Industry News, trenchless people
Longtime underground construction and trenchless industry professional Davis Yates passed away Tuesday, July 2, 2019 at the age of 51. Through his career Yates worked at trenchless equipment manufacturer TT Technologies, Aurora, Ill., Mocon Corp., Southern California HDPE pipe, fitting and fusion supplier Maskell-Robbins, as well as a variety trenchless and underground contractors along the West Coast.
Yates trained many people throughout his career in the proper use of various boring, tools, pipe rammers and pipe bursting systems. He was an energetic and innovative individual whose way of getting the job done was very much appreciated by those he worked with over the years.
Always an innovator, always creative and always seeing the job through, he became great friends with many of the people he worked with in the field and will be missed by many.
Yates leaves behind two children, Jenna, 13 and Marcus, 11. A Go Fund Me page has been established to help with the expenses of his children’s future education, as well as the planting of a remembrance tree. Donations will be placed into a savings plan for both Jenna and Marcus.
The Go Fund Me Page can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jenna-and-marcus-dad
Industry News, trenchless people
PELLA, IA – Recently, Vermeer Corporation held the groundbreaking for a monument commemorating the buildings destroyed by an EF3 tornado last July (2018), while celebrating the strength of the Vermeer team and the growth and progress that is happening along the Vermeer Mile.
“The tornado was the greatest challenge Vermeer has ever faced. I am incredibly proud to say our team has turned it into an opportunity. Not only are we rebuilding what we had, but we’re becoming stronger than ever before,” said President and CEO Jason Andringa.
With three new facilities underway at the Pella-based headquarters, Vermeer is investing heavily in the future.
The first facility scheduled to open this summer is a new engineering and R&D building named Shop 48. The name stems from Founder Gary Vermeer’s shop where his innovations came to life and led to the founding of Vermeer Corporation in 1948. With more than 100,000 square feet of space dedicated to building and testing new equipment, team members will begin to move into this space in August.
“We’re very fortunate at Vermeer to have a 71-year history of innovation. Shop 48 will take our innovation and growth opportunities long into the future,” said President of Industrial Solutions Doug Hundt.
Plant 7 was formally announced as the new facility being built where Plants 5 & 6 once stood. Nearly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space will expand beyond the original manufacturing footprint that took up just less than 400,000 square feet of this area. The new facility will connect to the original Plant 7 that was damaged in the tornado but repaired in the months following. Together, they will take on the name Plant 7. Scheduled to be completed in fall 2020, this facility is being built to keep team members safe at every touchpoint on the job, create ultimate productivity, be a collaborative and engaging space for team members and allow for growth long into the future. Incorporating advanced manufacturing techniques and continuous improvement best practices will help drive world-class manufacturing. “Looking ahead, this facility is going to be world-class in every feature. We’re advancing our paint technology, coat technology and the space for our team,” said Vice President of Operations Bill Blackorby.
Also recognized was the new Eco Center. Replacing the one lost in the tornado, the new building will be placed behind Plant 1 and open its doors in January 2020. The Eco-Center helps responsibly process and manage waste along the Mile.
“Our customers depend on our ability to get high-quality equipment to them – this new facility makes us excited to continue to deliver on this promise into the future,” said Executive Vice President of Forage and Lifecycle and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Core.
About Vermeer Corporation
Vermeer delivers a real impact in a progressing world through the manufacture of high-quality agricultural, underground construction, surface mining, tree care and environmental equipment. With a reputation for durability and reliability, that equipment is backed by localized customer service and support provided by independent dealers around the world. To learn more about Vermeer, products, the dealer network and financing options, visit Vermeer.com.
Industry News, trenchless people
The NASTT Trenchless Family has lost friend and colleague, Tom Perry, a member of the Northeast Regional Chapter Board of Directors.
Thomas Perry of Mt. Olive Township, NJ passed away Friday July 26, 2019 at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown after a short illness. He was 58.
Tom was born in Pequannock, NJ and lived in Mt. Olive Township for 21 years.
A graduate of Pequannock High School and Montclair State University, Tom was the owner of Multi Utilities Ventures in Mt. Olive Township.
Beloved husband of Jean (nee: Miller) Perry. Devoted father of Erin and Megan Perry. Loving son of Doris (nee: Peacock) Perry and the late Raymond Perry. Dear brother of Jim Perry, Peggy Perry, Doreen Sprules , Mary Beth Wyant , Jean Wallace, Michele Bucek, the late Lee Perry, Ricky Perry, Linda Perry and Janice Moebius. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.
We would like to extend our condolences to the Perry Family and to the many friends in our industry that loved Tom.
Memorial donations may be made to the National Pancreatic Cancer Fund, PO Box 1848, Longmont, CO 80502.
Industry News, trenchless people
The trenchless industry lost a founding member with the recent passing on July 8 of James (Jim) Barbera at the age of 79. James Barbera founded Barbco Inc. in 1989. Today, the company leads the auger-boring industry with equipment that promotes safety and efficiency, such as the TriBor, Flexbor and Pathfinder.
