October 2024 Vol. 79 No. 10
Business
Underground Infrastructure Business Highlights: Key Developments and Insights
Lane Construction
Lane Construction Corporation, the U.S. subsidiary of Webuild Group, won a 35-percent share in a $466-million contract to construct the Palisades Tunnel Project.
This is the first tunnel boring contract awarded by the Gateway Development Commission (GDC) of the larger $16-billion Hudson River Tunnel Project (HTP), an investment to construct a new tunnel between New York and New Jersey and rehabilitate the over 100-year-old rail tunnel. The tunnel carries 200,000 passenger trips per weekday on 450-plus Amtrak and NJ Transit trains servicing the Northeast Corridor.
Lane will construct the first mile of twin tunnels on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. It includes two tunnel boring machine (TBM) tunnels, approximately 5,100 feet long, lined with precast concrete rings that have an inside diameter of 25 feet 2 inches, and six cross passages, each with a permanent cast-in-situ concrete liner and waterproofing membrane. The project also involves building the new 120-foot-deep Hoboken Shaft, which will be used to remove the TBMs when digging is complete.
The Palisades Tunnel is one of three separate tunnels, along with the Hudson River Tunnel and the Manhattan Tunnel, which are part of the HTP. The project is a joint venture with Schiavone and Dragados. Work is expected to be completed during 2027.
CASE
CASE Construction Equipment dealer Progressive Tractor & Implement (PTI) Co. LLC is acquiring the stores and territories of Heartland Equipment. This will expand PTI’s business into the northeastern Arkansas and Memphis areas and help more customers in the region succeed with CASE equipment.
The acquisition marks a new period of growth for leading equipment dealer PTI, as it increases its team to over 500 employees and overall footprint from 22 to 27 locations, supplying the latest construction and agricultural equipment from CASE CE and CASE IH. After the acquisition, PTI will offer construction equipment in Jonesboro and West Memphis, in addition to existing CASE locations in Opelousas, Lacassine and Lafayette, Louisiana.
“We pride ourselves on our ability to provide first-class service to our customers and look forward to enhancing our reach and capabilities as we grow our business into northeast Arkansas and the surrounding areas of Memphis Tennessee,” said Thomas Soileau, PTI owner and dealer principal.
Founded in 1991, PTI has accumulated a diversified customer base over the past 30 years by providing exemplary hands-on service, building community and working hard to earn customers’ trust. Earlier this year, CASE recognized PTI as the winner of this Power Abe Award, also known as the CASE Dealer of the Year Award, in recognition of leading performance in sales, service and financing for customers.
Ditch Witch
Ditch Witch celebrated the groundbreaking of a new 170,000-square-foot paint facility at its factory in Perry, Okla.
The new facility is expected to bring up to 100 new jobs to the area and help drive greater operational efficiencies and capacity to better serve customers. Celebrating 75 years in business, the expansion further reinforces the company’s long-standing commitment to Perry and the State of Oklahoma and positions the company to support future growth in the underground construction industry.
The groundbreaking event was kicked off by Ditch Witch’s Kevin Smith, with welcoming remarks to the nearly 1,000 attendees, including Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and other state dignitaries.
“What we do matters,” said Smith. “Within the first 30 minutes of your day, the work that we do makes a positive impact on people’s lives. The first thing you do in the morning might be check your cell phone and look at the weather, or social media. We helped bring that into your hands. Then you flip on the light switch. We helped deliver that power to your house.”
Ditch Witch traces its roots back to 1902, when Carl Malzhan opened a blacksmith shop with his sons in Perry. Its first production trencher came off the assembly line in 1949, and since that time, Ditch Witch has been the largest employer in Perry and has become a leading global provider of underground construction equipment.
Today, it designs, manufactures and markets the most complete line of directional drills, drill pipe, HDD tooling, Underground Awareness electronics, vacuum excavators, trenchers, surface miners, fluid recycling systems, chain, teeth and sprockets, stand-on skid steers and vibratory plows.
The company employs more than 1,700 people in the community. The new paint facility is scheduled to be completed in early 2027.
PipeSense
Recognizing its position as a leading pipeline leak detection technology innovator, PipeSense has received an official U.S. Patent for its groundbreaking "systems and methods for improved pipeline leak detection,"
Granted U.S. Patent No. 12,055,464, this milestone reflects the company's commitment to advancing the safety, reliability, and efficiency of pipeline infrastructure.
