2005-2015: Growth of Government Contracting in Core Markets
The second half of the 2000s saw UTRS continuing to expand its government contracting portfolio alongside the addition of key leaders including Paul Chiodo, Bill Nichols, and Pat Napolitano, whose combined expertise was and continues to be instrumental in UTRS’s ability to deliver high-quality technical support to the military. Senior scientist Jim Cox also joined UTRS at this time to spearhead our materials science research and development projects, notably UTRS’s proprietary process for the inexpensive and environmentally-friendly extraction of titanium from U.S.-based ores. Jim continues to lead our Montana R&D lab and our efforts to strengthen domestic sourcing of strategic and rare earth metals.
During this period, our talented team and staff produced several noteworthy successes for clients. For the U.S. Army, our prototyping team developed Gunner Protection Kits and Mine Rollers, enhancements to existing military vehicles that were immediately effective in defending our warfighters and saving lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. UTRS’s weapons systems teams contributed to the development and testing of numerous artillery and direct fire upgrades for key systems including Paladins, Strykers, and Abrams tanks.
At the same time, our safety management team was literally writing the book on flight safety management for the U.S. Air Force and FAA, providing platforms for gathering and analyzing aviation data. By combining recorded flight information with real-time voluntary safety reporting by all relevant personnel, from engine technicians to baggage handlers, these services provide early discovery of operational safety issues that need to be addressed before they lead to substantial problems or even fatal incidents. Our team also managed the migration of these data systems to cloud servers, platforms that allowed new levels of big data analysis. In fact, by crunching terabytes of flight data for the Air Force, UTRS’s tools found great efficiencies in fuel use that continue to provide tremendous savings to the U.S. taxpayer.
Our Navy support and Corrosion Control work during this period was equally productive, including sustainment of aviation refueling programs and vital cathodic protection installations for several airports, bridges, and transit systems. All these varied and multi-faceted efforts did not go unnoticed – during this timeframe, UTRS was twice recognized as the Region II Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year.
Our expanding portfolio also meant that UTRS was transforming from a small business into a fully-fledged mid-size company. But in the midst of growth we were determined to maintain our company’s core standards and values by preserving our unique identity, family feel, intimate customer service, and innovative flexibility. Our success in doing so was aided in the early 2010s by the addition of several key leaders still ingrained at UTRS. Dorene Fearon, Craig Potter, Lowell Seward, and Jim McCabe bolstered our headquarters’ Corporate Office, balancing substantial contract and business growth with adherence to UTRS’s fundamental principles, while Matt Krantz enhanced our IT Security Services capabilities.
In our next post, we’ll explain how UTRS expanded into the private sector and new markets…