• Municipal and civil engineering: Grant applications,
cost estimates and project schedules, infrastructure rehabilitation,
road-condition assessments
• Land development: Due-diligence investigations, preliminary/
functional engineering design and cost estimates,
design, plan preparation and approval applications, management
of municipal assumption process, cost analysis
• Project management: Project financing strategies,
assessment of approval-agency requirements, alternatives/
feasibility analysis, project reporting
• Quality assurance/quality control, testing and inspection:
Preparation of inspection and testing plans, welding,
concrete, soils/compaction, construction inspections
• Construction management: Tender preparation, proposal
analysis, contract administration and management
Since it was created in 2011, the company has designed,
tested, optimized and helped to build thousands of foundations
worldwide, says Jagodich. The MJI team makes use
of high strain dynamic pile testing equipment (PDA) and
E-Saximeters from Pile Dynamics. In the geoscience space,
MJI utilizes Syscal Pro electrical resistivity tomography
equipment, as well as OhmMapper capacitively coupled
resistivity meters to measure the electrical properties of rock
and soil in the subsurface.
In terms of R&D, MJI is currently experimenting with highstrain
dynamic testing on helical piles, in an effort to achieve
significant cost savings.
“Typical static load testing is very costly,” said Jagodich.
“We’re attempting to apply driven pile testing technology to
helical piles.”
Projects
For a recent project in Kurdistan, Iraq, MJI provided engineering
design services for a major facility expansion. The design
included civil site grading, 12,000-barrel tank foundations
with secondary containment, pipe rack foundations and
structural components, an access platform, manifold skids,
vessel foundations, gas-boot foundations and flare stacks.
“Innovation was a necessity,” said Jagodich, as the company
was able to plan only for the use of the limited equipment
available on site.
In a project closer to home, the company did foundation
engineering and testing work for Tecnicas Reunidas on the
sulphur recovery unit the Spanish company is building at the
Sturgeon Refinery in Redwater, Alta, northeast of Edmonton.
For MJI, this meant working on a “high-profile project with
a foreign client, providing local testing and design metrics,”
said Jagodich.
MJI was commissioned to design a lift assembly with a
100-tonne load rating. The lifting device – three spreader
beams and a system of slings and shackles – was designed
in Canada to European codes and fabricated in the United
Arab Emirates, and is to be utilized for heavy lifts of high- and
low-pressure oil and gas separators in Iraq – truly an international
project.
In Manitoba, MJI completed foundation engineering,
testing and inspection work on an expansion of the Alberta
Clipper, an oil pipeline owned and operated by Enbridge.
While many of its projects have been in Alberta, the
company has completed work across Canada, from B.C. to
Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Until there’s a significant bounce-back in the Alberta
economy,” said Jagodich, MJI will continue to focus on projects
throughout the country and around the world.
Focus on safety
In two important ways, MJI works to ensure that its
employees are safe on the job. First, it makes sure, as
Jagodich says, that workers are competent, thoroughly
capable of completing their assigned tasks before entering
an active worksite.
“We do immense due diligence in this area,” said Jagodich,
noting that employees gain and prove their competency
through experience, training, third-party certification and
peer auditing done about once a quarter.
Second, on any project, the team meets each morning to
complete a safety and job-hazards assessment; these discussions
provide a daily safety refresher for all employees and
support a strong safety culture.
The company is a member of ISNetWorld and PICS, two
contractor prequalification and screening companies. Its
safety program is governed by those and other certifying
bodies, including ComplyWorks, Deloitte and the BC Forest
Safety Council.
Future plans
“We plan to continue to diversify our business into new geographic
regions and industrial sectors, and enjoy continued
growth,” said Jagodich. “That strategy has allowed us to flourish
in tough times; we don’t want to lose sight of that.”
Diversification is a strategy espoused by people in all
kinds of industries. According to a November 2015 report
by the Business Development Bank of Canada, a survey of
nearly 1,000 Alberta businesses found that diversification
“correlates strongly and positively with financial success.”
Clearly MJI has discovered this truth and is making good on
its promise.
COMPANY PROFILE
“Diversification has allowed us to flourish in tough times;
we don’t want to lose sight of that.”
– Jason Jagodich, Morton Jagodich Incorporated
68 Q2 2016 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
