Rocky Mountain Region Offices Overview

SALT LAKE CITY, UT OFFICE BUILDING FRONTAGE

Champion currently has three offices located in the Rocky Mountain region: Salt Lake City, UT (opened in March 2006); Grand Junction, CO (opened in June 2012); and Denver, CO (opened in March 2014).

While the three offices each have their share of local customers, they collaborate with customers across the Rocky Mountain region as one 25 person team. The automation group includes one business manager, three engineering managers, ten automation engineers, and three administrative personnel. At the Salt Lake City location, Champion also has a UL listed panel shop and a design team with five manufacturing technicians, one design team lead, one CAD technician, and one designer. In November 2014, the Salt Lake City office relocated from its previous site to a more expansive building (12,000 ft2) with a large office area (7,500 ft2) and spacious panel shop (4,500 ft2).

GRAND JUNCTION, CO OFFICE

DENVER, CO OFFICE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rocky Mountain team has over 80 customers located in numerous states from North Dakota to Texas and in various industries including oil and gas (upstream, midstream, and downstream), pipelines, truck/railcar loading/unloading, water/wastewater, alternative energy (solar, wind, gasification, biofuels, etc.), manufacturing, mining, and food and beverage. Some of the primary customers include Holly Energy Partners, UR Energy, ConocoPhillips Niobrara Area, and Summit Midstream.

SALT LAKE CITY SHOP

The three offices have extensive experience with flow computers and multiple PLC platforms such as Siemens, GE, Allen-Bradley, Modicon, SCADAPack, and several others. Champion’s Rocky Mountain Region automation engineers also complete sizeable DCS upgrades for several industries including uranium energy and refining and have experience with DCS platforms such as Siemens PCS 7, DeltaV, and Honeywell TDC. The group has numerous certified professionals including two Professional Engineers (PEs) at the Denver location and one in Grand Junction, as well as two certified Siemens PCS 7 engineers at the Salt Lake City office. This diversity and expertise allows the team to provide high quality solutions for their customers.

The Rocky Mountain team is made of people that have come from all over the United States as well as one individual from Romania. The various states include Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Missouri, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and North Dakota, as well as others. The success of the Rocky Mountain Team is a result of their commitment to the high levels of communication and coordination required to operate as a single team over three geographical areas.

Champion’s Rocky Mountain offices by the numbers:

BY STATE

BY CUSTOMER

BY INDUSTRY

TYPE

UT – 64%

Newfield Production Company – 38%%

Chemical – 46%

Fixed Fee – 48.5%

WY – 10%

Holly Energy Partners – 11%%

Oil & Gas – 29%

T&M – 41%

CO – 9%

Holly Energy Partners – 11%

Transportation & Storage – 12%

Service Calls – 10.5%

NM – 6%

QEP Energy – 3%

Manufacturing – 5%

 

ND – 4%

ConocoPhillips Company – 3%

Coke Calcining – 2%

 

 ID, TX combined – 4%

Bill Barrett Corporation – 3%

Utilities – 2%

 

 CA, KS, NV, OK combined – 2%

Tech-Flow LLC – 2%

 

 

Champion Employee Referral Program

Champion Employee Referral Program

With Champion’s Employee Referral Program, you can receive a referral bonus for helping the Champion team grow! Simply refer a qualified individual to Champion, and if they join the company, you’ll be rewarded with a referral bonus.

The chart below shows the various amounts and timeframes for referral bonus distribution. Note that a new hire must complete at least 90 days of employment with Champion before any bonus amount is distributed for the referral.

The referral program is not available to management level employees and will only be disbursed for new hires. Rehires are not eligible for referral.

To refer a candidate, fill out the Employee Referral Form available on the Human Resources SharePoint site under Documents (Recruiting), and send the completed form to Laurie Firmin (laurie.firmin@champtechnology.com) in Human Resources. When possible, the form must be completed and submitted before the potential new hire’s Champion interview.

POSITION

TOTAL BONUS

AFTER 90 DAYS

AFTER 180 DAYS

Admin (Non – Management)

$500

$250

$250

Admin (Management)

$1,000

$500

$500%

Technical (Level 1)

$750

$375

$375

Technical (Level 1)

$1,000

$500

 $500

Technical (Level 3 & Management)

$1,500

$750

 $750

Employee Spotlights (Jul 2015)

What did you want to be when you grew up?

