After collaborating on projects for several decades, Burns & McDonnell, is acquiring Azco Inc., one of the nation's premier industrial contractors. The acquisition creates environmental, engineering, procurement and direct-hire construction and fabrication companies and enhances the suite of services available to clients.

“Acquisitions are common in our industry, but extremely rare at Burns & McDonnell,” said Ray Kowalik, CEO-elect. “Azco is a natural partner for us. Their industry-leading construction and pipe fabrication capabilities are a perfect fit into our multibillion dollar construction arm."

Kowalik said Azco not only aligns with the firm's construction expertise, it also matches up with Burns & McDonnell's culture that is driven by an entrepreneurial spirit. Both organizations are 100 percent employee-owned and will remain that way.

“Together we share a unique blend of ownership culture and rich industry experience," said Kowalik who points out that Azco brings 68 years of experience to Burns & McDonnell's 119 year-old firm. “This combination of specialized leadership and skill is what we can't wait to make available to our clients.”

Azco employees will stay based in their Appleton, Wisconsin headquarters and additional offices in northeast Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado. Azco's relationships with international trade unions will remain in place and they are eager to see these partnerships grow as business continues to grow.

The duo just completed an engineer-procure-construction project on the Empire Riverton Power Plant in Riverton, Kansas, where they converted an existing combustion turbine generator to a combined-gas-fired power facility. The project received a Zero Injury Safety Award from the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee for completing more than 600,000 on-site labor hours and zero recordable injuries.

Azco operates a 71,000-square-foot fabrication center that produces carbon steel, stainless, chrome-moly and exotic alloy pipe and metal fabrication.