Local partners join Nichols Electric on a fertilizer facility upgrade in Onoway, Alberta
What would a farm be without fertilizer? Thanks to a group of hardworking small businesses, central Alberta farmers don’t have to find out.
The project
Back in January 2020, Crop Management Network Inc. (CMN) purchased an old fertilizer facility in Onoway, a small town northwest of Edmonton. The job? To transform the outdated plant into a modern, state of the art fertilizer facility that improved CMN’s service to central Alberta farmers.
Craig Solberg, Account Manager with CMN was put in charge of the project. “I prioritized some projects that I felt needed to be done for this business to be sustainable long term. So the top priority was to improve the quality and capacity of our dry fertilizer system.” Craig says. The second was to add an additional blender.
That’s when Nichols Electric was brought on board. With their expertise and history of great work with CMN, they were the perfect fit to lead the upgrade.
After Craig met with Sheldon, Founder and CEO of Nichols Electric, the team went straight to work. They did an inventory of the current electrical service, brought on the partners needed, removed and replaced old equipment, and even put in new cabling and tray — all in two months.
Local supporting local
It’s easy to underestimate how many specialized teams are needed for a project like this. Upgrading some electrical sounds pretty straightforward, right? In reality, many hands were needed on deck, from programming to welding to supplies to underground work.
But Sheldon doesn’t trust the work with just anyone. Over the years he’s aligned Nichols Electric with local businesses that value hard work, diligence and service excellence as much as he does. Shift Innovations is one of those businesses, and their President, Darren Bolding, sees partnerships the same way.
I typically wouldn't work with another electrical contractor. But when I see the quality of work [Sheldon] does, it's similar quality of work that we do. We trust that whoever's doing the job is doing it the way we'd like it to be done. We're much stronger when we work together."
- Darren Bolding, Shift Innovations
Challenges and triumphs
With any project of this scale, there are always challenges. The facility upgrade in Onoway was no exception.
The crew was faced with a major hurdle — one of the transformers was faulty, putting out an unbalanced voltage that would shorten the equipment's lifespan. Sheldon knew that fixing it would take some time, but because he guarantees the highest possible standard, he couldn't allow a piece of equipment to operate imperfectly. Nichols Electric worked alongside EQUS to rebalance the voltage, get the equipment running properly and the project back on track.
One of the big successes of the project was replacing the old manual controls and adding a modern operating system. Darren and the team at Shift Innovations worked hard to create custom systems using the latest, most efficient technology. This upgrade means CMN can have Nichols Electric access the plant remotely to troubleshoot system issues, saving time and money.
The biggest triumph of all was the moment Craig pushed the button and everything turned on and worked perfectly. Not only that, but the project was finished on time and on budget!
“We’ve built a lot of plants in 40 years, but the electrical work that was done here was — there’s no comparison. The only word that comes to mind is ‘perfect’. I thought I was meticulous, but I don’t hold a candle to Sheldon. It was the best work I’ve ever seen.”
- Craig Solberg, Crop Management Network Onoway
Thanks to the crews and vendors who played a part in the success of this project!
- Shift Innovations: Nichols has teamed up with Shift a few times over the years. On the Onoway project, they developed the custom CSA approved motor control centre and PLC system for the facility.
- Roll Maintenance: John Lorenowicz and his team in Stony Plain provided fabbing and welding on site.
- Badger Trenching: Justin and his team at Badger is another one Nichols has worked with before. They specialize in ground work, and helped us get through the frozen ground with his specialized equipment.
- WEG-VJ Pamensky Canada: Electric motors, motor starters and soft starters.
- Eecol Electric and Uni-Tray Systems: Supplied the project with vital electrical materials.
- Electro-Tel: Local company in Camrose who provided network equipment and support that enabled remote monitoring.
- Renegade Hydrovac: Based out of Spruce Grove, Renegade provided the required hydrovac services to the project.
- Tri-Jet Services: Supplied the necessary fill sand.
- Last but definitely not least,
EQUS: The utility company that completed the construction of the facility upgrade.
