Supporting Our Military Families

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JE Richards recently had the opportunity to support the Veteran Success Resource Group (VSRG) at the Inaugural Heroes and Legends Charity Golf Classic with the parachute jump sponsorship. VSRG holds events that provide food, clothing, diapers, toiletries and other essential items for military families in need. These giveaways are paired with VSRG partners offering access to a host of resources designed to ensure the well-being of entire military families.

Team Fastrax Flies the Richards banner at the Inaugural Heroes and Legends Charity Golf Classic

Ed McCarty, Phalcon Principal and President of JE Richards, said “this was a unique way to show our support of those families that dedicate their lives to our country and at the same time a pretty cool way to showcase our company.” During the opening ceremony and national anthem, Team Fastrax – The World Champion Sky Dive Team, jumped with a custom Richards flag to the delight of all in the crowd.

Richards Golfers Tee-Up for Annual ‘Dollars against Diabetes’

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Springtime in Washington, DC, is always a beautiful time of year and finds JE Richards crack team of golfers working to make a difference in the lives of the 37 million Americans suffering from diabetes.  This year’s Dollars against Diabetes – IBEW Local 26 Golf Outing was held at Whiskey Creek Golf Course in Ijamsville, Maryland on a beautiful, blue-sky day on June 5th.     

This annual D.A.D.’s Day campaign organized by North America’s Building Trades Unions, with the help of State and Local Councils around the country, has been able to donate over $57 million dollars to the Diabetes Research Institute, in Miami, Florida.

Congrats on the great efforts to combat this insidious disease that inflicts so many lives!

Don’t Risk Fate – The Text Can Wait!!

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12 year-old Safety Calendar artist Annalie’s April 2023 submission reminds us all that the the risk is too high. Texting while driving involves all three primary distractions: Manual – Visual – Cognitive – and increases your chances of a negative outcome.

Ask yourself – is it really worth it?

Campus Hockey Comes Home to UConn with McPhee Tech Systems

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McPhee was instrumental in the buildout of two very important facets of the new University of Connecticut 2,600-seat, Toscano Family Ice Forum on the Storrs campus in the state’s quiet corner. McPhee first partnered with Metropolitan Interactive of Oxford, CT to provide all the necessary cabling, terminations and installations of the audio/video infrastructure and components necessary to support the new arenas sound system, video systems and live broadcasts.

Project Foreman Kevin Zbyk says “a combined 32 miles – 170,000 linear feet of audio/video cabling was installed to support the facilities speakers, video displays, touch panels, Bluetooth receivers, cameras, audio tie-lines, microphone inputs, assisted listening antennas and live broadcast connectivity. In addition, the project required the installation of approximately one hundred fifty (150) ceiling/wall/pendant mounted speakers, eight (8) large arena speaker arrays, thirty-five (35) wall/pendant mounted displays and multiple remotely controlled PTZ cameras,” Kevin concludes.

McPhee also with long-time partner Daktronics Corp of Brookings, SD to provide the electrical and low voltage infrastructure for their large scale LED video displays. “We furnished and installed all necessary wiring to support the connectivity and power to the arena’s 25’x25’x15’, 22,000lb center-hung video display and self-climbing hoist. A fifty foot (50’) along with two (2) one-hundred twenty foot video ribbon displays compliment the 15’x 10’ stairwell mounted video wall,” says site foreman Kevin Riley A state-of-the-art AllSport scoring system provides singular control of the new scoreboard, goal lights and twenty (20) game clocks that are positioned throughout the arenas offices, locker rooms and training areas.

Congrats Everyone: Safety Achievement Award of Merit

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Mike Stanczyc Receiving the award from Travis Keeney, Chairperson, STIC Risk Management Committee

Phalcon participates in a Specialty Trades Insurance Company (STIC) and was recently honored with one of six Awards of Merit out of 44 companies participating.  Mike says: “the award is based on a combination of proactive items, trailing statistics and engagement/participation and is a direct reflection on our commitment to safety and ensuring that our employees get home safely at the end of the day.”  Factors like OSHA Recordables, Lost Time Injuries and Risk Control all go into the achievement of this award.

Thanks to Mike for accepting this award our our behalf and Keep up the great work!

