Press pit experts ensure equipment stays put

May 2020 - “Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on” may be a popular Jerry Lee Lewis song, but it is not a popular tune when it comes to press pits and machine foundations.

Having a proper foundation that can hold a press that, when running, exerts extreme force and weighs many tons is absolutely essential, especially considering the complexity and power of today’s stamping presses.

This is why large-scale manufacturers and fabricators turn to Delta Industrial. The company offers a variety of professional contracting services, including machine foundations, press pit foundations, slitting line foundations, general building maintenance and construction, concrete flatwork, and steel fabrication and construction.

Delta Industrial has been providing custom press pit foundations for more than 25 years. The company positions itself as a design-build specialist and continues to grow, in no small part due to its diversity of knowledge in all areas of construction.

Meeting expectations

Delta Industrial begins each job by evaluating every aspect of the task at hand—from analyzing soil conditions to ensuring appropriate staffings.

Having a thorough knowledge of a project’s parameters is important to completing the work, as meeting deadlines has a direct correlation with the job’s costs. The soil test is particularly important because engineers sometimes need to modify their approach to the project once they know the conditions they will be facing.

Once a professional contractor begins to build a reputation for on-time delivery and the other benefits it affords, it moves them up a level in the metalforming industry to more difficult and demanding jobs.

Customer service is the most important aspect of any business. Delta Industrial strives to complete a project in the most cost-efficient and timely manner so that customers are satisfied, especially when it comes to complex foundation challenges—a Delta Industrial specialty.

A recent example is a two-story-deep press pit foundation designed and constructed for a top-tier automotive parts supplier. This supplier performs complex assemblies that comprise many components. It’s a world-class operation with top-of-the-line technical equipment that doesn’t perform without being girded by a world-class press pit foundation.

Engineering quality

Press pit foundations are an engineering feat unto themselves. Many things must be carefully calculated, such as the weight of the footings in relation to the weight of the press. Proper footings help modify shock loading and prevent the load from transferring up the structure to ensure a safe and stable facility.

With the ability to work directly with the manufacturer and customer, Delta uses the drawings of the newly acquired machine or press to generate a foundation specifically tailored to accommodate the equipment’s specialized needs.

Delta engineers examine all aspects of the job, from site drawings, soil borings and excavation drawing to determine what shoring is required and what other considerations are needed. This helps ensure a successful project that meets specific timelines, while careful budget considerations help keeps disruption and manufacturing downtime to a minimum.

For the automotive supplier’s project, Delta incorporated conveyor belts into the design to remove scrap metal so the stamping process wouldn’t have to be stopped to remove these pieces.

With jobs this big, there is always more in play than the press foundation. Scrap conveyor tunnels, slab on grade, utility trenches and flatwork are also part of the process. Nonetheless, Delta Industrial completed that job on time and within budget.

No matter how big or small the manufacturer or the specific challenges, having the engineering expertise to ensure the foundation design-build can handle the extreme pressure put on it to endure three-shift operations is critical. FFJ