Raising the Roof: IIA Solves Urgent Engineering Issue for Recycling Company

After placing an order for a key piece of large equipment, a major plastic recycling company in Canada realized too late that the new machine would not quite fit in its planned location. With decades of structural engineering experience, Industrial Inspection & Analysis (IIA) was called in to remedy the unusual situation.

The customer in this case recycles millions of pounds of material every week, so it was important to minimize downtime. A rapid response from IIA was critical to prepare the site for the new equipment, which was in transit from overseas at the time.

The new recycling equipment stands 18’ 7” tall; while the available headroom under the existing roof joists was just under 18’. IIA needed to come up with a plan to safely modify the existing roof framing to meet the minimum 19’ clearance required to install and service the new machine.

After a site visit to take measurements and collect data about the existing roof framing, our structural engineering experts performed the necessary calculations and analysis to design modifications to accommodate the new machine parameters — all within days of the original request.

IIA’s plan added 14” to existing conditions by replacing the existing roof joists with huge shoring jacks and new, shallower steel beams.

Within days of the original request, IIA had delivered a shop drawing package ready for fabrication, allowing the construction contractor to work over the weekend to prepare the building.

In the end, the building was ready when the new machine arrived and the project came to a happy conclusion for all parties involved. IIA was proud to be part of this team effort to resolve an urgent and unusual problem.

This example is a classic case of how IIA’s engineering expertise, responsive customer service and tailor-made solutions have made us the industry leader we are today.