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Megrant Corp. President Sam Mirian says the company has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1985. Originally a small mechanical contractor with only a few employees, Megrant has grown over the years to become one of New York City’s leading specialty mech­anical contracting firms, serving the complex and demanding power generation system market as well as some of the most prominent projects in the area.

Fully licensed, bonded and insured, Megrant serves the utilities and related industries. Its capabilities are rooted in its ability to provide a diverse range of tasks involved in new construction, maintenance and repair of power plants. Megrant’s team of experienced engineers and project managers, backed by dedicated labor force and suppliers provide a diverse range of services in construction, maintenance and repair of power plants and many other facilities.

The company’s expertise has grown to include installation and repair of power boilers, power piping, high pressure piping and plumbing, turbine generators and condensing units.

Megrant’s specialties in power plant work put it in some elite company, Mirian says, because it is generally too complicated for many mechanical contractors. “Not necessarily too many mechanical contractors are experienced in that line of work,” he says. “In the Northeast, if I say there are 10 [contractors bidding on a power plant project], that’s plenty.”

Through it all, Mirian says Megrant has been one of the most successful firms in its niche, and he credits the company’s strong work ethics and friendly corporate culture with its success. “I don’t remember if we’ve ever shown a loss,” he says. The company’s strengths have earned it a number of high-profile clients, including GEA Power Cooling and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where Megrant has performed work on all three major metropolitan airports and is part of the project at the site of the World Trade Center. Guided by Mirian, who has nearly 50 years of experience in the construction sector, the company looks to continue its pattern of success well into the future.

Quality Work

The core of Megrant’s success is a combination of its service, its people and its commitment to safety. Mirian says the company is a leading innovator of value-engineering. “Our customers look to our engineering team to aid in the design and execution of large scale projects,” he says. “We attempt to optimize efficiencies, reduce the impact to surrounding areas including the environment, and do so at an economic advantage to be our customer and the company. The chief engineer and engineering staff work hand in hand with the customers to en­sure that all expectations for the future sustainability of the project are met.”

At a time in which many companies are looking overseas to save money, Megrant is proud to offer its custo­mers American craftsmanship, as well. “Through strong union labor relations, Megrant can bring a product to market which is designed, fabricated, and delivered completely with domestic labor,” Mirian says. “By further reducing the need for outsourcing to other manufacturing markets Megrant is able to give back to the domestic market and local economies, and give the customer a quality, made-in-the-USA final product.”

Strong and Safe

Mirian says the single most significant factor in the success of Megrant is its culture. Because its employees are so close, everyone works as diligent as they can to ensure a successful project, and the company benefits from very low turnover.

“We are a very close-knit company,” Mirian says. “We have an extremely friendly atmosphere in the company.”

Aside from the friendly corporate culture, Mirian says Megrant places a high value on quality control and quality assur­ance through a meticulous application of its safety program. “All companies have the same standards of safety,” he says. “How you implement the details on the safety procedure is what really counts.”

Each morning, the company’s supervisors hold toolbox talks individually with each employee to brief them on their >> >> tasks for the day and discuss the safety procedures for each. Additionally, Megrant provides incentives to help em­ployees keep safety goals in their sights. Mirian says the company’s tight-knit environment serves it well in this aspect because the close communication en­sures that every employee pays close attention to every detail of the safety procedures and fully understands what is expected of them.

Additionally, employees are urged to share their ideas and concerns with their supervisors. Mirian says that although supervisors are attentive and open to employees’ input, the management team at Megrant actively looks to resolve their concerns at all times.

This combination has paid off for the company, Mirian says. Megrant Corp. has gone more than 200 days without a single accident in its main manufacturing facility located upstate in Coeymans, New York.

Also working in the company’s favor is its financial standing. Although numerous contractors throughout the country are scrambling to find work just to keep their businesses from slipping into debt, Mirian reports that Megrant is in better shape than some. “We carry on the previous line of business from before the credit crunch came about,” he says, adding that the company also has a strong cash flow and enough cash on hand to invest in new equipment and marketing efforts.

Because of this strong position, Megrant has been able to keep its best employees within the company. Mirian says he can’t recall the last time the company underwent administrative layoffs, calling that “the key element in our survival.”

Megrant utilizes its financial department to ensure cost efficiencies that enable the company to remain competitive and not compromise quality or diversity. “Keeping the company cost-conscious enables Megrant to work on smaller margins than the competition and has resulting in strong working relationships with customers,” Mirian says. “ In this marketplace everyone is looking to ensure that they are getting most for their money and Megrant understands this and shares the sentiment with everyone they work with and work for.”

Greener Future

The power generation industry is changing, and Megrant is working to keep up with the times. Mirian says the company has seen more renewable and green energy plants being developed in recent years. For example, the company recently completed a project at a power plant that uses air to cool its equipment rather than water that would carry potential contaminants into the local water supply.

“We are going to concentrate on the area where cleaner energy is put to use, like air-cooled condensers,” Mirian says, adding that wind energy generation is becoming more popular in the North­east, although not as popular as it is in the Midwest yet. “We are going to concentrate on those and continue installing fossil plants with greener methods of burning fuel.” Megrant is also currently exploring opportunities to begin engineering and producing components for the wind and solar power industries.

From a small company to one riding the cutting edge of the power generation industry, the glue that holds Megrant together will be the same no matter how big it gets or what its focus becomes. “The key element of this company is that we come together as a family,” Mirian says.

Mirian says Megrant strives to em­brace the spirit of innovation as once stated by Walt Disney who was quoted as saying: “When we consider a project, we really study it – not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right.”

“Megrant embodies that sentiment and we share the passion with our customers and all those whom a project will impact, we leave a little bit of ourselves in every project we participate in,” Mirian says.