The new patent will enhance PipeSense’s solutions, including its flagship advanced pipeline leak detection system PipeGuard. The exclusive PipeSentry suite of technologies provides pipeline operators with a greater insight into the efficiency of their assets, with more accurate, real-time detection of leaks.
PipeSense's innovations improve the speed and precision of leak detection, while reducing environmental impact and operational costs for operators in the oil and gas, water, and chemical industries.
Key features of the patented technology include:
• Enhanced Detection Accuracy utilizes advanced algorithms, sensor technology, and artificial intelligence to detect and confirm even the smallest leaks, minimizing false alarms.
• Real-Time Monitoring provides continuous monitoring and instant alerts, ensuring rapid response to potential leaks.
• Cost-Effective Solutions reduces the need for frequent manual inspections, lowering maintenance costs, and improving operational efficiency.
• Environmental Protection helps prevent environmental damage by detecting leaks early, thereby reducing the risk of contamination.
Martin Equipment/John Deere
Martin ‘Equ8upment’s Tolono, Ill., dealership was named a John Deere Certified Rebuild Center. This rigorous dealer certification process ensures the capability, process and execution of large, production-class model machine rebuilds are executed at the absolute highest level of quality.
Tolono joins four other Martin Equipment certified dealerships, including locations in Columbia, Missouri; Rock Island, Peru; and Goodfield, Illinois. Like all John Deere Certified Rebuild Centers, Tolono offers customers a complete assessment of the condition of a machine, plus expert advice on rebuild options to ensure the work being done meets the specific needs of that customer’s business.
John Deere Certified Rebuild Centers are committed to improving a machine’s look, feel and function to extend its life in an economical way. The result is a rebuilt machine customers can rely on, at a lower cost, as an alternative to buying a new machine.
Martin Equipment is a fourth-generation, family-, and woman-owned John Deere Construction & Forestry dealer headquartered in Goodfield, Ill. It provides a wide range of service and support solutions with a focus on extending the life of customer fleets while increasing productivity and efficiency.
ADS
Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (ADS), a leading provider of innovative water management solutions in the stormwater and onsite septic wastewater industries, entered into a strategic partnership with Geoplast, an Italian leader in recycled plastic solutions for sustainable construction products. ADS will distribute Aquabox, a modular, high-capacity stormwater retention/detention system in the United States.
Geoplast has a proven history of designing and manufacturing innovative products for a variety of applications including in construction, stormwater management, urban greening and landscaping. The Aquabox product line is designed to create flexible underground storage for stormwater retention, infiltration, disposal or harvesting for reuse.
Geoplast’s Aquabox system offers several solutions for stormwater retention and detention. Its open cellular design includes modules that allow incoming stormwater runoff to freely distribute between modules where it can be stored, collected and/or released with a time delay to reduce potential flooding created by the increase of stormwater intensity in urban areas. Aquabox has high mechanical resistance, so it can be installed in more-dense urban applications.
AMPP
All members of the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP), the global authority in materials protection and performance, can now access the latest standards as part of their membership, at no additional cost.
This strategic initiative directly responds to member feedback, marking a significant milestone in AMPP's ongoing commitment to growth, service, and inclusivity within the materials protection and performance community.
Effective immediately, AMPP members will have complimentary online and offline access to the latest standards. This new benefit includes:
• User-Friendly Access. A streamlined platform to browse, search, sort, and filter the catalog of standards, with options to sort by committee, latest updates, and status.
• Accessibility Across Devices. Standards can be accessed on any device, with features that allow standards to be accessed offline for convenient field use.
• Security and Protection. All standards are securely maintained to uphold the highest integrity and quality in the industry, though some jointly developed standards are excluded from this benefit.
“Standards are the backbone of the materials protection and performance industry,” said Juan Caballero, chair of the AMPP Global Center Board of Directors. “They ensure consistency, reliability, and safety across the board, guiding everything from daily operations to long-term strategic decisions.”
Hyundai
Representatives from HD Hyundai Construction Equipment North America, executives from HD Hyundai XiteSolution, parent company of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, and representatives from Wallenius Wilhelmsen, celebrated the grand opening of the first HD Hyundai North American Customization Plant in Brunswick, Ga.
