Reflections... Labor Day

“It is only through labor and painfull effort, by grim energy

and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Labor Day

This coming Monday is Labor Day. The U.S. Department of Labor states that Labor Day “constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” APM especially values this day because it was started in the unions as a day to commemorate hard work. All of your dedication and hard work throughout this “unprecedented” (we seem to use this word a lot now) year is very much appreciated.

This day is dedicated to all of the hard workers – YOU. On behalf of our APM family, THANK YOU for your commitment in time, energy, and perseverance.

Looking Ahead & Reflecting Behind

We celebrate Labor Day as many of our APM teammates return to the field for the fall outage season. This past week we have almost 1000 teammates in the field working 41K hours. By the end of September we expect to more than double that volume, employing over 2000 teammates working ~105K hours on over 100 jobsites.

As we pause for one last holiday weekend before the fall outage season ramps up (although many of you are already working the fall and will be doing so this weekend), I encourage us all to reflect on our year so far. What have we done well? What can we improve? Keeping these in mind will help you and our APM team excel this fall.

Just yesterday our Chiefs & Leaders spent an hour reviewing our first S2 draft. (S2 is our annual budget process, in which we look at projected volume and cost, to set our targets for the coming year.) Below were my comments to our team.

This year we expect to do 4.3M+ hours and may reach $40M in margin. That is impressive. -and- We are executing with good to excellent safety, quality, and cost stewardship (both at the jobsite level and in the corporate level). -AND- The initial cases suggests we will do roughly the same in 2022.

I am concerned that this pace and performance is not sustainable as we are currently operating. The numbers are great, but when I look in your eyes and hear you speak I sense the effort it is taking to get us here. I am committed to helping us find the balance we are longing for.

For this weekend, however, just pause and reflect on where APM is today. 4.3M+ hours, $40M margin, 0.69 I&I rate, 00 severe events, beating JCEs. We have a lot to be proud of and to celebrate.

Thank you all for your valued contribution to a successful H1. Thanks again for all that you contribute to make APM strong and successful.

May you enjoy the Labor Day weekend – you have earned it!

May you return next week ready to win the fall outage season!

And if you see a construction worker this weekend, thank him or her.