Recycling Diaries...

03 September, 2007

Constructing new plant for a waste operation is never going to go without a glitch but when the container holding your US manufactured screen gets delayed in New York, the concrete base holding the old screen turns out to be lower than the rest of the site, and there is not enough room to swing an installation team, you wonder what else is in the offing. Andrew Hewitt explains in his latest Recycling Diaries column.

SB Waste’s Wolverhampton waste operation has got to be one of the busiest in the UK. So when two mistakes threw a spanner in the works of our well-organised timeline for starting to construct our new plant last month, there was complete pandemonium on-site when the installation team and the first bits of the plant started to turn up.

Rewind two weeks and everything seems to be going to plan. Then I changed my mind about the conveyor. It needed a greater turning area between the picking station and the fines line, I thought, so I decided to extend the main conveyor to allow this to happen.

Part way through this first delay – which admittedly was my fault – we got news from the US that the container with the Action taper lock screen in it was mishandled at the docks in New York. In short it had been knocked off and was wedged. Luckily, Action were on top of it and repositioned the container. It was back on the ship within three days.

So, here we are two weeks late in starting to construct the plant and all hell is breaking loose. Vehicle movements and tipping mean that every square inch of the site is used. There’s hardly ever a quiet moment and everything that comes in has to be dealt with very quickly. Add us to the equation and by the end of the first week I was beginning to wish we'd never bothered.

First mistake I made – second one is somewhere in the pipeline I’m sure – was trying to appease both sides by leaving the old Viper plant in position as long as possible. Promising the installation team that the old plant would be gone and out of the way and SB that it could work the old plant until the last available minute was not the best move.

Sometimes in life you just have to upset somebody!

A cursory glance determined that we could shift the old plant in a day. Fortunately the screen and conveyor did come out quite easily and gave us enough room to start but the picking station proved to be more difficult. The next hurdle to overcome was to cordon off the area of the site where we are working.

With every site the health and safety of the people working there is of paramount importance so rather than use a standard fencing arrangement we shut the yard off with a wall of skips. Should misjudgement occur with one of the loading shovels it could be through the fence and creating havoc in a second. A line of skips full of hardcore makes this much harder to happen.

It was a conscious decision to start at the picking station end. It meant we were working in an area least likely to cause disruption to the site operation. If we completed the picking station first, the building team could move in and start on the cover and concrete walls, while the plant team moved onto another section of the steel work.

However, when the Viper screen was moved it uncovered a section of the concrete floor that was lower than the rest of the site. It was something no-one could have foreseen without moving the old plant, and you can't do that just for a site survey.

Extensions for some of the picking station legs had to be made PDQ. This in turn meant we couldn’t position the picking station accurately and we couldn't build too much weight onto the structure before is was in its final operating position. Yet more delay.

Another diversion from plan ‘A’ came on the civil engineering side. Because of the site layout it was impossible to start the concrete pad for the screen until the old Viper plant was out of the way.

Our plans had been revised to accommodate at least a two-week delay with the screen. However, it turned out to be less than a week so the screen arrived before the concrete pad had cured.

It was really nothing more than a slight hitch but when you’ve spent so long planning everything and you have it all worked out so perfectly, with the timing of each phase set out like a military campaign, it can be exceptionally frustrating when it doesn't run smoothly!

Moving towards the end of week two and I started to see light at the end of the tunnel. The extensions for the picking station legs were delivered on Friday so we could start to get on with finishing that part of the plant. We now have a large blue structure appearing in one corner of the yard.

The footings were done and the rebar was placed for the screen base. The screen was delivered on Saturday morning, causing the minimum of disruption to SB’s business. So by the end of week two we were really moving forward.

Most of all I get the distinct impression we are now working as a team. It has taken its time but I think it’s getting there. And this is an achievement given the number of companies involved over the six to seven week construction project.

The main contractor is Orthos Projects who is building the conveyors, steelwork and overseeing the installation. Installation Services is building the plant, while the civils are being done by Fellows Engineering. I’m stuck in the middle of it all.

When the electricians and the belt vulcanisers turn up in a couple of weeks, the party will be complete. And let’s not forget SB. Its business generates the income to pay for the work.

I’m fully aware of the problems we are causing SB and just as importantly, its workers. Firms looking at taking on big projects like this would do well to remember the human factor, as responses to the work can be mixed.

Very few people like change. Driver Joe, for example, parks his truck in that corner of the yard and has done so for the past two years. Now there’s a picking station there and it gets his back up.

Also, because of our presence at SB some of the bigger trucks have to do a double shunt to get off the weighbridge, and this doesn’t go down well.

Then there is the matter of one section of the team feeling their contribution is more important than another, which can also lead to unrest in the camp.

And when the area for the screen concrete is marked out and washes off in the overnight rain and has to be done again because the civil engineers were delayed and couldn’t get there, the team spirit is inclined to wane.

These may sound like small issues but they need working through. The human factors hit the bottom line. Some multi-national companies spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants guiding their staff through such trying periods but most in waste need to get by with a please, a thank-you and “Don't be such an arse”. We are no different.

Only time will tell if it works. One of the young lads who works in the picking station – he is currently temporarily displaced and sorting out in the yard – came up to me the other day and said, “It’s going to be f’ing great when it’s finished ain’t it.” That’s just the attitude we’re looking for. Long may it continue.

Next issue we will be up and running with the difficult task organising the site around the plant and making the plant work to the best of its ability. More change I’m afraid.

Andrew: 07773 715882