Field Trip Report

Friday saw the MED program visiting Utility Vault in Auburn, WA. Utility Vault is the leading manufacturer of precast concrete products in the utility, environmental and transportation markets. Known for their quality products and exceptional customer service, Utility Vault also showed us the side of the company committed to their employees.

The MED students were greeted by a team of four employees; Jeff Gallup, Mark Walker, Fred Perez and Steve Hiester. Each helped to provide an informative presentation about the design and production of their precast concrete products.

Jeff Gallup and the engineering staff provided each student with an example drawing package they would typically generate for one of their custom products. Jeff explained each page of the packet and the process going into its development. Through this example, the students saw exactly UV's product designs are best communicated to their production team and their customers. (Above: Susan Sopher and Tim Carroll review designs for a custom stormwater detention vault built by Utility Vault)

Following the design presentation, our Utility Vault hosts divided the class into three groups and escorted them through the entire production facility. Each group toured the production area, the mixing room, quality control, metal fabrication, inventory yard and more.

(Right: Under the guidance of Utility Vault's Sales and Marketing Associate, Fred Perez, student Steve Schauer feels the consistency of freshly poured concrete.)

(Below: Students tour the main production floor as Fred Perez explains the layout and work flow.)


Utility Vault went out of their way to make the MED students feel welcome and to share their expertise with us. A heartfelt thank you goes out to Jeff, Mark, Steve and Fred!