Loadcraft specializes in mobile drilling rigs and trailer manufacturing for customers around the world.

Brady, Texas-based Loadcraft Industries plans to open a manufacturing facility in Libya in the near future after seeing the potential for success and high interest there, owner and President Terry McIver says. “The opportunity came to us,” he says. “There is a good labor force there and a good market.”

Loadcraft specializes in mobile drilling rigs and trailer manufacturing for customers around the world. The company has a manufacturing facility in Brady as well as a machine shop located in Brownwood, Texas.

The plants in Texas manufacture technical pieces of the company’s products, and the plant in Libya will manufacture the weld-up pieces, mainly for clients in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, McIver says.

“With the given infrastructure, the company has the ability to meet each customer’s specific needs to ensure them the ability to compete in the increasingly efficient oilfield industry,” the company states.    

Although the company has facilities only in Texas, it has representatives internationally. It does business in Egypt, Turkey, Russia, South America and France, and its Libya plant will help expand its international reach, he says.

The company is also considering a joint venture and opening a manufacturing and refurbishing facility in Saudi Arabia, he adds. “We are in an industry that is very active and healthy and we’re finding good opportunities around the world,” McIver says. “Our timing has been good and it keeps us running and healthy.”

‘Good Opportunity’
McIver and his family purchased the company and brought it out of bankruptcy in 2004 with their own money, along with some oil partners in Midland, Texas.

McIver had experience in oil drilling and was looking for an oil and gas production opportunity when he came upon the company. “It looked like a good opportunity,” he says. “God blessed us with it and we were happy to receive the blessing.”

The company has full manufacturing and service capabilities, as well as the engineering skills to build anything, he says. For example, the company provides production rigs of up to 2,000 horsepower, work-over rigs, customized substructures, drilling rigs as trailer or carrier units, all-wheel drive units, skidded units for offshore platforms and an assortment of welded structural trailers.

“We design and manufacture state-of-the-art trailers for commercial hauling, oilfield hauling and special purpose trailers designed to move a specific load,” the company says. “Our products are built for domestic and international markets. We have the ability to meet the needs for multiple unit production or the single order requirement, as well.”

Recently, the company invested in new manufacturing equipment and modernized all of its IT systems, McIver says. One of its investments was Vantage, manufacturing software designed to align the company’s manufacturing and accounting departments.

Previously, those operations were conducted on a visual system, which only some company employees were familiar with. The new system “gives us a fresh start and has everyone on the same page,” he says.

All of the company’s products are customized to meet the needs of its clients. “We have the engineering capability and manufacturing to meet our customers’ needs,” he says. “We are more sensitive to their specific needs and wants.”

One of the company’s main strengths is its people, McIver says. The industry has a qualified labor pool in Brady because it is not competing with oilfields, which are not located in central Texas.
“People don’t want to move around so much, so they’re sticking with us,” he explains.

Power of God
McIver says he attributes the company’s success to his strong Christian faith in God’s power. “We consider ourselves just ordinary people who happen to be in the business of building rigs,” he says. “It is the power of God that has created our success. The presence of God and that alone is the primary source of our success.

“We have such wonderful people God furnished us with,” he continues. “We are not successful because we are super smart or highly trained. It is just ordinary people running this place.”    

He says spirituality and God are important aspects of the company. “We are a Christian faith-based group of people,” he explains. “We live by that and we do business by that. There is no requirement in terms of spirituality to work here, but we feel because we live in America, we have the right to operate the business the same way we operate our personal lives."  

Helping Hand
The company applies its Christian beliefs and morals in all sectors of its business, including drug and alcohol testing. Employees who test positive for either substance are provided the opportunity to enroll in the company’s drug program, McIver says.

Third-party mentors from the community develop relationships with the employees and discuss with them the love of Jesus Christ and how that can free them from their drugs and alcohol problems. “We want to provide a drug-free environment and have a safe workplace,” he explains. “It’s important to address the drug and alcohol issue and we deal with it from a spiritual side. The ultimate solution is to develop a relationship with God and access the power that comes with that.

“We believe we are not forcing our view on anyone,” he says. “We have respect for free will, but we offer a program we have seen work and succeed.”

The employee continues to be tested while in the program. If the employee tests positive for alcohol or drugs three times, he or she is given the opportunity to go to a clinic and rehabilitation program offsite. If they successfully complete that program, their job will be waiting for them, McIver says.

Making Progress
Out of the 100 employees who have participated in the drug-free program in the past three years, about 25 have successfully completed it and still work in the company, he says.

“They are still able to provide food on the table and they work in a safe and drug-free environment,” he says.

Other employees who tested positive for drugs either quit on their own or lost their job because of another situation, like not showing up for work. No one was forced to quit or fired solely because of a drug or alcohol problem, he adds.

“We believe our greatest opportunity and privilege is to demonstrate the character of Christ, both here and around the world,” McIver adds. “We might even have the opportunity to use words from time to time.”