Commissioning Engineer

All right, Robert, I wanted to say thank you again for your willingness to put yourself out there for our veteran job seekers. I know we're going to talk about the commissioning engineer role first, but like I said before we started, right, people don't follow companies, they don't quit companies, they follow leaders, they quit leaders. So it's always good at the beginning of these videos for that veteran job seeker just to learn a little bit about you. So if you could Can you give me a little bit about your background and what brought you to the organization and what you're currently doing?

No, absolutely. Thanks for the opportunity. So again, my name is Robert Suhon. I am the Director of Project Management here at Hitech, and I'm also Manager of Business Development for Hitech organization. So I'm kind of the glue transition person between what we sell and what we deliver to our clients. So I make sure our salespeople don't sell something that we can't fulfill on the back end of the job. So, um, I've been doing, uh, project management, project director, and executive management in the rotary UPS industry for almost 25 years. In July it'll be 25 years, uh, that I've been in the field or in these, uh, uh, companies. I was actually the president of one of our competitors for 11 years. So I started my career at Hitech. I left in 2007, and in 2018, I had more of an epiphany that executive leadership, ownership of the companies, um, kind of brought me back into the Hitech organization, seeing what we have going on right now, the new products that were delivered to the market. back in the 2017, 2018 timeframe. So we've got a lot of really good, exciting developments, leadership that's committed to the long-term. I mean, we're already working on 2030 plans and setting up our organization to reach our goals over the next 5+ years in this market and in new markets that we're trying to develop right now. Mm-hmm. So very exciting times at Hitech. We are growing really fast. We're growing steadily, which is even more important. We don't wanna get ahead of ourselves. And building the right team in order to accomplish that is, in my opinion, the absolute key focus to success. Because if we fail any one customer, that prevents 2 to 3 customers from us in the next couple years. Mm-hmm.

All right, well said. And I don't know, you may be the first salesperson, project manager person that I've met that, you know, you can't sell the dream because you got to fulfill it. You got to sell the right thing and make sure that it's going into the right, the right way, right? So that's, that's really interesting to have that perspective of both sides. And so 25 years in the industry, coming back to Hitech because of their their, their product line and, and who they are in the industry. So what, what is the commissioning engineer then? What does the commission— what, what's their piece in this puzzle?

Well, I, I gotta go give you a little bit bigger picture before I can answer that specifically. So the project management role, or the project management team within Hytac, as I said before, we have to deliver on what the salespeople sell. So we use a complete network across the entire North American market to provide all of the auxiliary equipment that needs to be installed at a construction site in order to make the rotary UPS actually work. The rotary UPS itself is coming from our parent company located in Holland.

Okay.

So that product is built, tested, and the customer goes to Holland. They witness its operation at our test stand in Holland. Our project management team then buys the fuel tank, the radiator, the exhaust system, the electrical switchgear distribution. And many times we also provide a complete enclosure package where it's installed offsite and then brought to the job site Uh, from that standpoint, if it's not built in an enclosure, all of that assembly takes place in the field. So this is a construction environment. You've got mechanical contractors, electrical contractors, the customer, commissioning engineers from the customer, uh, general contractors. We are just a part of that entire construction effort. So our project managers are making sure all of these contractors are installing the equipment correctly. Once it's installed, we need the expertise to come in and validate that every wire is landed on the correct electrical circuit, every mechanical connection is, uh, run the way the installation manual says it needs to be run, all the fittings are leak-proof, um, and the unit is ready to actually start. So A commissioning engineer's role is normally about 12 days per unit for one of our units. Now we sell some sites that have 10, 12, 15 units on. So that commissioning process is gonna be a very long process. But if you think, break it down to a single unit, about 10 to 12 days per unit. The first 4 or 5 days is doing nothing but safety checks to make sure everything is done correctly. So you need to, um, use the schematic wiring diagrams point to point. You need to use the P&ID drawings for the mechanical to make sure it's done correctly. Um, you are giving all of that feedback. If there's something wrong, you're giving that feedback to the project manager, and he is then instructing the installers to make the corrections that you find. You're not expected to make corrections because unless we screwed up, the contractors are the ones who have to correct their errors. Sometimes it's a union environment, sometimes it's not. So you gotta also be careful not to touch things that unions don't allow you to touch. So it's just the reality of the world we work in.

Yeah.