After fireman and cowboy, I wanted to be an electrician. Then when I joined the Navy, I became one. That opened the doors for me to later learn instrumentation and PLC programming. That, a lot of education, and being in the right place at the right time with some help from Lynda Hargroder, opened the door at Champion. Now, although I do love my job, I still want to be a cowboy.

Independence Day memory?

When my family lived in Yazoo City, Mississippi, we used to go to Johnson’s Lake which was a community swimming hole for the Fourth and barbeque and swim all day. Don’t get me started because Patriotism is not just a word to me, I still tear up just hearing the National Anthem at football games. Does anyone else out there experience that?

Discuss a small personal or home project?

My next project plan is to build a small pavilion in the backyard with a hot tub at one end, seating, and a fire pit in the middle and cooking area at the other end.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see cast as you?

A mentor of mine once told me to take my job seriously but not myself so I think maybe Jim Belushi, or some other comedian. There are also some sad and dark parts so maybe a comedian with some range like Tom Hanks would be better. By the way, it’s getting to be a long movie.

What is your favorite author or book?

This is an easy one for me. My Dad used to read a book almost every night. Maybe five books a week. Mother too. So I got the reading bug naturally. In 1968 when we moved overseas, my Mother gave me a book called “Fear is the Key” by Alistair Maclean. I couldn’t put it down. I ended up reading all of his fiction including ones he wrote subsequent to then. In 1971 at boarding school, I was invited to lunch by a friend who was a day student and lived nearby. At lunch, his father joined us, a distinguished gentleman, and when he walked in, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Alistair Maclean. I told him what a fan I was of his work, and he gave me an autographed copy of another of his books, “Caravan to Vacarres.” Many of his books have been made into movies, and you probably know many of them. They include:  

  • Guns of Navarone
  • Where Eagles Dare
  • Ice Station Zebra
  • Bear Island
  • Force 10 from Navarone
  • Fear is the Key
  • When Eight Bells Toll
  • Breakheart Pass
  • Caravan to Vacarres

I recommend his books to everyone.

You’re happiest when?

I am happiest when surrounded by my family, wife Diane, children Clayton, Donna, Rose, and Hillary, son-in-laws David, Danny, and Michael, daughter-in-law BJ, and grandchildren Clayton, Phillip, Jaime, Patrick, Sarah, Katie, Jasmine, Noah, Jonah, Caddie, Drake, and the memory of one who left too soon, Peter.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved to take things apart and put them back together. I always knew I’d be an engineer.

Independence Day memory?

Every Independence Day with my children is memorable.

Discuss a small personal or home project?

I’m always fixing toys my wife tries to throw away.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see cast as you?

Anybody that can get my accent right.

What is your favorite author or book?

Anything written by Mahmoud Darwish.

You’re happiest when?

I’m happiest with my family.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I have a passion for art and creativity. I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but when I was younger, my dream was to draw caricatures at Astro World or Six Flags. I would beg my parents to let me sit with the artist while they rode rides. I hated rollercoasters…and still do, LOL.

Independence Day memory?

We use to spend a lot of time on the water and BBQ with friends, but anyone that knows me well enough today would find me at a ballpark somewhere watching my children play ball.

Discuss a small personal or home project?

My husband claims I have too many projects at home. However, I love to paint whether it be furniture, walls, or odd and ends. As a personal touch, I love to belly cast expecting mothers.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see cast as you?

Rachel McAdams would definitely play me. She’s a fantastic actress, but I love that she can play different characters in a variety of films. I feel like my life falls along those lines…I play a different role at work, home, church, etc.

What is your favorite author or book?

I’m a Nicholas Sparks fan…anything sappy and that’ll come out on film, LOL.

You’re happiest when?

I am happiest when surrounded by my family, wife Diane, children Clayton, Donna, Rose, and Hillary, son-in-laws David, Danny, and Michael, daughter-in-law BJ, and grandchildren Clayton, Phillip, Jaime, Patrick, Sarah, Katie, Jasmine, Noah, Jonah, Caddie, Drake, and the memory of one who left too soon, Peter.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A boxer. I grew up in the era of watching “Wide World of Sports” (on one of the three network channels you could get on your black and white TV). Anyone that remembers that era knows that the Great Howard Cosell was always on, taunting the biggest names in boxing with his off comments (especially to and about Muhammad Ali) and criticism of the sport. Boxing was always something my family and I all watched together. The town I came from had a Boys and Girls Club in it with a small gym designated for boxing. Me and my brother spent a lot of time there growing up.

