Team Inc. steps up training efforts with local expansion

Team Inc. (NYSE: TISI) is seeing a surge in Gulf Coast customer demand, which has led the company to expand its local operations.

The Sugar Land-based company, which offers industrial inspection, maintenance, repair and compliance services mainly for the energy and chemical industries, is in the process of establishing a larger local training facility and a new local warehouse.
As more companies invest in Gulf Coast-area pipelines, chemical facilities and refining facilities that take advantage of shale oil and natural gas, Team sees more work, explained Don Bleasdell, Team’s vice president of finance.

Team moved its headquarters from Alvin to Sugar Land last year, but Bleasdell recently told the Houston Business Journal that his company kept its old Alvin building. Now, Team is refurbishing the old 13,000-square-foot building, which it plans to use as a training facility.
“Our customers want us to provide something they can’t do. We have the expertise, which is why we’ve always had a focus on training,” Bleasdell said. “Our customers are also pushing us to do our job safely, and in order to do a job safely, you have to be an expert in what you are doing, which is why we are investing in training."

The new training facility will have about 20 to 30 employees, some of which will be new hires.
In addition to the new training facility, Team also revealed that it is constructing a new 50,000-square-foot warehouse at its Alvin site. The warehouse will have about 30 employees.
While Team has always had a lot of its work in the Gulf Coast area repairing and maintaining refineries, pipelines and production sites, Bleasdell said work on new construction projects is a growing part of Team’s business. For example, Team will heat treat new pipes and also inspect these new pipes when they are put in place.