Established: 1982

Location: 261 E. 56th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99518

Telephone: 907-563-4125

Website: www.alaskainsulation.com

Focus of the Services: AIS Inc. is a supplier, manufacturer and installer of specialized pipe and equipment insulation. As the parent company to Alaskan Insulation Specialties Inc. and Alaska Insulation Supply Inc., AIS also sub-contracts mechanical insulation and provides products for commercial and industrial projects throughout the state.

History of the Company: AIS was founded in 1982 by Collin "Kelly" Key and Ron Cooper to supply interior and exterior insulation materials. The company incorporated in 1983 and has provided high-quality insulation products and service ever since, said Terry Philley, the company's vice president of construction and corporate general manager.

The company sold its indoor insulation interests in 1998, and has since focused singularly on providing industrial and commercial insulation.

AIS holds contracts throughout the state, including the expansions of Providence Hospital's north tower and of the Ted Steven Anchorage International Airport Concourse C, both in Anchorage.

Philley said his company holds exclusive rights to deal German-made Knauf insulation productsin the state and is expanding into fire-stopping insulation. He added that AIS is developing exclusive materials to help create a patented insulation process.

"We're always looking for diversification," he said.

It's all part of what Philley said makes them unique in their market.

"We're not the biggest, but I think we're the best," he said.

Major Accomplishment: The company's reputation is its greatest achievement, according to Philley.

"We're looked at as a resource for both design groups and facility owners, as technical support as well as providers," he said. "The work that we do really requires a craftsman."

AIS works on every phase of a project, from development to completion, and provides assistance whenever it is needed, even after a project is completed, Philley said.

Major Players: C.K. "Kelly" Key, AIS president and chief financial officer, first became involved with mechanical insulation in 1963, when he took a job with Construction Specialties Co. in Denver, Colo. He moved to Owens Corning Fiberglass Corp. in Spokane, Wash. three years later, and then on to a contracting office in Anchorage in 1970, according to his biography.

Key spent seven years working on the trans-Alaska pipeline during the 1970s, which gave him the opportunity to help develop an insulation system for nearly 400 miles of above-the-ground piping.

In 1977, Key was moved back to Seattle as a regional manager for Washington and Alaska contracting units. He returned to Alaska five years later and founded his company.

Key currently spends time between his homes in Alaska and Oklahoma.

Terry Philley learned the insulation trade through his father and brothers, all three of whom are insulators. He said he learned his trade "from the school of hard knocks," while completing a four-year apprenticeship.

Philley began his career in 1976 while working as a journeyman on the trans-Alaska pipeline. In 1983, he moved back to Seattle to work for then-Armstrong Construction Services Inc., a nationally-known contracting firm. He spent a decade as a field superintendent for the company before accepting a position with AIS. He became a partner to the firm in 1999.

-- Regan Foster