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New High-Tech Plant Replaces Talladega Mill By Eric Olson
After 10 years away, Georgia-Pacific is back in Talladega — a proud development for both the company and those who live in the small town renowned nationally for its rich auto-racing history. Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific, one of the world’s largest paper and lumber manufacturers, is closing in on completing the construction of a new facility in Talladega, the eighth in Alabama to produce products for the company. The approximately $115 million lumber plant is replacing a G-P plywood mill that first opened in 1975 before being closed in 2008. Georgia-Pacific expects to directly employ more than 120 people at the new mill, with many more people to benefit from working with G-P’s support businesses around the area. The other seven facilities in Alabama account for approximately 2,300 employees and 8,600 indirect jobs, according to Rick Kimble, a spokesman for G-P.
CEG CORRESPONDENT
A Fast-Track Building Project The building effort was put on a relatively fast-track late last summer so that it could begin operating by the first week of August 2018. The new state-of-the-art lumber processing facility will encompass several structures totaling roughly 300,000 sq. ft. They are designed, when fully operational in January, to accept approximately 200 truckloads of raw, Southern Yellow Pine logs every day. The result will be see PLANT page 6
Rick Wilson, a G-P regional engineer, has worked full-time on the project for the last year.
JCB Dealer Provides Start-Up for Vestavia Hills Contractor Patrick McAlister, owner of McAlister Grading Company in the Birmingham, Ala., suburb of Vestavia Hills, said that since he was a kid, he’s been obsessed with heavy equipment. He fueled his obsession by working on a construction site while earning his bachelor’s degree at Auburn. After college, he built houses in Birmingham. When he got married, his wife encouraged him to follow this passion and start his own business. That was the start of McAlister Grading Company. “It all started with me and a rental machine just over four years ago, and work has pretty much doubled every year since. We’ve been fortunate,” said McAlister. The company now specializes in grading, excavation and demolition primarily for the residential market and some commercial projects, traditionally in the role of subcontractor for most of their projects. At the core of the company, and the reason this endeavor started and flourished, are leased and purchased JCB machines from local JCB dealer, JCB of
Alabama. This small company, though less than five years old, is growing rapidly. Its fleet currently consists of three excavators (a 48Z, 85Z and JS 131, respectively), a JCB 320T compact track loader — all owned by McAlister Grading — and several rentals. All of these machines are from JCB of Alabama. “My first exposure to the JCB line was when the owner, Mark Long [of JCB of Alabama], set me up with a JCB 8045 mini-excavator on a rental,” McAlister said. “Shortly thereafter, we purchased a JCB 85Z excavator, and every year since, we’ve added another JCB machine to our fleet. As a matter of fact, soon after the purchase of the 85Z was when we added the JCB 320T compact track loader. “What impressed me was their service and the fact that the JCB products economically fell into the price range where I didn’t feel like I was overextending myself on the price,” McAlister added. “I was impressed with see VESTAVIA page 2
A McAlister Grading machine operator clears debris on a job site using a JCB 8035 ZTS.
Page 2 • June 20, 2018 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Alabama State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide
McAlister Grading Relies on JCB of Alabama Machines, Service VESTAVIA from page 1
the new generation products from JCB and the ergonomics of the machines were great. For my purposes, the size of the 85Z excavator is compact enough for small residential projects but has the ability to do larger-sized projects as well. The same holds true for the JCB 131 excavator I purchased. I looked at 160 and 200 class machines, but these machines were a bit too big to cover our entire spectrum of work. This 131 has big power with extreme versatility.” McAlister said he’s been working with Mark Long and Mark McCarty ever since he started his business and has relied on their company for all of his service work. He stated that their service staff is readily available and can have him back and running in a shorter amount of time than if he had his own personnel perform the work themselves. “It’s been a very good relationship,” McAlister said, “I remember one day we had a shattered windshield on one of the JCB machines. We called JCB of Alabama around 5 p.m. and they had the windshield replaced by 7:30 the next morning before a rainstorm came through. That’s service.” The overall assessment of the machines by McAlister includes great fuel economy compared to others he had run prior to starting his own business. Additionally, McAlister finds JCB machines to be easy to
Patrick McAlister (L) speaks with JCB of Alabama Sales Representative Mark McCarty at the job site near Birmingham, Ala.
maintain and generally very versatile. “They’re easy to get service for and the parts are readily available,” McAlister said.
