Fullerton: Changing with the Times

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Fullerton leadership team from left to right: Sameer Aleem, SVP-Customer Delivery; Ryan Wollenberg, VP Construction; Kelly Lazuka, CEO; Andrew Herring, SVP-Fiber/Small Cells; Chris James, VP-DAS/Technical Services

 

The wireless and wireline telecom world has changed a great deal since Matt Bellagamba began Fullerton Engineering Consultants in Chicago in 1998. It started with a couple of Sprint projects, and over the years, the boutique architectural and engineering (A&E) firm evolved into a full-service, turnkey provider of wireless and wireline communications solutions.

“We’ve changed the way that we deliver for our customers. We’re developing more innovative and cutting-edge deployment strategies and we don’t solely rely on what’s worked the last two decades,” said Andrew Herring, SVP-Fiber/Small Cells, Fullerton.

For any deployment — macro towers, small cells, fiber or DAS — Fullerton boasts in-house capabilities, and can perform all of the services required throughout a deployment lifecycle, according to Herring.

“A customer of ours is typically an end user. We want to eliminate the middleman and be that tier-one provider to take the project from search rings, polygon, node all the way to install and decommissioning of a site,” Herring said. “We have strategically developed our organization to capture the entire architecture of a telecom network.”

Small and Nimble

Compared with other full-service turnkey telecom providers, Fullerton is a relatively small firm. It prides itself on resourcefulness, creative thinking, and an ability to be nimble to create quick, quality results for its customers, according to Sameer Aleem, SVP-Customer Delivery. “Our size and our agility are our greatest strengths. It’s ingrained in the culture of the people that work here across the entire business. To work at Fullerton, you have to be able to adapt to change.”

A recent small cell build completed for a customer in Horicon, WI.

Fullerton can identify an issue, develop a new process, update its tools to reflect the new process, train its teams, and go live in 24 hours, if need be, according to Aleem.

And it’s not just the customer that benefits. Ryan Wollenberg, VP Construction, explained the benefits of working at a tight-knit organization. “Since joining the Fullerton Construction Division, one of the biggest things that I have noticed and come to appreciate, is that Fullerton offers a unique array of advantages that enhance one’s professional experience, compared to a much larger company. Employees here enjoy greater visibility and have a direct impact on the projects that they are a part of, creating an environment that fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility.” Wollenberg says that collaborative approach promotes a culture that allows for streamlined communication, making Fullerton “more agile than larger companies for quicker problem solving.”

Fullerton cross trains its personnel to ensure that they have the skill sets and ability to ramp up quickly into new assignments.

Automation Applications in Project Management

Fullerton has invested in automation and other technologies through its project management office (PMO), which enables it to handle projects of a company twice its size, according to Aleem.

“When we look at a large project, we embrace it because we know we have the processes, the tools, and the technology in place to deliver on it,” Aleem said. “PMO has established itself as a common glue that holds all of our different disciplines together,” Aleem said.

Scaling into New Segments: DAS, Small Cell and Fiber

Fullerton has also expanded into in-building wireless and DAS design and construction. In 2015, it began serving arenas, airports, government buildings, and even amusement parks. According to Chris James, VP-DAS/Technical Services, Fullerton’s DAS team has been tackling “large, complex and high-profile projects.”

With 5G spectrum substantially built out across the macro cells, James expects his team will see an increase in projects as capex trickles down into small cells for infill.  “We are going to start seeing C band spectrum deployed at the small cell level,” Herring agreed. “That’s the only way that carriers are going to get the coverage and capacity they want.”

DAS and small cell deployment has led Fullerton organically into the fiber space. Initially, its prime customer was separating small cells and backhaul into two scopes, so Fullerton would design the small cell and the backhaul was taken care of by another company. But then Fullerton started to develop its own pool of resources, including hiring outside plant engineers, so it could deploy both the small cell and backbone network on a turnkey basis. Doing so opened the door to a whole new world in terms of deploying fiber to the home and enterprise-type networks.

“As we developed the talent and ability to perform fiber work, we began to look for opportunities with traditional internet service providers and we started to operate in all applications of fiber,” Herring said. The fiber deployment business took off in 2021 as money flowed into building out internet service for remote work during the pandemic.

The Evolution to ‘Design. Develop. Construct.’

To reflect the internal changes in its organization, Fullerton has been repositioning its identity in the marketplace from a boutique A&E firm to a full-service self-perform organization. In so doing, Fullerton dropped the words “Engineering Consultants” from its name and changed its tagline to “Design Develop Construct.”

“The name change caught the attention of folks in our industry, who now better understand what we offer,” Aleem said. From the perspective of educating our existing customer base and attracting potential customers to service offerings, the rebrand was hugely successful.”

Kelly Lazuka, CEO, recently recognized as a 2024 Chicago Titan 100, summed it up, “Fullerton has gone through an extreme transformation and we now have the best team in the industry, hands down. What makes this team so extraordinary is that they all realize true value in business lies not just in providing solutions, but in building trust with our customers through quality, honesty, and a keen ear to their unspoken needs, creating a level of customer satisfaction that resonates beyond transactions.”

For more information, please call Fullerton at (847) 908-8400 or email [email protected].

Occasionally, Fullerton will bring on local vendors if a construction project falls outside its self-perform area. Fullerton ensures these vendors have all the required licensing, certifications, and insurance.

Vendors interested in working with Fullerton can send an email to [email protected].

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

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