The Woggy Brace:
Gaining the Edge in Edge Formwork n
By Peter Dell’Erba
David and Goliath I remember as a kid reading a story in Sunday School about a young man named David who went out to fight one day against a giant named Goliath. As they faced each other in battle, all bets were on the big guy. Goliath was a beast of a man, a skilled warrior, and he was armed. David, on the other hand, had no armor and no experience in battle. Yet within a matter of minutes, before anyone knew what happened, David was walking away with the giant’s head in his hands. As a kid I thought it was a pretty cool story, but growing up I realized that there’s an incredible life lesson to learn from it; the match will always go to the one who sets the rules of the game. Goliath made the mistake of thinking that David had to fight him according to his terms. To Goliath, the battle would go to the strongest, to the best armed, and to the most experienced. But David refused to fight according to his opponent’s rules. David had some things that his opponent didn’t have; faith in his God, the ability to think outside the box, and an arm that could shut out the Yankees. David beat his enemy because he used his own unique strengths to gain leverage in the match. Goliath’s armor, strength, and fierce intimidation amounted to little as that stone sailed toward his head at 115 mph. Setting the Rules I think of Cianbro’s successes over the years and many of them took place because someone had the guts to set the rules. For instance, the rule used to be that only ship builders built ships. Cianbro successfully challenged that notion and now a whole new marine construction market has opened up to us. Another instance is the Summer Street Bridge Project, which was completed last fall in Kennebunk. The project team arrived on site with an aggressive schedule and only six weeks to build the bridge. Few thought it could be done without paying CIANBRO CHATTER
liquidated damages for finishing late. But with the resources and skill of the company at its disposal, the team completed the project in only five weeks, and a bonus was awarded for early completion! Those are just two examples, but the message is clear. Whenever we go after a project, we’re competitive and succeed when we think beyond the norm and use our strengths as leverage against the odds and against our competition. And, using Cianbro’s strengths to set the rules is what the Woggy Brace— and the success that it is slated to bring this great company—is all about.
Peter Dell’Erba (Left) and Paul Belanger with two Woggy Braces
What is a Woggy Brace? The Woggy Brace is an adjustable steel device developed by the Cianbro team. It is used to brace edge forms for small concrete placements such as slabson-grade, footings up to 24 inches tall, bridge decks, curbs, sidewalks, and precast segments. Its unique design allows it to anchor to a number of surfaces including compacted soil, plywood decks, and concrete slabs. Its turnbuckle mechanism allows for plumbing and aligning during placement. Not only does it attach to wood forms, it also attaches quickly and easily to our steel handset panels, making the modularization of much of our deck edge and footing formwork more feasible. Traditionally, this type of short form-
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work is supported using lumber cut into small pieces and nailed together in a triangular configuration to make a brace. These braces are typically set at two to three feet on center along the form panel. If you have a large bridge deck that you’re going to place, the number of braces you need can add up quickly. The cost for the lumber, fabrication, and fit up in the field, along with the waste disposal associated with these one-time use wooden braces can be very significant. This has always been a cost that we just considered the “rule of the game.” “The key to a tool like the Woggy Brace is that it is reusable, as well as being a time saver,” said, Thomas N. Floyd, Sr., concrete forming and shoring manager. “Time and again we evaluate cost strictly based on one-time use for a particular job and spend money with no return, rather than make an investment with the potential of saving cash dollars in wasted materials and reducing labor costs through increased productivity. The Woggy Brace will produce those returns as we set aside the skill saws and let our competitors purchase lumber, cut it, nail it, and throw it away job after job.” The Woggy Brace is Born The development of the Woggy Brace started about a year ago when Pete Vigue met with our formwork team to discuss the company’s performance in concrete operations. Pete challenged us to find new and innovative ways to execute our concrete forming and placing operations that would give us the edge we needed in this highly competitive edge formwork market. Later that year, Paul Belanger and I were working together on the barrier wall formwork for the I-295 Connector Project in Portland, Maine. We were discussing formwork bracing and the possibility of using adjustable steel braces. The following day Paul (also known as “Pauly-Wog” or “Woggy” by many team members) handed me a sketch of an idea he had for a brace using a steel channel and turnbuckles. I thought it was a great concept and saw the opportunity to meet the challenge Pete gave us months earlier. So, I took the idea and began the process of developing a brace SPRING 2005