T & D Solutions LLC

T&D Solutions LLC (T&D) is a 9-year-old utility services company that has expanded from its Louisiana origin to cover a 22-state territory. T&D’s recently established Kentucky-based operation exists due in large part to the respectable history and solid foundation of Hendrix Electric Inc. (Hendrix), founded in 1970 and acquired by T&D in 2012.

Gene Ray Byrum, president of T&D’s Kentucky operation, was the previous vice president of Hendrix’s industrial operations and has been with the company for 26 years. Founded by namesake Hendrix, the company entered its second-generation of ownership in 1995 under the founder’s son, who successfully grew the business from 15 to approximately 140 employees.

T&D now benefits from Hendrix’s past as a leading regional provider of power line and electrical installation and maintenance services to industrial, commercial, residential and utility customers.

The company, now 200-strong, is a leading provider of construction and maintenance services for electric transmission and distribution lines. Despite great success, the company continues to honor Hendrix’s mindset of employees as family, while using its strength as a national company to continue to grow its diversified operation.

Full service for a wide range of customers

The advantage of T&D is diversification. “We have the ability to shift our focus when needed,” says Gene Ray. With a more than capable team, the company has quickly established itself in its new northern territory.

In addition to Kentucky, T&D services five other states: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Alabama. The entire region was a solid addition to T&D’s continually expanding operation, initially limited to Louisiana and southeast Texas, which has grown outward over the past nine years.

The company flexes its commercial and industrial divisions on general construction projects and maintenance services for commercial and industrial customers alike. The team has also constructed several brand new rock and coal mining facilities. One of first notable projects, according to Gene Ray, was the ground-up electrical construction of the Magic Coal mine.

Meanwhile, T&D’s utility division focuses on new construction and mutual service agreements with electrical utility companies in the private and public sector, including investment-owned utilities (IOUs), municipalities and electric cooperatives.

A closer look at the work

The company’s services today include construction, maintenance, inspection and emergency storm restoration. Additionally, operations work involves distribution, substation, transmission and telecommunications.

On substations, T&D works on transformers and completes heavy civil work. For distribution systems, T&D does new construction, rebuilds and improvements. Telecommunications work includes enhancing S.C.A.D.A. systems and installing Power Line Communications. Furthermore, T&D’s industrial work involves electrical installation, control systems integration, plant maintenance, pipe-fitting and steel fabrication.

Along with fabrication, T&D has full-service capabilities in welding and panel shop automation and is able to build custom equipment using cutting-edge software and hardware. Commercial customers in the past include Western Kentucky University. The commercial group has a tenured presence on government bases, where it performs electrical construction on new installations along with URD service work.

Versed in green energy and environmentally friendly systems, T&D offers wind turbine installation, voltage conversion, underground and substation system improvements, as well as solar energy. T&D has completed extensive storm restoration work to restore electric service to affected areas as quickly as possible after hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, ice storms, and has worked with FEMA repeatedly.

Across all its work, T&D attributes its success to focusing on its mission to be a valuable, honest, and, above all, safe company. Safety is important for a company that works on high voltage systems and live-line work on high-profile systems, and is employed to ensure the safe transportation of electricity from its generation source to its final destination. This demands strict safety systems, which T&D has in place and monitors using frequent internal measuring tools.

Safety on lines for miles to come

T&D maintains safety using a competent workforce and placing a high value on safe work practices. “The trade in general can be very dangerous,” says Gene Ray. “Safety is of great importance to us.” The company achieves its goals through extensive training, regular meetings, quality control audits on each crew twice a month, employee lead safety committees and root cause incident investigation.

In addition to an industry-leading safety record, T&D has distinguished itself in the industry through the quality of its services and partners with the best in order to keep quality high. “Our partners are very important to our success,” says Gene Ray.

As an honest company, known for its dependability, T&D has developed solid customer relationships with many of the region’s largest utility owners and grown rapidly in the process. With the addition of Hendrix came an experienced body of tradesmen, including Gene Ray, who has been in the electrical industry for a total of 28 years.

Nonetheless, above all else, Gene Ray says it’s the people at T&D who drive him most. “I work with a great group of people, they would make anyone proud to be associated with them,” he says proudly.

Many of these valued team members are long-term employees of Hendrix retained through the acquisition. According to Gene Ray, each member will be essential as the north region of T&D Solutions LLC continues to seize new growth opportunities across the new service area.