Ipc, J.W. Peters Combination Spawns Midwest Precast/Prestressed Leader

A merging of IPC Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, and J.W. Peters Inc., Burlington, Wis., staff and resources will yield a market leader with increased sophistication

CP Staff

A merging of IPC Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, and J.W. Peters Inc., Burlington, Wis., staff and resources will yield a market leader with increased sophistication in preconstruction support services; new product development and service capabilities; and, improved production, project management and delivery efficiency. The businesses have operated as separate profit centers of Elk River, Minn.-based Cretex Cos.

The combination easily makes us the largest prestressed company in the Midwest, says IPC President Matt McAllister. Merging allows us to streamline the support areas of accounting, engineering and administration, and enhances our efforts in lean manufacturing and best production practices across a number of precast plants.

This merger brings together the best of both worlds in technology and best practices in production, engineering and estimating, adds J.W. Peters Director of Business Development Bob Hassey. A major reason for this merger is to gain efficiency and economize, thereby seamlessly providing our services to all major Midwest markets.

IPC has two long-time plants in Iowa, plus a Pleasanton, Kan., operation that opened in mid-2007. Those properties, coupled with J.W. Peters’ headquarters plant, position the merged businesses to serve Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Minneapolis and Des Moines markets. [We] have significant individual strengths to leverage across our geography to provide customers greater value, says McAllister. IPC, he adds, has pioneered the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in precast/prestressed project design. A three-dimensional platform versus CAD methods’ two-dimensional schemes, BIM allows designers and contractors to fully visualize project scope and detailing.

In addition to BIM expertise, IPC staff will help the merged businesses advance a) the 2030 Panel, an insulated, high R-value wall system named after an American Institute of Architects initiative seeking carbon neutral buildings by 2030; and, b) preconstruction team planning for LEED rating points and project certification.