In November of last year, the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) at Louisiana Tech University honored James and his brother Leo with lifetime achievement awards for their contributions to the trenchless industry. During the award celebration TTC also unveiled the Barbera Underground Infrastructure Research and Training (BUIRT) Facility. Named in honor of the Barbera family, this state-of-the-art facility will offer research, training and development for the trenchless technology industry.
Barbco has been a generous supporter of NASTT and the trenchless industry throughout the years and their involvement has been very important to us. We send our condolences to the Barbera Family and the team at Barbco.
Image: Jim Barbera and his wife Fran
Industry News, trenchless products
Project Profile:
Salt Lake City Public Utilities is increasing capacity and upgrading a portion of their sanitary sewer collection system from 1500 S – 2700 W to Redwood Road. The project bid in January 2019 and Whitaker Construction was selected as the low bidder. BTrenchless Inc. was awarded the grade-critical tunneled crossing of I-215, a major interstate in Salt Lake City. The tunnel was designed as a 466LF long, 48″ diameter steel casing with a future 30″ HOBAS carrier pipe skid in it afterwards. BTrenchless decided to upsize the casing to 51″ diameter to match the dimensions of their Akkerman SL51 Microtunnel Boring Machine (MTBM). The center of the tunnel was about 7FT below the water table with extremely soft soil consisting of lean clay, fat clay, and silty sand. This type of ground water and soil condition suits itself well for a MTBM installation method.
During design the team discovered an old as-built drawing of a now abandoned 12″ diameter concrete pipe in the path of the tunnel at approximately 320LF out. A series of GBM pilot tubes were installed ahead of the 51″ diameter tunnel launch in an attempt to proof the drive and find this pipe. Two of the
four pilot tube drives were deflected in this area; indicating that something was out there. After lots of internal discussions the decision was made to carry on with the original design and attempt to tunnel through this questionable area at 320LF out. While carefully tunneling through this area, a large pocket of river rock was discovered, but no remnants of any concrete pipe were ever found. This was great news for the project team. The end result was a successfully installed 51″ casing under I-215 for Salt Lake City Public Utilities, allowing Whitaker Construction to continue on with their project as planned.
Photos: Morty the Tunnel Rat and two members of the BTrenchless Crew getting ready for an Akkerman MTBM launch.
Industry News, trenchless people, trenchless products
PELLA, Iowa, – With 24 locations throughout Michigan and Indiana, MacAllister Rentals, the region’s authorized CAT Rental Store, rents, sells, and services a wide range of high-quality equipment from Caterpillar and over 50 other manufacturers. As a part of the Indiana-based and family-owned MacAllister Machinery, MacAllister Rentals has an impeccable reputation for supplying contractors with first class service, in-depth technical knowledge, and top-notch equipment including the Vermeer Vac-Tron Series trailer vacs.
Project Challenge
The team at MacAllister Rental wanted to offer customers with an effective soft excavation method that would deliver outstanding productivity safely. They were familiar with vacuum excavators but wanted to find an equipment partner that manufactured quality machines that were easy to operate and efficient to run.
Solution
MacAllister Rental added Vac-Tron vacs to its fleet eight years ago. Since then, rental demand for these machines has increased significantly, and the rental store has continued to grow its fleet of Vac-Tron vacs. “We feel that CAT is the leader in the hydraulic excavator industry and the Vac-Tron series trailer vac is an industry leader in the vacuum excavator industry, so it fits very well with what we are trying to accomplish,” said Dan Hickman, district sales manager.
According to Chad Brogan, a sales representative with MacAllister Rental, most of their customers use Vac-Tron vacs for precise excavation when conventional excavation is not able to be used. “We have also found other uses for the Vac-Tron vacs with construction and foundation cleanup after heavy rains. It was a no brainer to add it to our fleet because we want to provide the best solutions for our customers,” he added.
Results
“Customers have commented that when they have these on their jobsites, they really have a vacuum, pressure washer, and an air compressor all built into one piece of equipment,” explained Hickman. “I can’t say it enough; contractors can be much more efficient using Vac-Tron vacs than other excavation methods when working around fiber optics, gas or water lines, as well as near foundations and wells. All that material gets sucked up into a self-contained unit, and they can dispose of it where they want to. Our customers get a cleaner jobsite, the job gets done faster with a lot fewer people, so it makes them money,” he concluded.
Learn more about Vac-Tron by visiting vactron.com.
Longtime underground construction and trenchless industry professional Davis Yates passed away Tuesday, July 2, 2019 at the age of 51. Through his career Yates worked at trenchless equipment manufacturer TT Technologies, Aurora, Ill., Mocon Corp., Southern California HDPE pipe, fitting and fusion supplier Maskell-Robbins, as well as a variety trenchless and underground contractors along the West Coast.
