EXCEL self-performs every discipline on site and just completed the first blue ammonia plant ever built in North America
Founded in 1983, privately-owned EXCEL is an award-winning industrial contractor operating in numerous locations around the US. Adhering to stringent standards for quality, safety and efficiency, the company services a wide range of markets with turnkey services that empower leaders to make confident decisions. Matthew Shoriak, Executive Vice President, provides an informative overview of EXCEL’s capabilities.
“EXCEL has been around for about 43 years. We started out primarily doing industrial work, becoming a specialty electrical and instrumentation contractor roughly 25 years ago before acquiring a general contractor with mechanical, civil and structural capabilities. Since then, we have been self-performing across civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, startup and commissioning. While our home base is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we now work all over the country, from Arizona up to North Dakota and along the eastern seaboard, with some work in the Caribbean as well. It is safe to say that our geographic footprint has expanded significantly over the last few years,” he begins.
In a competitive industry where capability matters as much as scale, one of EXCEL’s most important differentiators is its ability to self-perform across every discipline. When every person on site is part of the same organization, with the same objectives, the result is a level of synergy and coordination that a fragmented subcontractor model cannot replicate. There are no inter-contractor disputes, just one team focused on achieving the best outcome for the project.
Significant projects
Embracing that in-house approach has proven particularly successful for one of the largest projects in the company’s history: the Beaumont Clean Ammonia project, which was recently completed and is now operational. “We executed everything from the piles up; all the civil work, deep foundations, structural work, fabricated all the piping, all the electrical and instrumentation work, and supported the startup and commissioning throughout. It has been a very successful project for us. There were challenges along the way, but being able to leverage our own workforce to work on that site and optimize across all our capabilities really enabled us to deliver. Safety was at the forefront during the entire process, and we were able to complete a strong, safe job within a tight timeline despite the challenges we faced,” Matthew says.
Aside from its scale, the project is particularly meaningful for the EXCEL team. Previous projects of that magnitude had involved either mechanical, electrical work or civil work, but never all disciplines simultaneously. Delivering all scopes together in this way represents an exciting step forward in how the company positions itself in the market. The project in itself is also historically significant as the first blue ammonia plant built in North America. Having worked extensively in ammonia over the past 15 years with many partners and clients, getting into this new phase of the industry through incorporating carbon capture is an important milestone for the business.
Alongside Beaumont Clean Ammonia, EXCEL is currently hard at work on Venture Global’s multi-phase CP2 LNG project. Venture Global is a long-term partner of EXCEL’s, which had previously worked on their facility in Plaquemine Parish, Louisiana. “When this new project came up, we were in their offices with our preconstruction team, building out packages long before we ever arrived on site,” Matthew elaborates. “We actually have two separate scopes of work on the project, both of which sit on the critical path, which says a great deal about the confidence Venture Global has in our ability to execute. You do not give someone one critical path scope unless you trust them, let alone two. Naturally, that project came with some challenges, given the location and the sheer scale of manpower required, but so far it has been excellent. Venture Global is a great partner to work with and we are very bullish on the work going on out there.”
Strategic priorities
Stepping back from individual projects, Matthew reflects on the core changes reshaping the industrial construction sector and what they mean for EXCEL. “I think there are several things going on. Everyone hears about labor and skilled craft shortages, but I am not sure people fully understand why they are happening. Traditionally, large industrial contractors like us have focused on refinery work, chemicals, ammonia and fertilizer. But over the last eight-to-ten years, the market has completely changed. Most notably, data centers now represent a major part of our business, with work happening all over the country. LNG is another industry that barely existed a decade ago and is now booming and generating mega projects along the Gulf Coast. Chip manufacturing is also a key growth area. We have a sizeable team working on the TSMC site in Phoenix, carrying out the kind of advanced manufacturing work that has not been on shore in the US for over 20 years. Add life sciences reshoring to that list, and you have a market that is still fundamentally industrial but demands different specialisms: high-purity piping for chip and life sciences facilities, the ability to supply skilled manpower in remote locations for LNG projects, and specialist electricians for data centers. These are different challenges from what we have faced in the past, even if the underlying scope of execution is similar,” he continues.
Those emerging markets are shaping EXCEL’s strategic priorities for the years ahead. The TSMC project and the wider chip manufacturing sector will remain a focus for the company, given the countless new semiconductor facilities being built across the US, driving market growth. Power generation is on the precipice of extreme growth because of the data center boom, making it another industry of interest for EXCEL. As more of these facilities look to power themselves, the company sees a natural opportunity given its past performance and experience in the sector. Within the data center market itself, the shift towards liquid cooling is opening up new scope for the business. Indeed, while EXCEL’s work has historically been largely electrical, the shift from traditional HVAC to liquid-cooled systems brings its piping, fabrication and modular capabilities into play, opening up a market in which the company plans to significantly expand its footprint.
With a broadening portfolio, expanding geographic reach and the ability to adapt its expertise to emerging industries, EXCEL is well placed to take advantage of the next phase of industrial growth. From energy and advanced manufacturing to data centers and liquid cooling, the company is continuing to evolve its offering while retaining the practical, hands-on expertise that has underpinned its success.
