Export Dock Maintenance & Millwright Services

Omega Morgan’s experienced millwright services team was called on to complete a project that required extremely efficient planning, scheduling, and monitoring to safely manage and complete in a narrow timeframe.

This project, completed for a valuable client in the grain export industry, combined annual dock and ship loader maintenance with installing a new catwalk on the ship loader.

Timing was of the essence. Many of the project’s tasks were interrelated. Some were dependent on the completion of others before they could begin. Each task was handled both individually and strategically as it related to others, in order to complete the entire millwright services project in a timely and effective manner.

Planning to Meet Millwright Services Project Challenges

Our client had to completely shut down their dock and ship loader while the project was underway. This made their production levels vulnerable to delay. Even the slightest setback could result in serious time and profit losses for the client.

The millwright services team considered the project’s constraints and dependencies as well as any internal and external factors that may affect them during an initial planning phase that included:

• Identifying the time, manpower and equipment resources required to complete each task
• Identifying and eliminating any resource and scheduling issues
• Conceptualizing the steps required for the best possible outcome
• Defining the order for carrying out specific tasks
• Sequencing dependent tasks to use time efficiently and avoid unnecessary delays
• Establishing workable contingency plans prior to starting work

The Efficient and Timely Completion

The success of this millwright services project hinged on our team’s ability to develop a plan that factored in all of the elements listed above to form a clear and precise project timeline.

During the project’s planning phase, our millwright services team called on their collective wealth of knowledge and experience to develop a precise schedule for getting the project’s tasks done on time without compromising safety or quality.

As the project moved forward, the project manager and crew members on site monitored the progress of each task to actively identify any potential issues. Contingency plans were already in place if needed.

Omega Morgan’s extensive inventory of industrial lifting and maintenance equipment also played a critical role in meeting the time constraints of this project. Using the equipment listed, our team successfully met specific needs of the project – such as the need to maneuver heavy materials and equipment in narrow areas – efficiently and effectively:

• A 100-ton barge-mounted derrick crane
• A materials barge with a tugboat
• Two 150-foot manlifts
• A 12K reach forklift
• Diesel welders

With our professional equipment and skilled crew members at the ready and a carefully considered strategic plan in place, we completed the entire project in two weeks. During that time, our millwright services team performed these tasks:

• Replaced custom-fabricated machinery rails and floor deck plates
• Removed damaged diamond-plate decking, damaged rails, shims and anchor bolts
• Core drilled at four locations to create floor drains for wash down, deck and rail channels
• Fabricated and installed new cross member to stabilize rails
• Replaced four shipping spout hoists and scoping wire ropes
• Rotated upper and lower spout pipes
• Replaced telescoping spout pipe guide rollers
• Inspected all hoist and scoping wire rope sheaves, winch and drive motors and couplings
• Replaced various wire rope sheaves and block gang sheaves and bearings
• Inspected pivot pins and slewing gear
• Inspected dock and fender system bumpers and anchors
• Designed, built and installed new catwalks

In the end, each interrelated and dependent task was completed on time for the next one to begin without a hitch. Our extensive planning resulted in the successful completion of a project that flowed smoothly from start to finish. Our efficient teamwork avoided potential costly delays. Our client quickly returned to operating at full capacity with a well-maintained dock and ship loader that now includes a new, safe and stable catwalk.