But it's a very interactive— the commissioning process again is really led by the commissioning engineer. And after all those safety checks are done, We then go through what we call the startup process. So we've got all these procedures that will go in and actually systematically start to energize the electrical switchgear, the control panels, the, the mechanical systems. During that process, things aren't always working correctly, so you need to be able to clear alarms. Identify any troubleshooting, anything that is happening during that. 'Cause remember, this is the first time all these parts and pieces come together. So you need to troubleshoot. And then after about day 6, you're actually able to push the on button and watch this entire system come up.

Come to life.

This is big, yeah, this is big power. Diesel engines are 16 or 20-cylinder diesel engines. The electrical generation is usually around 2 to 3 megawatts of power. We're also dealing with different voltages. This is also kind of key. So most, uh, three-phase power in general sense is 480 volts. Our system, we can actually do 4,160 volts, 12,470, 13.8 kV, and we're actually working on a system right now which is a 34.5 5,000-volt electrical distribution. So we need somebody— again, that safety aspect, doing things systematically, making sure there's no mistakes— and then slowly go through the startup process. Once you go through the startup process, it culminates in the final 2 days of that unit being witness test by the customer. So the customer will basically be there right alongside of you saying, okay, Flip this switch. Let's record what happens. Do this. Let's see what happens. Do this. Now again, these are all procedures. These are all written. They're already available.

Yeah. SOPs, right?

Standard operating procedures. Exactly. So that's all developed. And then once that witness test, the commissioning engineer needs to prepare the final reports, include all the chart recordings and the capture, and then get the signatures of the client to say, yes, I accept that it works. Now again, if something goes wrong, we've got to correct it. So we need somebody who's actually able to troubleshoot and fix this issue.

So how much for all that is the majority of these installs at greenfields, like new construction sites? How much is rebuilt? How much is coming into a manufacturing site that's already working or something?

Yeah, so it's— that's a, that's a really good question. Uh, new builds are on the rise right now. Those projects have a very long lead time, probably 12+ months lead time before they're delivered, another 4 months to get installed. And then like I said, the 10 days per unit to commission them in the end. So that's about 30% of our business right now. The really cool thing, and I'm glad you asked this question, We're retrofitting all the stuff that I was project manager on 25 years ago.

Exactly.

So right now we have about 65% of our commissionings are basically a retrofit activity, putting in all the new state-of-the-art control system, the new kinetic energy modules, the alternators, and bringing their old 25-year-old equipment to 2025 standards. So that happens in a live environment. So if it's an install of, let's say, 12 units, which we're doing right now in Virginia, they're doing 3 units, 4 units per year. So it's a 3-year length of contract overall because they can't do all 12 at once.

Okay.

That process, again, same 10 to 12 days for commissioning, But all the other units around it are running live. So it's noisy. You are, you know, working in an environment that you've got to be even extra careful. But you also have customers who have been around for a very long time. They know exactly what the system is, how it works, and now you're giving them a new system. So there's a lot of questions, a lot of interaction to go from there. So from my perspective, the commissioning engineer is the lead technical person during all of these phases that go on. Now, when I say that, we do have a full team of project engineers who are making sure everything's going as smooth as possible. You have all the correct documentation when you show up on the job site and go from there.

Right.

So you always can call the project engineer and discuss maybe that's a sequence of operations that's not quite the program has a, not a glitch, but maybe an incorrect operation. So those project engineers are the ones that are gonna fix that for you in that regard. So I know I'm rambling a little bit.

No, no, I have, that's really good.

So.

But what I see, what I'm hearing too is this isn't a reactive type of role, right? Some roles that have high travel are reactive. Hey, you wake up Monday morning, you get a phone call, hey, this broke down, you gotta get on a plane and hop to Virginia. This is all well scheduled and planned, right? Their travel is— they can forecast their travel, they can see their travel out.

Absolutely. So in fact, we just had our 2025 kickoff meeting on the 2nd of January, planning for work. And we've got backlog of commissioning, which will start January 27th. And we have, I think, 16 units on the schedule right now, which will take us through June of 2026, not to mention 17 new units that are in the installation phase or production phase that are gonna deliver, let's say, um, midsummer, and then they still have to go through install and everything else. So those will hit— Mm-hmm. Starting probably April-ish of next year and go through the remainder of 2026 into 2027. So there is a lot of backlog. And remember, it is a construction industry, so nothing happens overnight. That we don't sell something today and it's delivered in 3 months. It's 6+ months delivery, 3 or 4 months for install. And, you know, it just goes—

You know, I like that because, you know, some some roles, some industries, it's really, you know, you're forecasting 3 weeks out, 2 weeks out. That person is traveling. They don't know where they're going, when they're going. They don't even know if they're traveling. Where this, this is. So real quick, we'll get into the travel, but I want to dig into the technical aspect before we get into the travel side.

