2021 Wrapped: Our Year in Retrospect
As 2021 draws to a close, now is the perfect time to look back on the year and celebrate our most significant wins. The team at Delta Pipeline is also reflecting on how we can raise the bar even higher in the coming years through greater collaboration, adaptability, and resilience.
What’s most exciting to us when we look back on the year is a key milestone we achieved: despite the various adjustments we’ve had to make resulting from the global health crisis, we’re on track to meet our target sales and gross margin goals for the year. Similarly, we are on track to return to our pre-pandemic performance levels. This achievement is remarkable, and it’s the result of our valued employee-owners dedication to what we do.
With 2021 in the rear-view mirror, here’s a recap of our major highlights:
- Celebration of our 30th year in business
Small businesses face numerous challenges—50% fail within the first five years, and 80% within ten. Finding customers, hiring more staff, and increasing retention while scaling growth and effectively managing finances can bring numerous pitfalls to fruition. These challenges can hinder the success of a small business, but year after year, our employee-owners work to circumvent these roadblocks. On December 10th, we celebrated our 30th anniversary and success as an employee-owned company at the Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach.
- The return of pre-pandemic sales and margin levels
Bouncing back to our pre-pandemic level is truly remarkable. While the construction industry tends to lag the general economy during periods of contraction and uncertainty, we’re positioned to return to our pre-pandemic sales and profit margins this year.This is great news for Delta Pipeline and similarly excellent news for each employee-owner. Higher quarterly profit margins mean higher contributions to our profit-sharing program. In addition, improved financial performance increases our share value and the overall account balance each of our employee-owners has earned. We all share in the success when our company performs well.
- Investment in new business systems to accelerate growth
This year, we also streamlined many of our internal processes through investment in new business systems. This includes a new accounting system, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), customer relationship management solution, and our EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System®) software, enabling us to monitor critical business processes, derive insights, and tweak them on the fly. Investing in these systems will help drive innovation, empower each of us to achieve our KPIs, enhance customer service, and optimize financial performance and profitability.
- Building vital relationships as we build critical infrastructure
Among numerous projects we completed in 2021, one of our major successes was completing the final phase of the Manhattan Village Mall project, which we began in 2017. Despite many design changes, we responded quickly to earn the confidence and trust of the general contractor and building owner, which fostered an ongoing relationship with the facility as the contractor of record for leak repair and other pipeline issues. The completion of work on the Top Golf facility was another milestone. This project required on-site and off-site phases under the city of Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario. Chicago-based Acro Murray, our partner on the project, was so impressed with our work they asked us to join them in another venture at West Coast Cold Storage—unseating the contractor initially assigned to the project. Building great relationships while building pipe is key to our mission.
- Exponential growth of our team and shareholder milestones
Our team grew as well, adding 14 new members to date, with an additional five new hires planned before year end. The additions to our team include ten Pipelayer Helpers, one Pipelayer I, two Foremen, and an Assistant Controller. In addition, six of our field team members received promotions, seven became Delta Pipeline University graduates, and six became shareholders. Finally, our Senior Project Manager, Massi Ghaziyar, earned his Master’s in Business Administration from California State University Long Beach.
- Advancement of our charitable giving initiatives
Supporting our community is as important as supporting our shareholders, trade partners, and clients. This year, we raised donations for two community groups: Union Rescue Mission and the Long Beach Rescue Mission. The Over the Edge fundraiser collected donations from team members who bravely participated in this white-knuckle, 24-story rappel challenge off the roof of the Universal Hilton Hotel. Our team members also participated in our Delta Cares and Shares Christmas Toy Drive. Many thanks to all who participated in these fundraisers to help underserved communities. Giving back to our community is part of our DNA.
Looking back on an exciting year, we’re so proud of our team and can’t wait to see what you’re capable of achieving in 2022. With deep gratitude and pride, we wish everyone a healthy, joyous holiday season and a spectacular new year.
