News

By: Allan Kennedy

 

As Triad celebrates its 50th anniversary, I’ve had the chance to reflect on my own journey with the company and how much the Quality Control service line has grown along the way. I joined Triad in 1995 as a QA/QC technician in the Morgantown office. That means this August marks my 30th year with the company, so Triad isn’t the only one celebrating a milestone anniversary this year.

 

My professional journey actually began at West Virginia University in the engineering program. After a year of studying and taking exams, I realized I was in the right field, but not necessarily the right program for me. That realization led me to Triad, and I’ve been fortunate to build my career here ever since.

 

Over the years, I’ve moved from a field technician role to supervisor of the Morgantown QC department in 2015, and then to Practice Leader of the department in 2018. In 2017, I joined Triad’s Management Committee, which includes an elected Office Representative from each location, an Employee Director, our Chairman of the Board, and our CEO. In 2018, I was elected as an Inside Director on Triad’s Board of Directors, and I began my second term in 2022.

 

Moving up within the company has definitely changed how I view Quality Control. When I was working in the field, my perspective was very focused on the immediate tasks in front of me. I didn’t always see the broader scope of the projects I was supporting. Becoming a supervisor helped pull back the curtain and gave me insight into how much I had been missing. Transitioning into department leadership deepened my understanding of the job site as a whole. It became clear just how much planning, coordination, and strategy go into delivering quality work consistently.

 

Training has also evolved quite a bit since I started. The core of what we do has stayed consistent in many ways. For example, testing concrete today hasn’t changed much from how we did it nearly 30 years ago. The procedures and tools are largely the same, and the fundamentals remain solid. What has changed is the level of technical focus and the importance placed on formal training and certifications. Today, it is expected that team members not only know how to perform a task but also understand the technical standards and documentation that support it.

 

Technology has brought some of the biggest changes to how we perform QC and the biggest change doesn’t have to do with equipment it has to do with communication. When I first started, we would often be given hand-drawn sketches to find job sites. If you needed help, you had to locate a payphone which was a lot easier to do 30 years ago than it is today. Pagers were the first major upgrade, followed by cell phones, and now we have constant, real-time communication with our teams. Reporting has also improved significantly. We went from writing everything by hand to completing nearly all reports electronically. That change alone has saved time and reduced errors.

Looking ahead, I expect to see even more emphasis on technical knowledge, training, and certification. I also hope that reporting processes become even more streamlined, allowing us to focus more on the work and less on the paperwork.

 

Triad has grown a lot over the past 50 years, and I’ve been lucky to be part of that growth for three decades. I’ve seen firsthand how the company invests in its people and evolves to meet the needs of the industry. I’m proud to have played a role in that progress, and I look forward to seeing how Triad and the QC service line continue to grow in the years ahead.