Innovation

The innovation of Stan's is considered to be their access to availability when needed for climate-related/natural disasters and erosion control. As natural disasters come unexpectedly, Stan’s is always available to take action at any time. This company is at an advantage with its innovation because of its equipment, locations and knowledge. While Stans get paid to accomplish these goals, there are known to give back to the environment and the community as a whole.

Goal 15, (15.3.1) states “portion of land that is degraded over total land area.” Stan’s meets this goal by preventing erosion from occurring. This task is put into full effect by helping to prepare for a flood or hurricane by building levees, dikes, and barriers that especially benefit cities that are classified to be in "low leveled" flood zones. They help to build up washed-away land after a flood takes place along with clearing logs and debris. By using airboats and amphibious excavators the company can access these marshlands.

Goal 13, (13.1.3) states its target is a “portion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster reduction strategies”. The Environmental Protection Agency, for example, would request Stan’s Marshall to assist in preventing natural disasters from occurring. Whenever a climate-related disaster including a hurricane, flood, or oil spill occurs, the company sends crews out to designated areas to help with cleanup of hazardous materials, getting people out of homes, assisting with restoring power, etc. After a hurricane or flood takes place, it is often hard for people to get equipment and tools where it is needed. As this goal relates to natural and climate-related disasters, Stan's has the equipment and employees to take on these jobs in hard-to-reach locations. Stan’s does have the ability to impact a region’s capacity by helping to build levees and barriers to prepare for floods and hurricanes.

Inspiration

The company was founded in 1994 by a guy named Stanley Caldarera and is now owned by Tommy Todd and his wife Lizz Todd. At the beginning of its services, Stan’s only performed airboat services and assisted survey and pipeline companies. After talking to Mr. Hunter Dupre, who leads his own crew out of Pierre Part after being employed with the company for over twenty-four years, he explained that the founding owner was satisfied with the current amount of work. However, when the company had a new owner they gained a new mindset to always seek out more in a company. Hunter said, “the new owner believes that a company should never settle for less and to always look for more opportunities”. Mr. Hunter Dupre witnessed firsthand how the new owner wanted to change the direction of the company to include more services to help out the community.

While Stan’s began to profit, they originally planned to grow the business as much as they possibly could. When Hurricane Rita took place, even though it wasn't in their line of work, this company was called out to the rescue simply because they had useful machines available. The company recognized a need to act on the erosion control issue and provide for natural disaster recovery after the Hurricane took place. Mr. Hunter said, “from that point out they incorporated these jobs into the daily life of their company”. While conducting the interview, Mr. Hunter Dupre mentioned, “Always look for an opportunity to expand your work if you have the resources to do so”.

Overall impact

The overall impact of this innovation is considered to be short-term and long-term. This innovation has a short-term impact because it allows communities to prepare for hurricanes, floods, and natural disasters. Stan’s began to purchase more equipment and machinery after Hurricane Rita so they could offer more services to the community, which fulfills their innovations. The company contributes to the short-term effect by helping a town or the public to recover from these natural disasters that take place. The long-term impact of this innovation is erosion control to prevent more land from being destroyed by saltwater and floods.

The company has proven to leave an overall positive impact as they are assigned by government agencies, including the Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to address coastal erosion on average at least 3 or more months out of the year. The company has an impact across the United States, not just in Louisiana. Stan’s has twenty crews spread all over the country to fulfill these short and long-term innovations. Stan’s builds its business around the customer's needs and is always willing to change to benefit them in order to make the biggest impact they possibly can. Stan’s work opportunities have tripled since 2007, which proves they have an impact on society. The company takes pride in all of its work and takes into consideration anything that customers may have to say because without the customers the company would be nothing.

Business benefit

This innovation benefits the business in many ways because when there are natural disasters, floods or erosion issues, Stan’s is the first to get the call to go out and help. There are only around four other companies who do similar kinds of work to Stan’s in Louisiana, so that automatically gives the company an advantage. Another benefit is that these companies mostly own 18, 20, and 22-foot wide amphibious excavators that have to travel by 18-wheelers and by escorts. Stan’s owns a 12-foot wide excavator that can be brought places by being put on a gooseneck trailer pulled by a one-ton truck, therefore, making it easier to travel. Along with being easier to travel, it is very expensive to provide escorts to needed areas and Stan’s can avoid this issue altogether. Having access to a smaller machine also means being able to get to smaller areas. Compared to surrounding businesses, Stan’s covers different types of jobs more than others.

Since the company has made it known to the public that they can take on several different jobs and their advantages, they have gotten more work than ever. As a result of Stan’s being able to act quickly and be available, they got the opportunity to work with the United States Coast Guard, as they have a contract to always provide nationwide cleanup and rescue efforts when needed.

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Social and environmental benefit

Society can often benefit from innovation when it comes to such disasters. They are able to recover faster as they are provided with assistance and help from the company. Their equipment and crew members are located globally to provide quick services whenever needed. These crew members all have extensive amounts of knowledge when it comes to marsh wetlands and how to operate these machines.

Also while marsh excavators are very common for businesses to have on-site in this industry, Stan’s has an advantage. The company’s advantage is that they have marsh buggies, and also amphibious marsh buggies. Amphibious marsh buggies are unique because of their capabilities to be used in both marine and wetland areas which makes them ideal to travel in coastal areas. While these amphibious machines are available for anyone to purchase, they are very expensive causing them to be owned by few. This allows Stan’s to have access to land by water, unlike some businesses. This innovation also benefits the environment because Stan’s included building up land in their daily tasks. This allows communities to recover from natural disasters a lot faster and allows them to prepare for future situations.

Interview

Mr. Hunter Dupre, manager