No Interruptions for the State of Tennessee

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Harlan Electric was selected as the prime contractor to provide new replacement switchgear and back-feed all equipment throughout the William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower.  Harlan was responsible for all aspects of the project which included enlarging the room, building a new wall, entry doorway and certain concrete demolition and install.    Downtime was required to be limited to preplanned weekend outages. The concrete removal operation required noise abatement and planning for demolition activities high priority.  This building houses significant State of Tennessee government offices making security, coordination, and communication of all activities of utmost importance. 

The existing 50+ year old main switchgear was replaced with new 4160V, 1200 amp equipment.  Elapsed time from power off of old gear to new gear back online was less than 48 hours. There were a total of 71, 5kv terminations installed and all passed 3rd party testing on first pass with no disruption to the occupant’s operations.  The age of the building provided a significant challenge.  The gear sections height was only a single inch shorter than the elevator cab height.  The team devised a way of rolling the gear on and off the elevator on ¼ inch steel rods . . . leaving 1/2 inch clearance from the top of the cab.

Long-Term Partnership Scores Again

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Recently, McPhee Electric and Daktronics Corp of Brookings, South Dakota have partnered up again to construct and install one of their state-of-the-art LED displays.  Their latest ‘score’ is the Fairfield University Convocation Center’s new center-hung video display to provide game scoring and statistics for both men’s and women’s basketball. Chris Lappen, McPhee’s Project Manager says, “various McPhee teams are currently engaged in the construction and assembly of the center-hung video display, assembling and wiring the self-climbing hoist and installing/terminating wiring for electrical and signaling connections at the roof.”

The grand opening of the new 85,000 square-foot, 3,500-seat Arena is set for November of 2022. “An additional 2’ tall LED ribbon display mounted on the fascia between the concourse & club levels will encircle the entire center and provide a continuous loop of advertising, scoring and encouragement for both players and fans,“ Chris concludes.  For more than 15 years, Chris’ team has installed and serviced hundreds of LED scoreboards, highway traffic signs and electronic billboards across New England for Daktronics resulting in this strong partnership and continues today.

Provincetown (MA) Battery Project Up and Running With McPhee’s Utility Division

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The Utility Division of McPhee recently completed this Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in Provincetown, MA at the tip of famous Cape Cod. “We performed the engineering, major component procurement and installation of the 25MW / 45.8MWh system which operates in parallel with the local distribution system. The systems battery racks, inverters, control systems, pad mounted transformers, and a 25 kV switchgear all interconnect to the existing distribution system adjacent to the facility“ says Jake McPhee, Director of Utility Estimating.

Serving more than 5,000 customers, this BESS provides back up power should the area lose their traditional power sources. A summer tourist mecca and literally at the ‘end-of-the-line’, a loss of power to Provincetown can turn critical very quickly and this system provides a state-of-the-art approach to increasing reliability for customers. “This is a good example of the type of leading-edge projects that McPhee has always excelled at – working collaboratively with the client and solving new problems that help bring innovative technologies to life,” Jake concludes.

Keeping The Wind Working

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At an elevation of approximately 400 feet above the ocean surface, Tony Recanati (L) and Joe Aurora (R) of McPhee Electric stop for a moment take in the view from atop one of the wind power facilities east of Block Island, RI.  Under the annual PowerHawke contract, Tony and Joe spent 5 days between the five towers performing the annual electrical preventive maintenance and inspections for the low voltage systems as well as a number of related repairs identified in previous inspections.  Tony and Joe also recently completed the new globally recognized GWO Basic Safety Training prior to mobilization.

THE TEDDY’S: 2022 Phalcon Awards & Celebration

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Almost 450 company employees, spouses and guests gathered on June 4th at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC to celebrate our collective history, accomplishments and partnership at the 2022 Phalcon Teddy Awards. After opening comments from the Phalcon partners – Mike, Marcus and Ed – and a video highlighting the history of Phalcon, gifts of appreciation were presented to Ted McPhee, founder of McPhee Electric and to Joe Richards, founder of Richards Electric.

“We owe so much to people like Ted and Joe for their leadership and vision. We stand on the shoulders of these industry giants’ as we move in to the future and cherish the legacy that they have provided us with ‘Grit & Gratitude.'” says Mike McPhee, CEO of Phalcon.

The Teddy Awards have been an annual tradition that started at McPhee more than 20 years ago and has been expanded over the years to now include the entire Phalcon family. The annual Phalcon Teddy’s Awards celebration takes time to reflect on our collective accomplishments and to honor and thank those who have contributed to our successes. The night was followed by dinner, dancing and plenty of time for Phalcon team members across the operating company locations to enjoy conversation and time together.