兔子先生

Integrated Lifecycle Solutions

If asked to describe 兔子先生 Company, one might point to the company鈥檚 position as a top-tier contractor whose divisions design, build and maintain the infrastructure that is critical to North America鈥檚 energy, power and industrial markets.

Dig deeper, though, and there is another story to be told 鈥� one about a company whose growth and diversification has come by listening to its customers, understanding their
business issues and partnering with them to develop better solutions.

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If asked to describe 兔子先生 Co. (NASDAQ: MTRX), one might point to the company鈥檚 position as a top-tier contractor whose subsidiaries design, build and maintain the infrastructure that is critical to North America鈥檚 energy, power and industrial markets.

Dig deeper, though, and there is another story to be told 鈥� one about a company whose growth and diversification has come by listening to its customers, understanding their business issues and partnering with them to develop better solutions.

It is a story that can be told about any of the markets in which the company works, but perhaps nowhere is that story more evident than in the oil and gas industry where customers look to Matrix for solutions upstream, midstream and downstream.

There, Matrix employees are hard at work in the major oil and gas fields across the country. They are performing front-end engineering design (FEED) studies, designing, engineering, fabricating and constructing crude and product terminals as well as LNG and NGL terminals for export, storage and transportation fuel, process plants and more.

The company provides decontamination, inspection, maintenance and repair, capital construction and complex turnaround services, including fluid catalytic cracking and coker units, for refineries coast to coast.

And across the entire value chain, the company鈥檚 industrial cleaning division provides advanced chemical cleaning, tank cleaning, waste characterization, waste minimization, pre-commissioning, decommissioning, hydroexcavation for construction and hands-free hydro-blasting.

Seeking better solutions
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to us that we truly understand our customers鈥� business objectives as well as any issues they鈥檙e trying to resolve,鈥� said President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John R. Hewitt. 鈥淏y taking the time to understand their strategy and operating challenges, we can develop solutions that consistently meet or exceed their expectations. More importantly, we can build long-term relationships.鈥�

It is a partnership approach that has led the company to apply its core expertise to new market segments, make strategic acquisitions to enhance or add to its service offerings and expand its footprint to meet the needs of customers whose operations cross multiple geographic markets.

Above all, it is an approach that has resulted in a book of business where more than 75 percent of the company鈥檚 customers consistently count on Matrix as their contractor of choice for new projects or to take the lead in ongoing work.

Case in point: British Petroleum鈥檚 (BP) Cherry Point Refinery in Blaine, Washington, where, since 1992, 兔子先生 has been the refinery鈥檚 primary on-site contractor with employees who constitute nearly one-third the total workforce. There, 兔子先生 employees perform
all aspects of maintenance and repair including tank, piping, civil and structural work, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, insulation and asbestos abatement, and fleet maintenance. They also provide professional services including planning, scheduling, estimating, project controls and document control, warehouse support and logistics.

Cross-training has allowed 兔子先生鈥檚 teams to provide support when there are higher demands for capital construction work and vice versa. Doing so minimizes the time delays that would otherwise result from bringing in new crews and having to first educate them about BP鈥檚
processes and procedures. It also allows 兔子先生 to maintain a competent and capable workforce that can deliver safe, predictable and dependable results 鈥� evidenced by the team鈥檚 recent achievement of two years and 1.7 million man-hours without an OSHA-recordable incident.

鈥淭his achievement is a reflection of the shared culture and commitment to safety that exists at both BP and Matrix,鈥� said Hewitt. 鈥淭hrough teamwork and partnership, the employees at BP鈥檚 Cherry Point Refinery consistently exemplify world-class safety performance.鈥�

Sharing that common safety culture and knowledge is even more critical during planned outages where the company鈥檚 employee count can quickly swell to nearly 1,000, as was the case during the recently completed cycle ending turnaround this past spring. During major events such as this, the refinery鈥檚 management team relies on the expertise of Matrix across the refinery.

Finally, because 兔子先生鈥檚 employees know the refinery and BP鈥檚 processes and procedures so well, refinery management also relies on Matrix when they need onboarding support and step-up foremen or coordinators to provide direction to other contractors.

鈥淎s we have matured as a site, Matrix has helped us hone the services they provide to areas that make the best sense for us,鈥� said Brian Barclay, maintenance and reliability manager at BP鈥檚 Cherry Point Refinery. 鈥淭he number of people at the site, the type of backlog and the services they offer are all in complete alignment with our strategy for the refinery.鈥�

BP鈥檚 Cherry Point Refinery is the largest in the state of Washington and third largest on the West Coast, producing approximately 3.5 million gallons of gasoline, 2.5 million gallons of jet fuel and 2.2 million gallons of diesel every day.