Through this consolidated customization plant, HD Hyundai Construction Equipment NA will be able to manage assembly work and modifications required by North American dealers and their customers. The center’s primary purpose is to streamline the machine delivery process while maintaining adequate inventory.
With this new facility, HD Hyundai will be better equipped to meet dealer needs for complete configurations and advanced hydraulic modifications.
“This state-of-the-art facility will help us reduce the lead time needed to get fully assembled machines to our customers,” said Stan Park, president and CEO, HD Hyundai Construction Equipment North America.
The HD Hyundai customization team will take machines from shipping ready to work ready, for instance fitting excavators with standard or long arms and mass or standard buckets, depending on customer requirements, or equipping them with additional cameras or 2D machine guidance, or making them Trimble 3D-ready.
DEVELON
DEVELON celebrated the grand opening of the North American Customization Plant in Brunswick, Georgia. Executives from DEVELON Headquarters and North America and Wallenius Wilhelmsen attended the ceremony.
DEVELON opened its first North American Customization Center in July 2019. Due to the successes and growths within DEVELON, there is a need to expand the capabilities and capacities of the current site by relocating to a new, larger North American Customization Plant. As a result, DEVELON dealers and customers will receive new machines faster and meet stricter quality standards thanks to the company’s larger state-of-the-art customization facility in Brunswick.
The new state-of-the-art facility is 50-percent larger than the current Customization Plant in Savannah, Ga., offering enhanced production capabilities, a dedicated machine storage yard and an expanded indoor warehouse.
Hitachi
As Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas continues rapid growth and expansion in the construction and mining markets, there remains a commitment to provide customers with the lowest cost of operation. Parts availability and location are critical to minimizing downtime and lowering shipping costs for customers. Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas is committed to its customers and dealer network with $140 million in parts inventory spread across its warehouses in the Americas to ensure high parts availability.
To optimize regional dealer and customer support while further strengthening the supply chain, Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas announced the addition of a 173,000-square-foot warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah. This facility will provide support seven days a week and expedite quick shipping to dealers and customers in the construction and mining markets. Now, when a machine down event occurs, the western region of North America will have quicker access to parts for their Hitachi machines.
Parts and service support are key drivers of total cost of ownership. Investing in regional warehouses allows Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas to continue to lower the cost of ownership for its customers and ensure that downtime is minimized. Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas warehouses cover several time zones across the Americas to ensure parts are readily available when needed.
The operation of the Salt Lake City Parts Warehouse will continue to shorten delivery times for customers and demonstrate a continued investment in after-sales support. The warehouse complements an existing supply chain network that stretches from Georgia, to Indiana, to Illinois and now, Utah. The company has invested in specialized technologies and equipment to efficiently handle all parts, from the smallest O-ring to the largest EX8000 mining shovel parts.
PPI
The Plastics Pipe Institute’s (PPI) Building & Construction Division published a major revision of TN-55 “Plastic Piping Materials for Ground Source Geothermal Heating and Cooling Applications.” Originally issued in 2018, the latest edition is the result of input from industry experts including PPI members and the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA).
“Because the piping material is critical to the overall success of the ground heat exchanger (GHX) in a geo-exchange system, PPI TN-55 focuses on piping, fittings, and manifold materials,” said Lance MacNevin, P. Eng., director of engineering for PPI's Building & Construction Division. “It lists the technical requirements for systems using HDPE, PEX, and PE-RT piping, plus requirements for PP pipes used as indoor piping, headers, and manifolds.”
The new technical note describes eight types of installation techniques, such as vertical boreholes, inclined or angled configurations, horizontal directional drilling (HDD), and energy piles. It also discusses design topics, such as the effects of borehole depth on static water column pressure and addresses why oxygen diffusion barrier layers are typically not required for ground heat exchanger piping.
MacNevin continued, “The new TN-55 is intended to be a valuable resource on piping information, but this is just one of the latest tools available to specifiers and designers of geothermal heating and cooling systems,” MacNevin continued.
Details about pipe installation and pressure testing are found in PPI Model Specification MS-7, and industry codes such as CSA/ANSI/IGSHPA C448 and the Uniform Mechanical Code.
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