we’re proud of the business side of our success at Bowen.  When a Bowen project team descends upon a project, the professionalism and expertise of our people are what our clients identify as the Bowen Difference Maker.  It is really exciting when the opportunity arises to see this level of passion for service applied to community service projects.

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As a Protégé in Bowen’s Leadership Challenge Workshop, the Community Project Challenge portion of the year-long leadership program was daunting at first mention. The Community Project Challenge requires each Protégé to lead a major community service project.  This requires the identification of an appropriate opportunity, the organization and scheduling of the effort, the recruitment of help to accomplish set goals, the execution of the project and finally the reporting back to the group of what the effort accomplished.  In the course of our workshop sessions, it became clear to me that I had been ‘waiting for permission’ to spend time helping in the community – there was and is always plenty to do at work and at home!  But shortly after the challenge was announced, the opportunity called.

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What does a leader look like?  We spotted another one recently on a Bowen project site. Mike Wiencek is a Bowen superintendent that deserves snaps for his ability to lead by enabling others to act, a key behavior in all great leaders.

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