The Effingham ADM facility was a two-year project, and Knobelsdorff had employees there for all but six months. We started with the underground work, which takes heavy planning but results in a cleaner facility. After pipes were in the ground, we came back later to install panels and pipe the motors and equipment. Next came lighting, safety features (fire extinguishers, etc.), and security components.
Automation was a central theme of the project, and each piece of equipment, sensor, and motor must be tested individually before handing over control to the automation company. Knobelsdorff worked closely with teams from Younglove Construction and WEM Automation to construct this industry leading, high-capacity facility.
KE also employed innovative processes to make the job as efficient as possible:
- We placed electrical rooms near the heaviest electrical loads throughout the facility to reduce lengths of wire runs and expedite the electrical installation.
- Innovative methods were employed to track the progress of each conduit installed, wires pulled/terminated and equipment commissioned in order to keep the project on schedule.
- During the electrical design, each conduit was assigned a unique number for the duration of the project. Details about the destination, size and wires were put onto electrical drawings, which was then used by installers. Wire was ordered by conduit number and arrived ready to be installed, terminated and tested. Tracking conduits this way led to increased clarity and productivity from electrical design to field installation.
