Midsouth Mechanical Inc.

Midsouth Mechanical Inc. (Midsouth) is celebrating 24 years of dedicated service to the industrial construction and manufacturing industry. The south Atlanta-based company specializes in providing efficient and cost-effective fabrication, modification and repair of industrial equipment with safety as the top priority.

Charles Arrington, CEO of Midsouth, founded the company in 1989 after 18 years of working as a maintenance technician and manager in a textile mill. His first hire was Rex Grizzle, current president of Midsouth, who oversees all major projects and manages the estimating department and project managers.

According to Grizzle, Midsouth’s team of skilled employees and project managers has been the driving force of the business for many years. Completing over $150 million in industrial construction over the last 24 years, the team takes pride in offering the highest quality craftsmanship in the industrial market.

Grizzle and Arrington are quick to point out that safety is a top priority at Midsouth. “Our attitude at Midsouth is that all incidents can be avoided,” says Arrington. “We realize that the responsibility is a shared responsibility and, as an employer, we accept the responsibility for leadership in this process and its effectiveness. As an employee you are responsible for positive and genuine cooperation within all aspects of this process. The health and safety concerns are as much priority of Midsouth as quality, production and profit. We must realize that nothing is more important than ensuring the health and safety of all our employees and the people we work around.”

According to Arrington, Midsouth continues to boast an impressive Experience Modification Rating (EMR) below the industry’s average. “That’s a big key for us,” adds Arrington. “Each employee’s enthusiastic participation in our safety program is considered to be of utmost importance, regardless of his or her length of employment or position within the company.”

Following the Business

When Midsouth was founded much of the team’s work was in textile mills, which made the most sense at the time due to the company’s location in the heart of textile belt. According to Arrington, Midsouth hit the right time, too, as textiles were booming in the ’90s. “A lot of those companies have either gone out of business or shipped production overseas,” continues Arrington. For that reason, Midsouth has followed the ever-changing business trends to find new markets within which to work.

One market in particular that has proved successful for Midsouth is the food-processing industry, Grizzle conveys. In January 2013 Midsouth completed a $500,000 project for a meatpacking facility. According to Grizzle, the project would typically take two months to complete, but Midsouth had a crew of 25 working on the project to complete it in less than a month. “It was a fast-paced project,” says Robert Hall, project manager for Midsouth on the project. “We got it completed on time and safely.”

The success on such a fast-track project is a good example of Midsouth’s versatility of services. The company is licensed as a mechanical contractor in Georgia and Alabama for many different services, including: boiler license, master plumber, general contractor, conditioned air, utility contractor, manager and foreman, gas fitter and refrigeration.

While the majority of the company’s work is done within a 100-mile radius of Atlanta, the company has traveled as far north as Washington, D.C., and east to Louisiana, with some work in Oklahoma, Illinois, Wisconsin and the state of Washington, as well. “We will travel with our customers when needed,” says Grizzle.

The company offers a diverse array of services, including: process piping, rigging, machine moving, millwright, maintenance, HVAC work, plumbing, welding, as well as fabrication and laser alignment. However, a point of pride for Midsouth is the team’s ability to perform successful design-build work.

Rebuilding the Business

David Arrington, Arrington’s son, assists his father in heading the sales and marketing efforts for Midsouth, each of whom is in charge of separate territories. “At the end of the textile boom, a lot of our clients either went out of business or moved operations overseas,” says David. “We have had to go after new business over the last few years and adapt, and we have experienced growth in the food-processing and educational markets.” Of course, David’s statistic has impacted Midsouth’s bottom line. At its peak, the company employed over 200 skilled tradesmen.

Luckily, approximately 90 percent of business for Midsouth is with repeat clients. The father-and-son team is currently working on marketing strategies to attract new business and expand the company’s demographic. Midsouth Mechanical Inc. will continue to capitalize on available work and grow for years to come.

For more information about Midsouth Mechanical Inc., please visit: http://midsouthmechanical.com.