Most of you know we moved our business out to Ft Worth October of 2019 so we have been at 2800 Golden Triangle Blvd. for over a year now. We share space with two other companies, Brand FX Body Works and BFX Fire that both have an affiliation with Lee Finley who is Leslie and my partner in CCS. I have really enjoyed getting to know all of their staff and leadership team and they are a lot of fun to work with. They have had some employees and employee family members that have either been lost to cancer or have had to deal with it but survived it. Today they scheduled a “Purple Out” to show their support for the fight against Pancreatic Cancer which is a real tough one. Luckily since I graduated from SFA and purple was part of our school colors, I did have a purple shirt to wear. I really appreciate Matt Marcussen the Director of Customer Relations at Brand FX including us in this worthy cause.
As 2020 winds down, it has definitely been a strange year for CCS and all of us. We spent a good part of the year getting settled into our new manufacturing space in Ft Worth and getting our production crew ramped back up after the move. We did lose some employees with the move but we are fortunate that the Ft Worth area work force pool is very robust and we were able to quickly find some very talented people to bring on board. We are lucky that we have been able to continue to work through this COVID-19 pandemic and in some ways actually picked up more business as we were called on to manufacture some mobile medical trailers for the Army. We have not been untouched by the virus as we have had some employees out sick, employee family members test positive, and have struggled with the supply chain as parts have been hard to source as factories shut down or reduce their work force. Our very robust international business was all put on hold as travel restrictions prevented any meetings or training to most of the countries we serve. I feel blessed that we have survived the downturn, but I would be lying if I said we were not affected. This year will certainly not go down as our most profitable but a lot can be said for just surviving this year. We have seen too many other small businesses that were not so fortunate and our prayers go out to these people and their families.
The need for mobile command centers never stops because unfortunately there are always going to hurricanes, wild fires, flooding, pandemics, protests, and other man-made or natural disasters that require First Responders to be on site coordinating and communicating with the necessary resources. CCS is currently under contract to provide TX DPS a new drive away style mobile emergency response center or command center for the State of Texas – much more on this project later this month. We are also working on new mobile command centers for Ft Bend County Sheriff’s Office (two), City of Odessa Police Dept., US Army North, Texas A&M University Agriculture Dept (for all my Aggie friends and family), a new Drone deployment trailer for Austin Community College, new command centers for the country of Dominican Republic, a new command center for the country for Honduras, and a large renovation for FEMA on their Region 6 Emergency Operations Vehicle. A lot going on!!
Like all of you, we at CCS are excited about the COVID-19 vaccine being rolled out and hopefully a return to some level of normalcy. It is a time for our country to heal both physically and emotionally from what I consider to be the strangest year on record in my 55+ years. We all came into this world the same way and one day we will all exit in similar ways – what we do in between and how we treat each other is what matters. I always avoid making political statements online or plastering my opinions all over social media. If someone wants my opinion or take on something they will ask me. The only thing I will share is that if your primary goal in life is to be happy then simply focus on making sure that the people close to you (family and friends) are taken care of and are happy and the rest will take care of itself.
Stay safe and enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday! Please social distance and wear your mask just a little bit longer, the cure is almost here!! Contact me with any questions at 972-772-2721 or gwcollins@ccscontact.net.