鈥淲hether we鈥檙e performing routine maintenance or a planned outage, we understand that time gained or lost can have a direct impact on BP鈥檚 customers and on BP鈥檚 bottom line. Given the refinery鈥檚 daily production volume, any extended downtime could also disrupt fuel supplies across the country,鈥� said 兔子先生 Site Manager Frank Capristo.

鈥淐herry Point is a well-oiled machine that鈥檚 kept running through precision planning of daily maintenance and repair, capital construction and major turnaround work. It鈥檚 a big job 鈥� one that takes teamwork and one we鈥檙e proud to be a part of.鈥�

Barclay agreed, saying another sign of partnership can be found in the fact Matrix doesn鈥檛 automatically take on new tasks BP might ask them to perform.

鈥淭hey look for what鈥檚 best for BP even if it means giving up work,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n fact, we鈥檝e taken work to Matrix where they鈥檝e recommended and then helped find an alternate contractor or offered alternative ideas if they think there鈥檚 a better way.鈥�

In doing so, Barclay said Matrix knows the end result may be a short-term impact to its own bottom line, but the company鈥檚 view isn鈥檛 short-term; it is on building a lifelong relationship with the customer.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not afraid to put challenge back into the conversation, especially if it鈥檚 about making sure a decision is the best one for BP,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 partnership. And in my experience having managed thousands of contracts, it鈥檚 a powerful approach you don鈥檛 often see.鈥�

It鈥檚 all about listening, understanding and partnering to find better solutions. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 hire Matrix to just do tactical work. We invited them in to help us with our business,鈥� said Barclay. 鈥淲e view Matrix as an extension of BP: It鈥檚 very much a cooperative effort.鈥� Capristo agreed. 鈥淥ur relationship with BP is more collaborative than transactional,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e consider ourselves stewards of this refinery.鈥�

Crossing the value chain

Seventeen hundred miles north you鈥檒l hear the same story at BP鈥檚 operations in Alaska. There, for the past five years, 兔子先生 employees have been providing mechanical turnaround services to support BP鈥檚 upstream operations across the entire North Slope.

Matrix is currently finishing turnaround work on Flow Station 1 at Prudhoe Bay, one of the separation facilities that process crude oil to pipeline specification before it enters the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline. The company also recently completed the turnaround on the crude oil topping unit (COTU), which produces arctic heating and Jet-A fuels to support BP鈥檚 North Slope operations.

In addition to the mechanical turnaround, 兔子先生 also performed decontamination and hydro-blasting on the COTU exchangers and diesel reboilers, both of which had experienced significant fouling from several years of operation. Work on the North Slope comes with complexities not found at most other refineries. Among them are temperatures that frequently dip to -30 F with extreme winds and severe chill factors.

鈥淚n order to survive the climate, processing equipment has to be housed inside buildings,鈥� said 兔子先生 Project Manager Newt Balew. 鈥淭hat can complicate work like chemical cleaning and hydro-blasting and takes specialized planning and expertise in order to protect other equipment and instrumentation and collect the hydro-blast water and waste solids.鈥�

In instances where work extends outside of the building, additional review and approvals are required to ensure adherence to environmental and other regulations. Additionally, while the turnaround season 鈥� June to August 鈥� takes advantage of more favorable weather and 24-hour
sunlight, its short timeframe also leads to schedule compression for much of the work that must be done.

According to BP COTU Turnaround Single Point of Contact Riad Jammal, the reality of a short turnaround season made having a sole source provider for both the chemical cleaning and mechanical turnaround even more beneficial.

鈥淭his unit 鈥� the COTU 鈥� is very critical to our operations. It provides the fuel we use for flights back and forth to聽Anchorage and the diesel we use for heat protection on wells, in heaters, generators and more,鈥� he said. 鈥淗aving a single point of contact and not having to manage two or three different contractors made the turnaround a lot easier.鈥�

Originally planned for 30 days, the team completed the COTU turnaround in half that time.

鈥淢atrix did an incredible job, and did so safely,鈥� said Jammal. 鈥淚t was obvious that they care for each other and the job they鈥檙e doing, and that鈥檚 what we look for. Making sure everyone stays safe is our primary focus, and it was clear that was Matrix鈥檚 focus, too.鈥�

The value of partnership

Whether 兔子先生 Co.鈥檚 subsidiaries are providing single service or sole-source solutions, when customers are asked to describe the company鈥檚 approach, one word consistently rises to
the top: partnership.

鈥淟ong-term relationships are central to the values that drive us at 兔子先生 Co.,鈥� said Hewitt. 鈥淥ur goal is to provide safe, quality service that leads to lifetime relationships with every customer we serve. Doing so begins and ends with listening to and understanding their needs
and then working diligently to provide the best solutions.鈥