Okay.

So it really seems like you have to be an electrician, industrial electrician for this role because of the 4, you know, you said 4,160, 13.8 kilowatt, like you're talking big, big here. Is that, is that, and then they have to be able to turn a wrench, right? Reading wiring diagrams, schematics, you know, things like that is really important. That is that kind of the lead skill set you're looking for?

Yes, primarily. And again, I don't want to disqualify somebody, but my, my first thought goes to a school Navy nukes, submariners, or even turbine specialists on surface vessels. And again, I'm a little biased to the Navy folks, especially from a mission-critical standpoint. The guys in the submarine, they know what mission-critical is. If that boat doesn't come off the bottom, that's about as critical as it ever gets. So all this stuff with the electrical field is, is minor compared to something like that. So— Yeah. Those folks have a mindset of, hey, we're gonna solve this problem, we're gonna dig in, we're gonna get it done and take care of the customer and the mission at hand. And if things come up, hey, we're calm, cool, collective, we know how to handle it and go from there. So again, I don't wanna disclude anybody else, but—

No, but—

My experience, 25 years, says those folks understand and are willing to commit to the mission at hand versus just going to a job or just showing up to do a service job somewhere else. This is very interactive. It's senior leadership, you know, interaction.

That makes sense. So like you mentioned, the Navy electricians may, because they are the industrial electrician on that ship. The nuclear background makes sense. I will, the submarine background, so machinist's mate on submarine or fire controlman on the submarine are gonna do well. You know, also Flightline, you know, aviation electrician mates, they don't have the 480, but they have the 3-phase, a great— chasing wires, reading schematics, all that. And the Mission Critical, what's really neat, there's planes taking off and planes need to land.

Absolutely.

Right? There's a sense of urgency there that is really important. And then if they get to the crew chief side, they're the ones that are doing the big red X on all the paperwork, saying that thing's flight ready. So that may be some, some interest to you too.

And I've had over my career, again, I'm only speaking from experiences, I've had really good tank mechanics who fill these types of roles really, really well. So, um, I don't want to exclude anyone. It's just got to be some— I'm looking for the person with the right attitude, mentality, um, drive and passion. Go, Barry. Absolutely. We can teach a lot of things if we get a right person with the right aptitude and, uh, understand how to use their hands. But like I said, I don't want to exclude anyone from, from the search process in that regard. Then—

and that makes sense. So they have to be well-rounded, right? They have to be able to pick up a wrench and they have to be able to chase wire, no matter what it is, whatever what lead skill it is. If it's electrical mechanical, that's whatever, but they have to be able to at least do both. The, um, what about the travel? You mentioned 12 days per machine startup. So if you have 10 machines, right, you're there 120 days. You're not there the whole 120 days, are you?

Well, yes, as a company we are. Um, our global commissioning team— so there's a group of maybe 5 or 6, uh, commissioning engineers out of our headquarters in Holland We have one currently in the United States dedicated to North American activity. As I told you, we've got 17 already forecast going forward.

Okay.

So the reason we're bringing on a second person is to train, get ready for the big glut that happens towards the end of next year, early into 2026. But we pull in, so let's say one of our commissioning engineers gone for, 3 units, so roughly a month, month and a half. That's about the absolute limit we would ever ask anybody to be gone away from home. In Europe, they actually have an 8 weeks on, 4 weeks off from the global perspective. So when they do that, it's a little bit different. Now again, North America, we're trying to better plan. So a lot of our units right now on our schedule are 1 unit. Several weeks before the second unit. So I'm very flexible in a schedule. If you're going to give up 12 working days, that's 2 weekends while you're gone. I'm, I'm good with, uh, you know, 4 or 5 days catch up with your family life, whatever it may be, finish all your expenses, prep, and then get ready for your next travel. So, um, it's not 120 days in a row you're going to expect it to can be gone. We will fill, okay, one person's there for, let's say, 30 days. Then the next one comes in, there's an overlap period, and then that person's there while someone leaves. So we're trying to balance that and why we want more resources in the North American market. We don't wanna rely on the folks in Europe.

