By Van Wade

Orange Leader

 

BRIDGE CITY — There is no question, Olson Engineering has made a mark as a multi-discipline engineering company.

The thing is, not many people know about them and how much the company has prospered, making sure local plants are safe and how their designs have enabled their customers to be as productive as they can possibly be.

Mike and Karan Olson founded Olson Engineering Inc. in 1998 when they decided to start their own company that focused on safety, responsiveness, ethics, and quality.

The company started small as a Process Control Systems and Capital Project Management Company, providing instrument and Control Systems Engineering to local industries.

It’s all about being professional in every aspect of the way, and that is what has made the Olson team so special.

“We’ve built so many wonderful long-standing relationships with so many folks over the years and they trust us with their business, “ said Olson Senior Vice President Kevin Mott. “We go into projects providing our clients with their specific needs and work with them during the process and continue working with them long after projects are completed. We’re with our clients on every step of the journey and we’ve been able to meet so many special people along the way.”

When the business first started, the Olson’s had six or seven employees. Today’s count has soared to more than 120.

“Mike and Karan did an amazing job from the very beginning,” said Mott. “They put in countless hours to get the company going. They also have the knack of finding the right people with the right kind of motivation that loves their job.”

By 2000 they added employees, expanded services to include Electrical Engineering and Design, as well as adding other client facilities to the client portfolio.

In 2006, the Olson team relocated to rented office space in Bridge City, where the business began to grow over the next several years.

By 2012, Olson Engineering needed additional office space, which led to a newly built 10,000 square foot building in Bridge City.

The company continued to grow significantly both in services and employees, resulting in an additional 4,000 square foot of office space being opened in 2017 at the same location.

Olson Engineering Inc. is now a full-service, multi-discipline company with professional engineers in every discipline, providing the petrochemical market with both in-office and in-plant services focused on safety, responsiveness, ethics, and quality.

The business has grown so much that they plan to have another expansion.

Olson plans on moving to a location on 1442 across from the Bridge City Elementary where they will have a 22,000 square-foot building and a much larger parking lot.

“We’ve simply outgrown ourselves and that’s a great thing,” said Mott. “We’re still mulling over all of the layout plans and that’s going to be quite a large project for builders but we’re looking to be in the new building by the early part of next year.”

There are a lot of engineers at Olson but it’s not all about just that. There are plenty of excellent draftsmen and designers that put forth a great team effort.

“We’ve got an excellent team that all gel together that helps tie everything up for us,” said Mott. “We have so many creative people that love what they’re doing and they push themselves about being innovative.

Olson services a lot of plants across Southeast Texas and a lot of their workforce hails from the Golden Triangle area.

“So many of us grew up here and are raising our families here,” said Mott. “A lot of our force got their education from Lamar University. Lamar has a tremendous Engineering program and LIT also does an amazing job producing bright minds.”

As Olson continues to grow, so does its relationship with the community. Olson was named the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year in January.

“We stay involved in the community being a member of the Chamber and the Rotary,” said Mott. “We love being a part of the Scales Memorial Golf Tournament along with helping the Buckner Children’s Village out of Beaumont. We want to get more involved in helping local students as well. Bridge City High School has an engineering class and they were just in here recently, touring our building and watching some film and watching some of our people work on 3-D designs on the computer. We want to continue to build that relationship and with other schools that are interested.”

And of course, there is one more thing.

“We have a lot of employees, so yes, we tend to fill up our local restaurants to help boost the economy, we like to eat,” laughed Mott.”

Not only is Olson expanding to a new building by the first of next year, but they are also opening up a new office in Mont Belvieu.

“It’s always a positive to see growth and we’re excited to see what we can do in that area,” said Mott. “That area has grown tremendously over the years and we feel we can provide excellent service to clients over there too.”