Turner Industries President and CEO Stephen Toups is fond of saying things that make what Turner does sound simple.
“We dig great holes, hang steel, fabricate pipe and put the pipe into the steel,” Toups said recently. “That’s it.”
It’s actually a lot more complicated than that. Turner is one of Louisiana’s largest private companies with more than $3.2 billion in annual revenues and more than 20,000 employees. Its various divisions specialize in industrial construction, maintenance, pipe fabrication and large equipment fleet services and service some of the largest multinational corporations in the world.
When Toups took the reins at Turner from his father, Roland Toups, in 2019, the company’s clients were primarily in the energy and petrochemical sectors and were located almost exclusively along the Gulf Coast. In the five years since, Toups has grown Turner’s footprint to 30 states and branched into new service lines like advanced manufacturing.
In this week’s Talking Business, Toups talks about what’s fueling Turner’s growth, his views on the threat of tariffs and what Louisiana has to do to prepare its workforce for the future.
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Turner has experienced a lot of growth in recent years. What are some of the significant projects you’re involved in?
We’re doing some clean energy projects in the Permian Basin. We are doing carbon capture on the Gulf Coast. We’re doing petrochemical refineries, biofuels, battery storage, next generation hydrogen and ammonia plants. We also made a decision two years ago to get into the LNG business and now we’re in nine LNG plants. We’re also working for Tesla. If they’re processing dead dinosaurs at a plant somewhere, we’re there.
You’re working for Tesla?
Yes. Who’d have thought a few years ago we could make that statement? We’re in Austin in one of their plants. But think about it: Making a Tesla is a manufacturing process involving conveyors, pumps, pipes and big equipment and that is what we’re good at it. It’s all the same thing. The definition of large industrial facilities is beginning to evolve a little bit. Where we were a refinery and petrochemical company before, we are supporting advanced manufacturing now. It’s a mindset change.
When you became president in 2019, almost all of Turner’s work was on the Gulf Coast. That’s no longer the case. Why?
We’re in 30 states now, including Colorado, Utah, Ohio, Minnesota. I don’t think that is unique to Turner Industries. That’s where this business is going. There is a migration toward advanced manufacturing and it’s going on all over the country. Think about a refinery today: The valves are actuated by fiber optics. AI runs the system checklists. Computers drive the whole thing. What is happening is that the manufacturing business has become much more advanced than it was and it’s what we do so we’re able to move into new places and spaces.
You mentioned biofuels and renewables. Turner has really benefitted from the energy transition that Louisiana has been a leader in over the past few years.
We have. We are doing it all. We make the racks that hold the giant blades for the wind turbines that generate power in the Atlantic Ocean. We’re in the plants making renewables. By the same token, our bread and butter are the longtime clients who have made us who we are over the past 60 years. My father’s philosophy was always that you pay attention to who brought you to the dance. For Turner that is the oil and gas and petrochemical companies all along the Gulf Coast.
So, are you concerned about efforts to undo investments in these new sectors that have benefitted Louisiana and companies like Turner?
I hear some projects are getting canceled, but it’s too soon to say. I believe we are going to see companies doing projects that makes sense. If it makes sense they’ll do it. In the meantime, we’ve gotten good at managing the peaks and valleys and we will continue to do that.
Are you worried about the impact of tariffs on the energy sector and, therefore, Turner?
I have learned that there are things I can control and things I cannot control. Tariffs are something I cannot control. If someone puts a huge tariff on a particular item, that has got to factor into the conversation of whether I build a plant here or there. Obviously, we would all prefer to let the free market do its thing. But I believe there will be opportunities, as there are in all cycles, and we will seek them out.
Turner has been active for more than a decade in partnering with the state to create programs to train our workforce. Are we where we need to be?
Labor attraction is always going to be an issue for construction firms. It is always a problem with skilled and unskilled people. Since Turner started talking about this issue 10 years ago, Louisiana has leapt light years ahead of anybody else in the nation. We have made incredible changes in articulation of how people can move from two- to four-year schools, get trained up to be a welder or certified as a site manager. Our community and technical colleges system does a phenomenal job partnering with industry. We need to do more but we’re moving in the right direction.