Bierlein Companies

Midland, Michigan

Project Activity Posts

Electrolux Facility Demolition Finished

Posted by: Bierlein Companies | Sep, 23rd

Project: Electrolux Facility Demolition

Bierlein concluded with the demolition of the world's largest refrigerator plant located in Greenville, Michigan in 2008. In addition to demolition, the project included asbestos and lead abatement, asset recovery, metal and wood recycling, as well as site remediation of the 1.7 million square foot plant. Bierlein recycled over 15,000 tons of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap materials. Nearly 200,000 board feet of century-old white pine lumber was shipped to New England for transformation into coveted 12" white pine plank flooring. Even though this was not a designated LEED project, Bierlein also recycled more that 97% of the plant - a whopping 22% higher than required for USGBC LEED silver certification.

During the duration of the project Bierlein used 12 Caterpillar excavators, including 312's, 320s, 330s, 345s and 375s. The attachments used included buckets, grapples, hydraulic hammers, shears, universal processors and magnets. Some challenges that came with the project were the 17 different types of construction in the complex. "The original structure was solid wood, some were solid concrete, and there was a combination of pre-fabricated steel buildings, steel and concrete, wood and concrete, and just about any combination that you could imagine," Patrick Wurtzel Vice President of Operations, said.  "It affected the manner in which we demolished the buildings as we progressed with demolishing the structures. Some types were extremely difficult to demolish, and with others we had to be careful that the building did not collapse prior to the time we wanted it to."

The project was completed without any safety incidents - not even a band-aid! Over 22,000 man-hours were logged to complete the project, which represented only 70% of the hours anticipated to complete. Wurtzel credited the flexibility of using multiple attachments on the wide array of excavators for the labor reduction. "Anytime we can utilize a piece of equipment to keep our employees out of harm's way, we take advantage of the opportunity" Wurtzel stated. "The days of men climbing on structures and over piles of scrap steel with cutting torches are thankfully long gone".

The completed site is more reminiscent of the Flat River banks found by John Green of Fulton County, New York back in 1844 than the world's largest refrigerator plant seen here less than two years ago. The new occupants of the land, white tail deer and ring neck pheasants, would undoubtedly agree.

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Projects

Electrolux Facility Demolition

Greenville, Michigan

Demolition