Independence Day memory?

I grew up in a small farming community in Indiana, and that’s one of the things they prided themselves on. July 4th came third only to Christmas Day and the annual running of the Indy 500. All the small towns would go all out for “The Fourth.” Parades, fireworks, small town carnivals in the park, music on the town square, and, of course, a classic car show. So, I guess there is no one specific memory. Just plenty of memories of family, fun, food, and festivities.

Discuss a small personal or home project?

I’m currently rebuilding an old Ford farm truck (1988 F150 with a 4.9 liter, 300 straight 6 engine, and a 5 speed overdrive manual transmission) we brought down here on our last trip home. It’s a large project but will be worth all the time and effort when it’s completed.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see cast as you?

C. Thomas Howell

What is your favorite author or book?

S.E. Hinton, author of “The Outsiders”.

You’re happiest when?

I’m happiest when I’m with my family. My wife (of 23 years) and I have two sons and three grandsons. They are what makes our world go around.

SharePoint Tips & Tricks

SharePoint Tips & Tricks

Champion began implementing SharePoint collaborative sites in 2012 to increase information sharing among business units. Since then, we’ve developed the system to accommodate each department and business unit to ensure all Champions have access to a collaborative platform.

SharePoint offers Champions a way to find pertinent information about the company, project documentation, and intellectual property reuse items without having to laboriously search through the champ-fs network or have access to all business units’ site-specific servers. Since we don’t have immediate access to each other’s project folders, each business unit can instead share examples of excellent documentation or helpful custom-created applications. If you need to develop project documentation, the PM (Project Management) section of the site provides helpful examples of project plans, Functional Requirements Specifications, FAT procedures and SAT procedures.

SharePoint also stores tools that project managers, engineers, and designers can leverage to be more efficient and effective during project development.

Page Highlight: Human Resources
While we use SharePoint to help us utilize our collective knowledge, we can also find information that is pertinent to our lives outside of the office as well. The Human Resources site, for example, contains information about Champion’s 401k, insurance, benefits, holiday policies, and tuition reimbursement forms, to name a few.

You can find these documents by their Document Type. Under “Payroll,” for example, you can find PTO request forms, the Wellness Program Reimbursement Form, and other documents.

To get the most use of the site, spend some time browsing and becoming familiar with key features, such as searching, the Explorer View option, linking libraries to your Outlook account, downloading files, and editing a document directly in SharePoint.

Searching
Use the Search bar           to enter key words or search terms in SharePoint. All documents that contain the search term will populate the screen. You can filter the results by site by using the list box located to the left of the search bar.

Explorer View
Once you’ve found a document or Library you want to peruse, if you’re not a fan of using the SharePoint Library interface and prefer to browse files using Windows folders, you can access files using Explorer View. Follow these steps:

  1. With SharePoint open, choose a site.

2. Choose one of the libraries listed to the left.

3. Click the Library tab under “Library Tools.”

4. Click Open with Explorer in the “Connect & Export” toolbox.

5. Use Explorer View to modify, reorganize, or edit documents.

Link to Outlook
A convenient way to ensure you receive up-to-date information that’s uploaded to the site is to link your Outlook to the libraries that are most pertinent to your role. Champions in each business unit may want to link their office’s Shared Documents to their Outlook for easy access to items such as Standard Client Mileage or other documents stored into your business unit’s libraries. To connect a specific folder to Outlook, follow the same steps 1-3 above. At Step 4, click Connect to Outlook. These items will appear in your Outlook navigation under “SharePoint Lists.”

Downloading Files
The best way to download a document such as a Safety Quiz or The Champion newsletter: find the document, right click, and choose “Save target as…”

Note that if you download a non-PDF file, it may be modified at a later date. Make sure that you’re always using the most up-to-date information.

Editing in SharePoint

Sometimes you’ll want to modify an already-existing file in SharePoint. This is encouraged if minor changes are made to shared documents.

