There are times when the unknowns impact a team, project, company or, even the globe.
Pandemics, hurricanes, earthquakes, explosions – every emergency is complex and multi-faceted.
During its 104-year history, Walbridge has a team skilled at dealing with emergencies where the stakes are high and quick mobilization is necessary for an ever-changing situation.
A Rapidly Changing Scenario
After an early-morning explosion rocked Meridian Magnesium in Eaton Rapids, Michigan in May 2018, first responders rushed to the scene where they quickly found the die-casting building enveloped in flames before a second explosion happened.
The plant houses one-of-a-kind specific dies which threatened to halt production of some of the nation’s most popular vehicles including the Ford F-150, potentially having a massive impact to our customers and the entire U.S. economy.
Within hours of the explosions, Walbridge teams were mobilized, on the ground, surveying the damage and taking drone footage of the still-smoldering building to better understand how the dies could be extracted safely and the building rebuilt. Working together with emergency personnel, Walbridge called in laborers and quickly began two 12-hour shifts.
Ford recovered, repaired and validated most dies that were at the Eaton Rapids facility, and Meridian began producing parts for the F-150 at two locations – Eaton Rapids and Nottingham, U.K. Production of bolsters for Super Duty also restarted at the Eaton Rapids plant. Under normal circumstances, moving tooling the size of a bolster die would take approximately 10 days just to get the proper import and export approvals. However, Ford and its suppliers managed to cut the total time for the entire move to 30 hours, including trans-Atlantic flight time.
Within weeks the first beams were up to repair the roof at the Eaton Rapids facility and Walbridge was touring the site with Ford executives to survey the work already done. Within months, the factory was running again.
Safe, Prompt, Effective
Being built on a century of processes coupled with a culture of safety, our team takes these emergencies very seriously. Walbridge is built on a team that is ready to take on the unexpected, arm-in-arm with our customers and partners.
Our team is adept at quick-moving, impactful construction while dealing with the unknowns these scenarios can bring.
Other examples of that work include:
Automotive Tier Supplier
Tornado Remediation
Nashville, Tennessee
An F-4 tornado swept through leaving an automotive supplier facility, leaving the building damaged and interrupting production.
Walbridge provided emergency building services to allow operations of their glass furnaces and glass fabrication facilities to come back online and maintain windshield and side member glass to continue to feed production for multiple automotive OEM’s.
Automotive Client
Emergency Power Recovery
Michigan
Following an explosion at a powerhouse, Walbridge provided emergency recovery services.
Managing all vendors, suppliers, labor resources and subcontractors, Walbridge constructed a temporary 160 MVA 15 KV switchyard, as well as providing connection services, in three days.