Construction crews in Vance, AL, are shifting into high gear to complete a $600-million expansion of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class (MBUSI) plant near Tuscaloosa, AL. The project, when completed later this year, will create approximately 2,000 new jobs and make small-town Vance home to one of the largest buildings in the state.
“It will add 1.9 million square feet, roughly doubling the size of the plant,” explained Andy George, Rust Constructors Inc. of Birmingham, vice president of business development.
“We worked in stages. A good bit of up-front work had to be done to start this expansion,” said George. “Probably the most crucial step was planning for the construction that would take place near the existing site. New parking lots had to be developed and giant water tanks — 750,000 gallons — had to be relocated. The site also had to be cleared and utilities relocated.
“One thing that really stood out was maintaining the integrity of Mercedes’ foreign trade zone requirements,” he said. “There are certain rules and regulations you have to comply with to maintain your foreign trade zone status, which is granted by the government. If violated, there would be trouble. It all has to do with import/export, but the tax structure is different depending on what you’re assembling, what materials are used, etc. It was a big concern. Basically, you deal directly with the government to make sure you’re not contaminating things.
“It’s a typical construction project in some ways, except that you’re dealing with an existing facility, so you’re grading, pouring concrete, drilling caissons, putting up steel and eventually carrying out the landscaping plans while a lot of routine production is continuing,” noted George.
Primary contractor Brasfield & Gorrie has played a key role in the expansion. For example, construction crews were concerned about stopping work repeatedly so that completed M-Class Benz’s could pass through on the way to a new marshaling yard.
Brasfield & Gorrie laid the foundation for an approximately 400-ft. (122 m) tunnel, which runs under the new plant, made from 38 precast bridge components supplied by Mississippi-based Bridgetek Company. Creating the tunnel took approximately two months and was completed using a 40-ton (36.3 t) crane to set each piece. The tunnel was designed with a special system to exhaust all fumes.
Brasfield & Gorrie crews also laid the foundations for the paint shop and built a new hazardous materials building, two pedestrian tunnels and an energy center.
“We also did a 40,000- square-foot renovation of office space in the existing plant. We took part of the plant’s warehouse and turned it into something quite different,” said Project Manager Robert McElroy.
“Mercedes has very high standards,” added McElroy, “and we welcomed all the challenges. For one thing, we were dealing with a very complicated sprinkler system in Mercedes’ hazardous materials building. That’s where they place trash and store a limited amount of the paint they produce for their cars. Inside, this space is a Division I, Class I, explosion-proof and spark-proof structure. All the paint racks are sprinkled, and there’s an incredible amount of water per area to take care of flammable materials.
“The energy center is also interesting. It’s the one building where all the utilities and power come from for the entire plant. We did the foundation and poured the slab on top after all the underground work was completed. We also dug the wet well for the cooling tower behind the center. We used a very large Caterpillar 330L trackhoe, which made the task much easier and very efficient.”
A number of subcontractors were hired for the Mercedes addition, including Baker Concrete, of Monroe, OH.
“The basic layout of the massive addition includes a 500,000-plus square foot addition to the original body shop, a new [430,000 sq. ft. (40,000 sq m)] paint shop and a new [800,000 sq. ft. (74,000 sq m)] assembly building,” explained project manager Randy Nehlen. “Baker Concrete was selected to perform the concrete slabs, pits and trenches for the body shop and paint shop and eventually completed the remaining third of the assembly shop, because of an accelerated schedule. We arrived on site in April of 2002 and to date are still performing miscellaneous work around the plant.
“During the construction of the paint shop, we peaked our manpower, including subcontractors, at 210 co-workers. The bulk of our work however was complete in April 2003. It took approximately one year to complete the slab work for the three structures. All together, the project consisted of 50,000 cubic yards of interior concrete,” said Nehlen.
The specialty of the floors in all the buildings is the installed floor. MBUSI chose Masterbuilders, Mastercron and Masterplate light reflective mineral and metallic hardeners. In the body shop a Somero laser screed and a Somero spreader was used to strike off and apply the shake material. For the paint and assembly, crews combined the use of an Allen Engineering truss screed machine and hand-held Magic screeds to strike off. A Morrison truss shake spreader was used to apply the shake material.