To make sure that you’re the only person making edits at any given point while you have the document open, and to let others know that on-going edits are being made, make sure you:

  1. Click the checkbox next to the document you want to edit;
  2. Check Out the document;
  3. Click the document you want to edit. After you’re done, save your updates and close the file.
  4. Click Check In.

Others will not be able to edit the document if it isn’t returned.


ProTip: While many use Chrome as their browser of choice, SharePoint works best with Internet Explorer. If you’re not accustomed to using IE, try pinning it to your taskbar and setting the homepage to Champion’s SharePoint site.

CURRENT EVENTS (Jul 2015)

Jul 13

BM’S 2015 MID-YEAR MEETING
July 13-16 – Business Manager’s Mid-Year Meeting in Park City, Utah. This meeting is used to review the progress and drive action for the Balanced Score Card initiatives of each organization and the company as a whole.

Jul 30

ITT TECHNICAL INSTITUTE JOB FAIR
4:00pm – 7:00pm – event will be held at the ITT Technical Institute Campus. The BR Office will showcase our exciting career opportunities.

Jul 31

HOUSTON TELECOM SUMMER TRIP
July 31 – Aug 2 – Summer Trip to Northshore Resort in Onalaska, Texas. The perfect getaway vacation offering a variety of activities such as fully furnished cabins, pool, splash pad, private sandy beach and more.

Aug 7

BATON ROUGE OFFICE SUMMER TRIP
Aug. 7 – 9 – Summer Trip to Hilton Hotel in Pensacola, Florida. The perfect getaway vacation offering white sandy beaches, beautiful scenery, boundless outdoor adventures, exciting arts and culture and more.

Sep 9

LSU’S 2015 FALL ENGINEERING, SCIENCE, & TECHNOLOGY CAREER EXPO
Sept. 9th (1:00pm to 6:00pm) and on Sept. 10th (9:30am-2:30pm) – event will be held at the Maddox Fieldhouse. The BR Office will showcase our exciting career opportunities.

Dec 11

SAVE THE DATE:
FRIDAY SOCIAL & ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY
Dec. 11-12 – event will be held at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Houston, TX. See Christmas Party Announcement on the Welcome Page in SharePoint for more information & updates.

 


Creamy Potato Salad Recipe


Potato Salad: Our 2nd-Favorite BBQ Food

Barbecues aren’t just about grilling. They’re also about the delicious sides that go along with the main course. Of course you could go out to your local market and buy potato salad for your next backyard barbecue, but it’s so easy to make and then customize that you might as well try home-made, right?

Potato Salad’s Beginnings – You might assume that potato salad’s an All-American invention, but like so many of our “classics”, it came to us following a circuitous path.

Originally grown in South America, potatoes were first introduced in Europe by Spanish explorers somewhere around the 16th century. After that, many European countries started using them in their cuisine, with ingredients dependent on local custom. Then, as European settlers came to America, they brought their own versions of the simple, humble dish. Learn more about potato salad’s history.

10 servings  |  Prep Time: 25 minutes  |  Total Time: 4 hours, 55 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1-1/2 pounds round red or white potatoes (about 6 medium), peeled
  • 1-1/2 cups mayonnaise or salad dressing
  • 1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 medium stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped ( 1/2 cup)
  • 4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
  • Paprika, if desired
NUTRITION:

Per serving: Calories 330 (Calories from Fat 250); Total Fat 28g (Saturated Fat 5g); Cholesterol 105mg; Sodium 480mg; Total Carbohydrate 15g; (Dietary Fiber 1g), Protein 4g.

Exchanges: 1 Starch; Carbohydrate Choices: 1


PREPARATION:

  1. Place potatoes in 3-quart saucepan; add enough water to cover potatoes. Cover and heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cook covered 25 to 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender; drain. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes into cubes.
  2. Mix mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in large glass or plastic bowl.
  3. Add potatoes, celery and onion; toss. Stir in eggs. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours to blend flavors and chill. Store covered in refrigerator.

TIPS & NOTES:

  1. For a slightly sweet potato salad, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish in step 2.
  2. Trim fat grams by using fat-free mayonnaise and just 2 eggs.
  3. Round red and white potatoes are waxy and work best for potato salad because the pieces stay firm when fully cooked. Baking potatoes, which are starchy, tend to break apart and become mushy in salads.