Alberta-Texas consolidation drives efficiency gains as REV Power Solutions targets emerging HPC and renewables markets
After successfully consolidating its North American operations at the end of 2025, REV Power Solutions (REV) is showcasing the results of working hard to share best practice across two fundamental locations. By balancing workload across key centers of excellence in Alberta and Texas, the engineering and in-house fabrication company is achieving improved performance, greater efficiency and increased flexibility towards market demands. Beginning in 2008 as a field service testing company with 20 staff, REV has grown to 170 employees across both sites and has recently moved into a 90,000-square-foot facility in Calgary, providing additional capacity for clients and emerging markets.
From primarily maintaining high voltage electrical systems in the mining, utilities, industrial and commercial sectors, the company transitioned to low and medium voltage switchgear, skid mounted substations, switch houses and equipment modernization in 2010. Shawn Oldenburger, Principal & CEO, elaborates on the site consolidation and tells Energy, Oil & Gas more about the growth of the business. “Building capacity and capability has been our entire purpose over the past few years and we have managed to achieve a flexible approach to client delivery, supported by the ability to engage staff both sides of the border,” he explains. “Alberta is a thriving center for a company such as ours here in Canada and, equally, Texas is a major hub in the US for the products and services that we offer. We are dedicated to our culture of continuous improvement and the pride taken by our employees in both centers is clear to see.”
With a customer base spanning multiple industries, such as oil and gas, mining and data centers, REV provides turnkey projects to clients within the four divisions of the company: design, engineering, manufacturing and field services. Its manufacturing solutions include low and medium voltage switchgear, portable electrical substations, switch houses, heavy gauge industrial buildings, industrial control equipment, skid mounted electrical equipment, and CSA/ETLus-approved custom manufacturing. “As owners, we all started out in Field Service, so it forms part of our DNA and we still view this important function as central to our plan overall,” continues Shawn, regarding the connection of field work with engineering design and manufacturing. “Our Field Services team are our ears on the ground, developing strong relationships with clients, recognizing technical challenges and anticipating future needs. They play a critical role in both commissioning our products on site and ensuring ongoing reliability of the products we deliver. There is a huge amount of trust between the design and manufacturing teams and the Field Services team – we have a strong ‘one REV’ culture with aligned goals and objectives.”
Project Office
Both facilities are positioning REV to serve emerging markets while maintaining excellence for traditional energy sector clients – notably, strategic investment in its Project Office allowed for improvement in the project delivery process. “We have already proven ourselves capable in the high-performance computing (HPC) sector and have done work in the renewables arena,” states Shawn. “Long duration storage is a future opportunity and investing in the way we operate allows us to respond quickly to client needs. Our reputation was hard won in our traditional markets, and we enjoy a high level of trust with those clients, whereas our advance into new markets has enabled us to apply many of the efficiency gains from traditional markets. This creates a win-win situation for us and the client.”
Not only is the company based in Alberta, it is also profoundly involved in oil sands projects in the North of the province, designing electrical infrastructure able to withstand and operate in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. “We must continually develop approaches to problem solving for our clients, for which we invest heavily in R&D,” Shawn discloses. “If we stand still, we will become extinct – plus developing new ideas and solutions motivates us. We are not short of ideas; every team member is encouraged to bring an innovative mindset into work every day. Looking at how REV has evolved since the global pandemic is proof that we are willing to think differently, push boundaries and differentiate ourselves from the competition. This is the REV way.”
Infused innately into the ‘REV way’ are its core values – collaboration, teamwork, quality and safety – which underpins everything the group does. “We emphasize these values relentlessly,” Shawn says. “We know that only by having the right culture can we successfully execute our strategy. This is a people business, and we have a team driven by the need to do the best job they can. Every product that leaves our shop carries the REV brand and it is built with pride.” Safety is always a number one consideration for the company. “We work with heavy equipment daily and electrical infrastructure that is very unforgiving. While we are proud of our reputation around safety, we are never, ever complacent.”
REV’s priorities for the remainder of the year involve using its increased capacity and capability to deliver projects for clients, alongside continuous improvement opportunities, innovation and people development. “Talent that goes untested remains the same,” Shawn adds. “Therefore, we will continue to seek out ways to be better. Internally, we will continue to invest in leadership and technical capability, helping our people achieve their potential.”
A measured focus on growth is REVs approach to evolving its portfolio over the next three to five years. “The markets we serve will continue to see strong demand and we intend to be a part of fulfilling that demand. Continuing to innovate and develop our products will be key in achieving that, as will unlocking further efficiencies within our production and delivery model. We intend to discover exactly what we are capable of, and we believe we have the best team to take us to the next level.”
