by Mike Fernandez

More than ever before contractors are striving to meet difficult project schedules in an increasingly competitive market. T.A. Forsberg, founder of Efficiency Production, Inc., knows firsthand the importance of constantly improving project productivity in order to remain competitive, complete work on time, and increase bottom line profitability. Forsberg’s company manufactures Trench Shielding and Shoring equipment but started in the trenches as a utility contractor and owner of T.A. Forsberg, Inc. of Lansing, MI.

"When I was working as a contractor we began building our own ‘homemade’ trench shields, or ‘trench boxes’ as they were called then, to meet our deep pipe installation needs," said Forsberg. "We discovered through the use of trench shields that we were able to keep our trenches narrower and thereby increase our daily pipe production while decreasing our installation and restoration costs. We were also able to reduce the risk of trench related injuries to our pipe installation crews…that was critical."

Necessity certainly became the mother of invention with the creative building of these first "home made" trench boxes by T.A. Forsberg, Inc. and many other utility contractors. These early prototypes were prime examples of American ingenuity at work.

"We realized that it was very time consuming and costly to build one box at a time, said Forsberg. "We believed that a market existed for a professionally engineered and standardized trench shielding system that was affordable and could be used in many different job applications. With this in mind, in 1971, Efficiency Production, Inc., became the first company to commercially manufacture and distribute trench shields in the United States and Canada.

Efficiency has come a long way from the early days, but it has never forgotten it’s roots. Forsberg attributes the success of the company and it’s products to the fact that they have their foundations in the very industry they service.

Having been conceived within the construction industry, Efficiency’s growth has been built on it’s ability to listen and understand the problems underground utility and highway contractors face each day. Ken Forsberg, President of Efficiency Production, stated, "Working together with our customers at the beginning of a project to determine the best selection of equipment has many times made a major contribution to job productivity and our customers bottom line. Efficiency’s success has directly resulted from our desire and ability to help our customers be successful.".