“The body and the paint shop were to be originally constructed at the same time; however, due to many changes in the design of the structures, the paint shop didn’t begin until September 2002. The late start posed a problem because the equipment shipping from Germany was still arriving based on the original schedule, so you had to allow for those type things,” said Nehlen.
“Upgrades to the existing energy center at Mercedes included the installation of new centrifugal pumps, new vertical turbine pumps, new heat exchangers, new automatic strainers. It also included the rebuilding of existing heat exchangers, installation of new cooling water piping, new chiller piping and new weldwater piping,” said Warren Brown, of McAbee Construction Inc. “We also furnished all the electrical, instrumentation, and controls for these systems.”
The majority of the construction equipment used for various projects were electric aerial lifts — knuckle booms and scissor — for transporting the men and tools up into the roof trusses, where a majority of the ductwork and piping is routed. Deck cranes were used to lift materials inside the buildings, and conventional and hydraulic cranes were used to set the heavy equipment on the outside of the buildings.
“We also used extendable boom forklifts to marshall materials around the job site as well as small electric forklifts for moving materials inside the buildings. Diesel and gas powered equipment was not allowed to be used inside the buildings for health reasons. Electric welding machines were used to weld piping, ductwork and auxiliary steel,” said Brown.
“Probably the most challenging aspect of this work was coordinating our activities with the other contractors in order to stay out of each other’s way,” he noted. “The schedule was very aggressive, so there were a lot of contractors in the building at the same time. The concrete contractor placing the floor slabs took priority, so we had to skip around the building. This was somewhat disruptive and definitely had an impact on our efficiency and productivity.”
Not long after the expansion was formally announced, workers began building a new parking lot, or marshaling yard, to hold up to 3,600 vehicles off the assembly line. The marshaling yard was constructed using a new process called roller compacted concrete, where concrete rolls down quickly and can be used shortly after it’s poured. The ABG Titan 423 placer finisher was instrumental in the process, said project manager Will Gray of A.G. Peltz Group LLC, of Birmingham.
“It speeds up construction and is beneficial as far as economics. We did the site paving for the container yards and, in all, used approximately 30,000 cubic yards of concrete. Our equipment included an Aran ASR 280B mixing plant, an [Ingersoll Rand] DD130 roller, an IR CR80 roller and a Komatsu WA450 wheel loader.”
Warrior and Associates Construction Company, of Cottondale, AL, was responsible for much of the grading and storm drain work as well as supervising site preparation.
“We’ve pretty much stayed on schedule, except for some weather delays. There have been no major problems and we’ve had great success using our satellite grading system,” said Project Manager Rick Price.
The satellite system basically allowed crews to carry out their duties with less manpower and no marker flags or stakes.
“[The grading system] has a blueprint in the machine that pretty much tells you what you need to know as far as the elevations,” said Price. “We own two machines — a [Caterpillar] 12G motor grader and a [Caterpillar] D6M dozer. We’re talking fully-equipped and fully-machine operated. I believe we’re the first in the state to use this and one of only a few in the Southeast.”
Also using new technology during plant construction is A&B Electric Company Inc., of Tuscaloosa, which has been at the plant since its original construction close to a decade ago.
“With phase II, we are involved in many facets of the expansion, including assembly line processes and data communications for the Ethernet communications to all of the equipment, which ultimately ties back to the central process control computer system. There’s an overall monitoring program with orders placed on one end and they come out the other end. And anytime there’s a shutdown of any kind we’re generally involved. When key projects come up, we’re the ’go to’ guys,” explained Division Manager Barre Lee.
“This expansion is truly a multi-national project that presents some interesting challenges. I think one of the biggest things you must have is the ability to take processes that are highly technical and digest them, sort things out so as to avoid potential problems. At the same time, work at an extremely fast pace to maintain the schedule suitable to Mercedes.”
A&B’s equipment on site includes numerous rigid threading devices along with close to three dozen scissor-lifts.
“And we have cable pullers that would just about turn a piece of pipe inside out. We have lots of cable testing equipment — everything from high-voltage cable to very small fiber optics. I recently spent about $16,000 on new cable testing equipment for high-speed data communications that would all fit in a purse. But it’s necessary because you have to have the ability to communicate at a much higher speed.”
The expansion, which began in early 2001, will be complete by the end of 2003.
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