Join us in celebrating the 25th Annual Women in Construction Week
(March 5-11) with a blog series highlighting the value and ingenuity women bring to our member businesses. We’ll also feature careers and opportunities available to women interested in a rewarding, full-time job and being a part of the precast, prestressed concrete industry’s bright future.
My name is Heidi Burnhauser. My husband, Craig, and I have two beautiful daughters, Haylee, 28, and Hanna, 25. Both of my children are in the medical field. I started at Northeast Prestressed Products, LLC in 1986 (previously Schuylkill Products Inc.) and worked in the transportation department for 9 years. I left for 10 years to work for the airlines then decided to return home due to all the long-distance travel. I returned to Northeast Prestressed Products, LLC in 2010.
PCI-MA: How do you describe your job to people?
Heidi: Super multi tasker – my job requires a lot; there’s a lot going on at one time.
I schedule delivery of our products with contractors, get with our purchasing department to make sure all material that is required on a project gets delivered, work with production to make sure the beams are made and ready to ship, coordinate scheduling with our router to get jobsite directions, do permits, schedule the drivers in house and work with outside haulers, escorts, state police and even make hotel reservations when drivers are overnight. I also monitor our fuel tank/inspections, fuel taxes, road taxes, HUT stickers, all our equipment registrations, background checks on drivers and maintain their personal files, work with our yard crew on beam loading, assist in the garage/mechanics with federal and state inspections plus schedule maintenance on our equipment, and other logistics details.
PCI-MA: How did you your career journey lead you to your company?
Heidi: I applied for the job during my senior year of high school because I liked that the company was family owned and close to home. I was interested in the delivery aspect of the product. I started at Northeast Prestressed Products, LLC in 1986 (previously Schuylkill Products Inc.) and worked in the transportation department for 9 years. I left for 10 years to work for the airlines then decided to return home due to all the long-distance travel. I returned to Northeast Prestressed Products, LLC in 2010 doing the same thing – Dispatching – which is what I enjoyed doing.
PCI-MA: What is one of the greatest challenges you’ve faced in our industry and how have you overcome it?
Heidi: Getting the longest and heaviest beams to jobsites. I work closely with District Engineers, Permit Offices and the counties to ensure we can make it through their towns safely without any damage to their properties. Sometimes small size beams can be as difficult as the larger ones. I work very closely with our Logistics Coordinator to make sure we can get material to our destination.
PCI-MA: What do you enjoy most about your job?
Heidi: The people I work with every day and the fun we have. When times get tough, they always chip in and help me out.
PCI-MA: Do you have a mentor or role model? If so, how does this person support you in your personal and professional growth?
Heidi: The Drivers are my role models. I have so much respect for them on how they perform and are able to get something so long and heavy to their destination. They help me stay sane when I am about to go insane and help with a lot of suggestions on how we can make things go easier.
PCI-MA: What are your career and life aspirations and goals?
Heidi: As for career, continue with NPP. In terms of aspirations, be a great role model for my children and show them how hard work pays off and be successful at what you aim high for. Respect the people you work with; kindness can go a long way. You will not please everyone but you sure can try!
PCI-MA: What advice would you give a young woman entering the construction industry?
Heidi: Construction is definitely a man’s world, but women are changing that and never let yourself feel dominated by anyone, man or women. Stand up for yourself and prove you got this because of your strong will power and then you will earn the respect from people around you.
About Northeast Prestressed Products LLC
Northeast Prestressed Products (NPP) maintains office, production, storage and fleet operations on a 28-acre site in Cressona, Pa., strategically located to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 80, and other major transportation arteries. NPP serves agencies and contractors from Virginia to Maine, and hauls most elements with its own fleet, which includes customized trailers for delivering bulb-tee girders in the 175-ft. range – a size class for which the producers has been a forerunner in the Mid-Atlantic and New England Markets. Among its most notable recent projects, NPP delivered 52 bulb-tee girders for the Coplay-Northhampton Bridge in Eastern Pennsylvania. Also known as the Chestnut Street Bridge, the three-span structure consists of five lines of our spliced bulb-tees, each with four grouted P-T tendons. For a project quote, email us at nppinfo@npp-llc.com.
