TITLE: PRINCIPAL
Mr. De Groot graduated from St. Lawrence College as an Electrical Engineering Technologist in May of 1976.
After graduation he apprenticed as a Journeyman Electrician at a paper manufacturing company. In 1980 he changed employment to a consumer products company where he held various roles: Electrical & Instrument Manager, Technical Team Manager, Storeroom & Buying Manager and Warehouse Team Manager.
In 1990 Don joined an Engineering company as the Electrical Engineer and established an Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering Department. He was responsible for the work of up to 5 designers and draftspersons.
In October 1992 Don founded D.D.D.G. Technical Services Inc., operated as DDDG Engineering Services, and is the principal shareholder.
SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS:
Food Process Expansion – Don managed a $2.5 million project to add a new product variety. He co-ordinated the efforts of Engineering, Distribution and Product Development, equipment vendors, construction trades and plant personnel. The project was completed on time and within budget. He eliminated the need for recipe modelling saving approximately $90,000 in scrap costs.
Plant Expansion – Don led the Electrical and Instrument design of $3.5 million plant expansion. This included grounding, power distribution, lighting, PLC vendor evaluation, PLC system configuration, burner controls, process instrumentation, variable speed drives, energy saving designs, equipment specification, contractor evaluation and a total of 140 drawings. The design was completed on time and on budget.
Lighting Retrofit – Don managed a $136,000 energy savings project to retrofit the lighting system. This included design, budgeting, scope of work, specifications, tender administration, progress payments, deficiency inspections, Ontario Hydro incentive applications and cost control. An annual savings of $45,000 is expected on the power bill.
Power Capacity Study – Don determined the maximum loading of the power system and analyzed the impact of energy savings, load shifting, power factor correction, and harmonics.
Machine Design & Project Co-ordination – Don co-ordinated the efforts of engineering, operating personnel & tradespeople to design & build a 28 station, $2.5 million assembly & packaging line. Most of the stations were in house designs including aluminium extruded structures, conveyor systems, pneumatic pick & place robots, stepper motors, networked programmable controllers and a data acquisition system.
Facilities – Don co-ordinated the electrical and mechanical design of various facilities such as warehouses, manufacturing areas, maintenance garages, car dealerships, retail shops, furniture stores and restaurants. This includes a high voltage substation, electrical distribution, lighting, building control system, voice & data communications, security, fire detection, compressed air, gas, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, sanitary drainage and roof drainage.
Projects – More recently Don has lead full service projects including Architectural design. These projects include office tenant fit-ups, re-fit correctional facility kitchens, portable classrooms, school classroom renovation, collision center, warehouse conversion to retail and restaurant in heritage building.
Studies – Over the years Don has co-ordinated or authored a number of studies including the feasibility of a vitamin lab process grown to a pilot plant stage, energy studies, feasibility of the latest HVAC equipment options, parking lot lighting upgrade, marina dock power upgrade, facility mothballing report, roofing replacement study and building condition audits.