PADNOS SHREDDER PLANT
Location: 645 Lucy Road - Howell, MI
Concrete Contractor: Granger Construction
Concrete Supplier: High-Grade Materials
Material Supplier: GMB A/E
Owner: Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Co.
Granger Construction has been working to build a brand-new $12-million metal shredder and recycling center for Padnos, a West Michigan-based industrial recycling company. In addition to the 9,000-square-foot powerhouse building that supports a 5,000 hp shredder, the project also involves foundations for the downstream process equipment and sorting bins along with extensive site development on the 60-acre parcel.
This industrial project had numerous unique specifications to ensure superior quality within the concrete slabs and walls. Some unique elements of this project included:
- 48” thick elevated structural slab to support the heavy shredder equipment.
- Highly technical embed/anchor bolt placement to accept process equipment, which required close coordination with equipment suppliers to ensure alignment of support concrete.
- 90,000 square feet of 8” concrete site pavement.
- Use of custom prefabricated steel wall forms to provide added longevity to the concrete storage bins.
Early project planning required thoughtful coordination to develop the most efficient flow of work, and Granger’s concrete expertise was evident during this process. The project team also displayed a high level of flexibility and ingenuity as it had to continually adapt to changes and re-sequence portions of the work due to permit issues, vendor equipment/system design delays as well as delays in receiving the owner-supplied prefabricated wall forms.
Granger utilized the owner’s own custom-designed steel forms for placing the concrete walls for the bins that hold the final recycling material until it is transported offsite. Padnos fabricates these 20’ long x 10’ high x ¼” thick forms in-house using recycled steel from a combination of sources, including its own recycling plants. Once delivered to the site, Granger installed the forms and Padnos crews welded the seams together prior to Granger filling them with concrete.
Once filled, the steel forms are left in place as part of the finished wall to provide added structural support for the bins, which undergo significant wear and tear from heavy equipment such as front-end loaders, crawler cranes, magnet cranes, and skid steers. Replacing concrete from this type of abuse is an ongoing battle within the recycling and other industrial industries, and this is just one innovative solution Padnos has adopted to help extend the life of these concrete walls.
This project involved the construction of two concrete radius walls, including one that is 51” thick to support the plant’s radial stacker conveyor that sits on top of the wall and rolls side to side depositing a specific type of scrap metal into the nearby storage bins. The outside face of this wall is 130 LF and the inside face is 119 LF. This wall stands 6'-5'' tall with a 3' curb on top, making the total height over 9', which required pans to be stacked and hand set.
The sorting bin walls were also difficult to pour due to the number of embeds used and their weight/size, with each being at least 1” thick. These metal embeds, strategically placed prior to the pour, help transmit the structural load of the concrete and also serve as connections to help anchor the prefabricated steel forms that were used. Placing the embeds was a key part of constructing these walls as they had to be placed within a 1/8” tolerance to ensure they met the owner’s specifications.
The completion of this project will enable Padnos to shred/recycle 1,000 tons of steel per day which then gets re-melted down in various locations in the Midwest to be used for numerous products.