Yeah.

And when I say that, because remember the folks in Europe are also going to Asia, South America, you know, Middle East, Europe. They're going all over. When, when and if our commissioning engineers have a break, they would be expected to go into that global team. So they might end up in Uruguay, for example. They may end up in, in Europe to help, or the UK. Oh, cool.

So there is international.

It's, it's trying to create this global team, but we got to concentrate on North America first. And foremost, but we are one company. I mean, it is a global company. It is all high-tech power protection, but we have divisions all across the world.

So if the travel is that way, hey, when you're out in the field, you're out in the field. When you're in the rear with the gear, you're in the rear with the gear, right? You're doing paperwork, you're getting your next travel set up, all that reporting. Does this role have to be— I mean, is this a remote position? Can they just pick be home. Yep.

And currently our— yes, currently our, our current commissioning engineer, I, I gotta say it, um, so he's a Navy nuke submariner. He's been extremely dedicated. Uh, he's been working with me for about 14 years between two different companies. Um, very dedicated. He's, he's, uh, committed to the development of anyone we hire. The training process, the processes, continuous improvement. So I, I really have a jewel, uh, with this gentleman, uh, being on our team. Uh, and it would be expected that whoever we hire is going to work side by side with this person for, let's say, 3 or 4 or 5 of these commissionings to really get the flow of things. We're not just going to hire someone and throw them in. They're going to be side by side on the job training, learning, understanding why we're doing things, and go from there. So I feel really, uh, blessed to have Joel— Joel is his name— um, on my team because he thinks very proactively. His— the customer and the mission of satisfying and getting this equipment running— because remember, it's not just getting it running, it's going to serve the customer in the end. And that customer needs an install that's going to go flawlessly for the next 15, 20 years. Once all of this equipment is installed. So for me, that's my team. My project managers of what we've built so far are also dedicated to the success of the customer. So remember I said our project team is project, it's called product realization in my terminology. So we're taking it from a piece of paper, the contract, and we're turning it into real metal, real steel, real operational moving parts. Yeah. That are intended to work 25+ years. And that's what we do, because again, I'm retrofitting stuff I installed personally back in the year 2000. So this is—

That's funny.

Long— we like people who want a long career. It's not— how do I wanna describe it? It's not the same work over and over and over again. Every customer is different. Every installation is different. Every unit that we sell is different. There is a challenge at each opportunity, each job that we go to. So even though it may sound like a commissioning engineer for 2 to 3 years or whatever it may be going forward, it changes from month to month, week to week with the same basic principles of what we're trying to accomplish. So there's a lot of diversity in what goes forward as a company. Yeah. For ourselves and for our clients and for our employees. So like I said—

I was gonna ask about that. So the commission engineers say, so they go through the safety checkup 4 to 5 days, then they do the warm-up, and then they do the, I wanna call it the ride-along, but the witness—

The actual, call it the actual testing. Yeah, the actual certification testing.

So everything's certified, everything's running, they leave. A month later, the client calls and says, "Hey, we have issues." Is that the commissioning engineer coming back or is there somebody that comes back?

No, as soon as that unit goes into service, carrying the customer load and operating, that transitions to our service department.

Okay.

And we have our own trained functional service department that they get the first phone call, they get to dispatch the service tech. Now again, this commissioning engineer's gonna be one of the most highly technical persons who interact with the equipment. So they maybe get a phone call that says, "Hey, I'm experiencing this, can you help me?" So they can then answer that phone call, maybe do some screen sharing or, you know, a FaceTime or whatever it may be that can help the actual field service technician who's online. So again, we wouldn't expect the commissioning engineer to go back but he could help our service.

The good thing is there's a relationship between the field service team, the commissioning engineer, and the project management team.

And the project engineer as well, because the project engineering group, they do a lot of stuff in the background to support everybody, uh, in that regard. So we, we do build it as a team. We're not a very big company, uh, so worldwide we're only about 260 people, I believe. In the US, we're only about 40 to 45, and the project engineering team is 1, 2, 3, only 8 of us right now. So this person will be the 9th person we bring into this group. We do have plans to hire more project engineers, and as business grows, project managers will go along and so on and so forth. So it is an intimate group. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. We want to have somebody who's willing to pick up the phone. We want somebody who's willing to answer the phone. But customer mission first is my philosophy. I know my boss will yell at me and say, oh, you know, you got to focus on the bottom line. Uh-uh. I got to focus on delivering what we sold and making sure the customer is satisfied in the end.

