Up from the Ashes...Through Teamwork
While in the middle of a major Iowa I-80 project, Cedarapids customer Manatts, Inc.
experienced a hot mix asphalt plant owner's worst nightmare. Near midnight one Monday,
local fire authorities awakened Manatts' workers with bad news...their Menlo, Iowa plant
(which was supplying hot mix asphalt for the interstate project) was on fire.
Early the next morning company president Brad Manatt drove
to the site to survey the damage. The drum's slinger conveyor and burner, plus control
house, scale conveyor and all power/control wiring were severely damaged. The cold feed
bin system sustained minor damage.
With a 40 working day contract on the I-80 job, the company
was obviously faced with an emergency situation. According to Brad Manatt, "We were
probably looking at losing between $10,000-20,000 per day by having the site inoperable.
We needed to do something quickly."
They relocated personnel from the Menlo work site to other
locations to keep people busy, which added to their daily downtime costs. They also faced
the possibility of a $1,200 per day penalty if the I-80 project wasn't completed on time.
Manatts Sends Out
Distress Signal
On the day of the fire, Manatts alerted Cedarapids about
the situation. Manatts immediately sent their company airplane to Cedar Rapids and flew
Tom Hartshorn, Cedarapids' HMA product support manager, to the site to survey the damage.
Hartshorn advised the customer that it would be to their
advantage to purchase new equipment rather than repair the damaged components. According
to Hartshorn, "If Manatts had wanted us to undertake repairs it would have taken
between four and six weeks. With the I-80 project essentially on hold due to the fire,
performing such extensive repairs was just not a viable alternative."
Hartshorn informed Manatts that a new E400P Magnum CF®
portable drum plant was immediately available. They were told that if they could assist
with installation, the plant could be operational in one week.
Manatts flew to Cedarapids' Glasgow operations to look at
the E400P and other replacement components. Less than two days after the fire, HMA
national sales manager Reaburn King had supplied Manatts with a proposal. The deal was
finalized late that day.
The following morning, Manatts had a fleet of six trucks en
route to pick up the new equipment. By that evening all of the equipment had been loaded
and was on its way back to Iowa. Jim Siefert, Cedarapids' field serviceman in charge, was
at the Menlo site to direct the set up.
Early Friday, less than five working days after the fire,
the equipment was unloaded. Manatts' personnel had been busy preparing the site during
equipment purchase negotiations. Pre-erection of the plant at the factory ensured
trouble-free installation.
Crews installed an E400P drum mixer with RAP collar,
Magnum® 60,000 cfm baghouse, split-level control house with QMA 2001™ pushbutton
control system, five cold feed bins and scale conveyor. The existing 80SE self-erecting
storage silo and AC tank were spared damage by the fire.
Teamwork Makes the
Impossible Possible
Cedarapids service personnel were dispatched from job sites
throughout the country to help Manatts install the new equipment. Service crews worked
virtually non-stop throughout the weekend, except to catch a few hours of sleep.
According to Steve Armstrong, Manatts general plant
superintendent, "The overall level of professional service was exceptional. Without
Cedarapids' support we would never have been able to stay on schedule with the I-80
project."
On Monday, June 28th, the plant was ready for calibration.
By Wednesday the 30th, just a week after the order was signed, the plant was producing
mix.
Manatt stated, "We are very fortunate that Cedarapids
was immediately able to supply us with a portable plant. Close teamwork between their
people and our own made it all possible."
From Cedarapids' viewpoint, expressed by Tom Hartshorn,
"We were very pleased with the amount of cooperation Manatts provided. They assisted
with getting the job done without interruption or delay. This was a major factor in
getting their site operational in a matter of days."
Safe Practices Keep
Problems at Bay
Commenting on the fire, Hartshorn said, "The fire had
probably burned a couple of hours before a passerby noticed and alerted the local
volunteer fire department. The remoteness of the site, along with the fact that the fire
happened at night, had a large part to do with the amount of damage that occurred."
Prior to the fire, the customer had been using an older
Cedarapids 8835 parallel flow drum mixer that used reclaimed fuel. The fuel was stored in
a 9,500 gallon storage tank which utilized a heater to bring the fuel to the correct
viscosity. It is suspected that a malfunction in the tank's heater caused the fuel in the
tank to ignite. This in turn led to a leak in the fuel supply line running to the drum
burner, which made matters worse.
Hartshorn noted, "This type of fire is a rarity. The
storage tank was located between the control house and cold feed bins, with electrical
cabling running directly over it. Having their storage fuel tank located further away from
the other plant components might have eliminated the amount of damage."
Fire Prevention
Perhaps the first step to on-site fire prevention is having
plant personnel properly trained. Keeping equipment in good repair and always being alert
to what's going on are major factors in fire prevention. Good housekeeping is equally
critical to preventing the possibility of fire, as is keeping a supply of filled and
periodically checked fire extinguishers readily available.
Make sure that all equipment is properly shut down before
leaving the site at night or for any extended period. Hartshorn noted, "Running
engines and motors without plant personnel in attendance has its own inherent risks."
Site personnel also need to be aware of what to do and who
to call in the event of a fire. Local fire authorities are happy to assist with any
producer's efforts to better inform personnel about fire safety and control.
According to Hartshorn, "Computer plant automation
controls installed on many HMA facilities do not typically have fire alert systems.
Obviously, for stationary urban locations some form of fire warning system is advisable.
Mounting sensors on the equipment is one solution."
 Manatts
Dedicates New Facility
Manatts estimates that up to 80,000 tons of mix was used
for the project, which included milling and overlaying a 12 mile section of the
interstate's westbound lanes. Manatts was also contracted to repair off ramps and
crossovers on the stretch.
Two inches of both binder and surface coarse mix were used.
The drum produced three types of Superpave mix: 19mm type B
base, 19mm type A binder, and 19mm type A surface coarse.
After completion of the interstate job, the E400P was
relocated to another major reconstruction project in Audubon County, Iowa. Here the new
portable drum is providing an estimated 130,000 tons of mix for a section of Iowa Highway
71 North.
To formally dedicate the new Adair, County site, Manatts'
personnel placed an American flag on the highest point of the plant. As is the custom at
Manatts, a flag raising ceremony is held each time a new facility is put into operation --
evidence of their pride in being a United States contractor, and with their people and
equipment.
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