A group of bystanders close to 40 strong joined Turner project team members as they observed the delivery of a 160-ton hydraulic radial press frame for installation at Carpenter Technology’s facility in Limestone County, Ala.
Imported by barge from Germany, the frame, which is the largest of its type in the world, arrived at the Port of New Orleans and made its way up to Decatur via the Tennessee River, where a team — including Turner’s safety personnel who did extensive pre-planning around the unloading and lift processes — loaded it onto an 18-axle modular trailer for transport to the project site. Accompanied by a state and local police escort, the frame traveled the eight miles to the site at a cautious three miles per hour.
Carpenter Technology’s facility is a 500,000-square-foot alloy production plant with re-melting, forging, finishing and testing capabilities for the company, which produces and distributes specialty alloys with applications in many industries including aviation and aerospace. With impressively deep foundations and reinforcements to support massive forge and melting equipment, the project has presented a number of unique logistical and construction challenges.
The press itself is scheduled for a similar barge delivery in October and the entire project is scheduled for completion in early 2014.
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