That's— Yeah.

That's the goal. That's what I believe the team I've built so far is all about. They truly do care about how they perform and how that customer views us in the end. So I'm really excited about what we've got going forward in the projects team.

Well, and you mentioned it too, and I'll back that up. You know, I've been aware of the organization for 15, 20 years now, and how many of the people that I've interacted with last week and this week that I'd met in 2007?

Yep.

You know, people that have been here that that longevity goes a long way. And I think that's why any, anytime a veteran comes in there, if this is the right role for them, they stay, you know, because the culture is great, the education there, the training is great, the product line is good, right? It's developing, which is amazing. So—

Can I interrupt you for just one second? You know, again, I don't want to babble on too much, but because The way the company is set up and the way our customers are located, they're all over the country. So we've got jobs working right now in Montreal, Ashburn, Virginia, uh, Miami, Austin, Texas, Phoenix, uh, Los Angeles, Northern California, Seattle. They're all over. So our service techs also are in these locations, so they're kind of remote. So they're really only interaction with other service technicians. So the guy in Seattle may not see the guy in Virginia for a couple years unless there's some company. So the military background, the philosophy of customer first, everybody's willing to help everybody out even though they may never even physically met them, but it's a high-tech mission, it's the customer mission. They, they understand what they're going through and then they, they take those phone calls and they work through those problems, um, as they come up. And it's the same way with the commissioning engineer, uh, because he's, he's got to know who to call to get that support, whether it be the engineer, the project manager, a service tech, maybe even the, the engineer from Holland if, if that's the case. So sorry, I digress, because that is the reality of our, of our, uh, work. Nothing is built at our head office Nothing is, no customers are in the Houston area. The closest customer is AT&T in Austin, Texas. And that's a very small install. It's like 6 megawatts compared to what we have all across the country. So that's why the remote is important.

Yeah, well, no, and the remote's great too because you'll find somebody getting out of the military and they said, hey, I promised my kids I would stay here 'til they graduate high school, or I promised my spouse that we would stay here until— or I'm gonna— so it gives them that opportunity to still follow their career and their passion while also respecting the needs and demands of their family.

And that's something about me as well. I don't wanna overwork anybody. I'm not asking anybody to give up their life for high-tech. I've learned over all of my years, I started, I was single, I didn't have anything tying me down. So I did, I could travel all over. And, and that's an exciting thing for someone who might not have a family that really wants to experience different cities, different geographies. But I also recognize, hey, you need home time. If you, if home time is important, you've got to interact. If you've got small children, you've got to also give them that time. And that's why I say, I don't want to put somebody out there for such a long period of time. In that regard. But I'm also, you know, very flexible. The work's got to get done. As long as everybody's working together, yeah, I'll find backup if you, if you can't, or if you've got something going on. I'll— it's my responsibility to make sure the customer's taken care of when you personally can't be available. So, um, I'm very, very flexible in that regard.

Well, no, that— I mean, it seems great. I, I feel like I have a good understanding of what you're looking for. And I feel like this video will give those veterans a good understanding of expectations and what the role is.

Okay.

So we'll get this out to the team as soon as we can. Is there anything that you were hoping that we would cover in this video that we did? Did we miss anything?

I don't think so. Again, I'm about the customer. Everybody needs to understand that. So if they're still watching, you know, 28 minutes into the video and they're excited about it, yeah, I would like to talk to them and see what they've got. I don't need Madonna. I just want somebody who's going to function as part of the team and, and take on the responsibilities granted to them.

Yeah, check your ego at the front door, please.

I mean, it's— yeah, you can be really good, but the customer don't want to see you. They want to see the work get done and go from there.

Well said. Well said. Well, I know— thanks. Thanks again, Robert, for spending the time to educate our job seekers on this. Commissioning engineer opportunity with HITECH. Again, it's a remote role, so high travel. You have to be open to that travel. But we're going to get to work on this right now, and as soon as we get that right veteran, we're going to deliver them to you.

All right, let me know if you have any further questions, and hopefully you can edit this properly. So thanks. All right, take care. Thank you.