{"id":22016,"date":"2022-08-15T13:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.parsons.com\/?p=22016"},"modified":"2022-08-16T10:26:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T14:26:17","slug":"imagine-next-championing-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.parsons.com\/2022\/08\/imagine-next-championing-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagine Next: Championing Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Tom
Front row from left to right:  Dan Levine, Savannah Sellner, Claire Heumann.
Back row left to right:  Faris Karahasanovic, Sean Bolduc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate the launch of our employer brand, we\u2019re highlighting a few of the stories that epitomize what our employees love about working at Parsons (expressed in our recently released employee value proposition) as well as what they\u2019re doing to imagine next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our employee value proposition begins with the following lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine working someplace where you\u2019re surrounded by intelligent, diverse people sharing a common quest. Imagine working someplace where those people take immense pride in the quality of their work and champion that same quality in the work of others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

An intelligent person who takes pride in the quality of his work and champions quality in the work of others? That sounds an awful lot like Tom Spoth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom is a VP working out of our New York office, our bridge practice lead, a founding board member of the Parsons Fellows, and he\u2019s responsible for leading our efforts as quality inspector of the Mackinac Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get an idea of what he\u2019s dealing with, the Mackinac Bridge<\/a> is a 5-mile-long structure that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan over the Straits of Mackinac. It was originally designed and built by Steinman, completed in 1957. Steinman was subsequently acquired by Parsons, in 1989, and became a big part of our New York office center of excellence, and we\u2019ve been involved with the Mackinac Bridge ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom himself, who came to us through the Steinman acquisition<\/a>, has spent time on the Mackinac Bridge every year since 1985, so he\u2019s intimately familiar with the structure, as well as the commitment to quality necessary to maintain such a crossing in good working order for such a long time. \u201cQuality as part of the job and quality as part of our culture go hand-in-hand,\u201d Tom says. \u201cGetting it right and having procedures is necessary, but it\u2019s also necessary to take personal ownership of quality in whatever you do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the Mackinac Bridge, there are certainly procedures to be followed, but there\u2019s also something very personal about hands-on inspections. According to Tom, \u201cThese bridges are machines. People don\u2019t realize how much they move.\u201d He describes hearing the creaking and screeching of various components and feeling the bridge move, perceiving how the bridge is behaving, mechanically, compared to how it should or how it did in years prior. \u201cYour first time out there, you might never realize it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So each year, we send people out to the Mackinac Bridge for a few weeks for an end-to-end inspection, including the bearings, the cables, down deep into the anchorages for the cables, the approach span trusses, and everything else, and we provide guidance on maintenance and any major construction activities. For example, in recent years, Parsons performed a very in-depth bridge deck study to determine how long the deck could be made to last. This involved service-life modeling, analysis of alternatives, wind tunnel testing, and the development of a potential program to replace the bridge deck over a period of 20 years. While not every component lasts forever, Tom says that the bridge itself just might, if taken care of properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That kind of high standard is something everyone can aspire to, but to achieve it takes a certain level of experience. That\u2019s why Tom does what he can to share his years of experience with younger professionals just starting out. \u201cThe code books are very prescriptive,\u201d he says, \u201cbut you still have to have experience with the living mechanisms of these bridges to really understand them.\u201d So Tom keeps his door open and is always willing to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to an open door, Tom keeps an open mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s some cookie-cutter stuff out there, I suppose, but I like the complicated stuff that requires creativity\u2014the stuff that makes people ask things like, \u2018How are we going to do this and still allow traffic on the bridge and not even let commuters know there\u2019s anything going on?'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s that kind of high-level problem solving\u2014and the collaboration required to accomplish it\u2014that keeps Tom motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether maintaining an iconic crossing like the Mackinac Bridge, designing a new structure, or tinkering with a woodworking project at home, Tom believes the ability to think many steps ahead, to imagine what\u2019s next, is vitally important to the success of the end result. \u201cIt\u2019s about vision and being able to put all the pieces and parts together to make them become something that wasn\u2019t there before.\u201d What we can be sure of is that if Tom\u2019s involved, whatever thing that is will only strengthen Parsons\u2019 reputation for quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate the launch of our employer brand, we\u2019re highlighting a few of the stories that epitomize what our employees love about working at Parsons (expressed in our recently released […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"286,762,764,770,773,778","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14838,7716],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bridge","category-critical-infrastructure"],"yoast_head":"\nImagine Next: Championing Quality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019re highlighting the stories that epitomize what our employees love about working at Parsons. 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