Andrew Ahrendt has long been guided by a commitment to serving others. As a child, he shoveled snow and mowed lawns for elderly neighbors, putting the values he learned as a Boy Scout into practice. Today, that same service-driven mindset shapes his leadership of PCL Construction’s Manufacturing Center of Excellence, where he serves as director.

“From the Scout oath I took, I put the needs of others first,” Ahrendt says. “I’m always looking to act as a facilitator, mentor and enabler for PCL employees, clients and my community.”

Ahrendt began his manufacturing career almost 30 years ago as a project manager at a Minnesota manufacturing plant that produced life sciences and bio-medical devices. Working on projects that manufactured lifesaving products — including cardiac stents and blood cooling machines used in cardiovascular surgeries — inspired him to forge a path that combined his devotion to service, with engineering and production.  

"Manufacturing plays a critical role in the day-to-day lives of every single person in the world,” Ahrendt says. “Knowing I can help improve lives around the world — whether by advancing life-saving technologies and pharmaceuticals for people with chronic and debilitating diseases, or by helping produce food to help decrease food insecurity for millions — is what truly drives my passion for manufacturing." 

Ahrendt has worked with major global companies to build manufacturing plants that produce and process food, semiconductors and electronics, chemicals, and materials for the life sciences and aerospace sectors. He has also served as an advisor to clients including Land O’Lakes, 3M, General Mills and Cargill. That experience made him a natural choice to lead PCL’s Manufacturing Center of Excellence, launched in 2024.  

Ahrendt says the same precision and discipline required in manufacturing construction are also what make the work deeply rewarding. 

One of the key differences between manufacturing and typical construction projects is the level of cleanliness and safety required. While any safety professional will agree a clean job site is a safe job site, manufacturing facilities go further by embedding safety into the design of the facility itself. 

Manufacturing facilities demand a higher standard of cleanliness because the products made inside are often intended for human consumption or medical use. 

It’s why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), some of the most rigorous standards for facilities producing life sciences, pharmaceuticals and food processing products.

“There is no room for quality errors,” Ahrendt says. “Facility design and construction are critical to product safety, and FDA and cGMP compliance are not optional. These practices and protocols are fundamental to ensuring that products are safe, effective and market-ready.” 

Manufacturing construction also requires a precise timeline, where any delay can have a significant impact. A typical construction timeline revolves around occupancy and move-in, while manufacturing facilities are driven by when products must reach the market — making even a one-day delay costly for clients. Under Ahrendt’s leadership, those delays haven’t materialized — though it did come close once. 

During construction of a manufacturing facility for a granola bar production line, the trial production start-up phase ran into problems during a stretch of hot, humid summer weather. Three days before production was scheduled to begin, Ahrendt’s team discovered that heat and humidity had overwhelmed the standard cooling process, leaving the granola bars too warm to be sliced and packaged. The team explored several options, including slowing conveyor speeds to give the bars more time in the cooling tunnel. While that approach might have worked as a temporary fix, it would have reduced planned output and resulted in lost revenue.  

Instead, Ahrendt brought his team together for a Friday evening brainstorming session. They determined that an additional extension hood was needed for the cooling tunnel, contacted a local fabrication shop, and had the hood installed by Monday morning — allowing the facility to meet its production deadline. 

“This is just one example of how manufacturing teams can brainstorm, innovate and think outside the box to solve these challenges,” Ahrendt says. “That’s why manufacturing facility construction means so much to me — it allows people to rise to challenges and make great things happen to achieve our goals.” 

When Ahrendt began his manufacturing career, he didn’t imagine just how global the work would become. 

“Most manufacturers operate globally, and that exposed me to people from different countries, cultures and business practices,” Ahrendt says. “In Asia, for example, there’s an entire protocol around how you meet and exchange business cards, and if you don’t follow it, it matters. Learning those cultural practices was just as important as the engineering, and it really opened my eyes.” 

That global perspective continues to shape Ahrendt’s work as he travels across North America and internationally to meet manufacturers and prospective clients, present at events and trade shows, and lead qualification and proposal efforts aligned with PCL’s strategic portfolio expansion in manufacturing. 

Manufacturers contribute nearly US$3 trillion annually to the U.S. economy and CA$214 billion to the Canadian economy. Ahrendt is helping position PCL to capitalize on that market opportunity by drawing  on the company’s breadth and depth across the buildings, civil and industrial sectors.  

“Manufacturing clients are looking for a contractor that can provide an ‘easy button,’” Ahrendt says. “PCL’s vertical integration sets ups apart. If we continue to build our team and deepen our focus in this market, we can grow our market share and diversify our construction portfolio.” 

As the Manufacturing Center of Excellence wraps up its first year, Ahrendt is focused on building a highly mobile team that travels where the work is. While he partners with clients and districts to identify opportunities where PCL can strategically contribute, one critical component is still needed: the builders.

PCL is addressing the predicted labor shortage by traveling to recruitment fairs and conferences across North America, highlighting its workplace awards — including Fortune 100 Best Places to Work, Forbes America’s Dream Employers, and Canada’s Top 100 Employers — to attract essential talent to fuel the next generation of construction.  

“We have the knowledge, the relationships and the expertise,” Ahrendt says.

As manufacturing activity continues to grow across North America, PCL is well positioned to build on its strong client relationships, technical expertise and diversified portfolio to support continued growth in the manufacturing sector.