“But mainly, they have a sized machine that fits every aspect of what we do without having to buy multiple machines. One JCB
A McAlister Grading JCB JS 131LC excavator is at work on a job site in Trussville, Ala.
machine can do a broad range of work for us. “The purchase process has always been easy,” McAlister added. “I asked what the price was on my first JCB machine, signed some papers and ended up purchasing on the spot. Now anytime I need something I just call them up and tell them what I want, they order it, I’m done.” The operator comfort also has been great for McAlister. He and his crew are all machine operators and have all been impressed with the cab size. And the visibility, especially with the compact track loader, has been a huge hit as well. “Sales and support staff for JCB of Alabama have been great,” McAlister said. “There are times when I’m stretched thin and need a machine to complete a job; if they have it, they’ll send it or I’ll go pick it up right away. They’re always available, and their mechanics are answering our calls on the weekends.” McAlister also recalled a particular challenge solved by JCB products. “We had a demolition one time that was on a tiny lot,” he said. “Large platform machines could never get to the house. Our JCB 85 got in and tore down the house, the footings and foundation without encroaching on the neighbors’ properties or swinging into the trees or other houses.” JCB technologies that impressed McAlister include the JCB 131 excavator. He was pleased to discover that although it is a new machine, it does not require diesel exhaust fluid and does not have a particulate filter. “Other competitive machines that I priced out required one or the other,” he said. “I think the savings and not having something more to be concerned about, without compromising performance, was a win-win.” About JCB of Alabama, McAlister said, “They’re probably the most dependable I’ve dealt with. There’s always service after the sale. They don’t keep you hanging. They always check in to make sure everything is good and see if we need anything. They’re readily available anytime day-or-night. They seem to be more interested in seeing your business grow than trying to simply sell a machine, and certainly not to upsell you on something you don’t need, which is one reason I continue to do business with them. “I’ve been to the JCB plant in Savannah, Ga., and I’ve met with some of the regional guys when they’ve been in town. They’re very knowledgeable and ask for my feedback about the machines. I feel like JCB is really in tune with their customers’ needs,” McAlister added. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) CEG
Construction Equipment Guide • Alabama State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • June 20, 2018 • Page 3
Construction Equipment Guide • Alabama State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • June 20, 2018 • Page 5
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Page 6 • June 20, 2018 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Alabama State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide
Georgia-Pacific Returns to Talladega With New Plant PLANT from page 1
that the lumber mill will produce 300 million board ft. of lumber per year. When finished, the lumber plant will be one of the largest such facilities in the Southeast. Almost a year ago, Rick Wilson, a G-P regional engineer, arrived in Talladega to be the company’s project manager. Once there, he started working full-time putting plans together and doing the preliminary engineering. Last September, he oversaw the demolition of many of the derelict structures left from the old plant, a task that lasted until this past February. “We sold a lot of the old equipment, moved 12 million pounds of scrap out of here and hauled off a few hundred truckloads of debris,” Wilson said. “The main building housing the old plywood plant was a little over 200,000 square feet. We saved twothirds of that structure, some of the old office buildings and some peripheral stuff. The other third of that main building just wasn’t suitable for the equipment we were planning to install.” By October, new structural steel and machinery shipments began arriving in Talladega, allowing Wilson and his crews to begin some assembly of the lumber-processing equipment, out of the way of the earthmoving that had started. The Bid Group, a Canadian construction company respected for its well-built manufacturing facilities for forestry products, is the prime contractor on the new G-P facility. As expected, many local and regional companies are working as sub-contractors on the huge lumber plant construction. For instance, Wilson said Addison Grading in Conyers, Ga. and Waites Construction & Concrete in Talladega teamed up to do all the earthmoving and concrete work. Dirt began moving in October when crews removed about 10,000 yd. of topsoil from the plant’s generally flat acreage in an area
where G-P wanted to build new kilns and lumber-storage sheds. That material was set aside to be replaced by about 75,000 yd. of fill to raise the ground up to the level of the rest of the mill. “The weather was a huge problem in the fall trying to get our dirt work completed and working to keep 75,000 yards of fill dry when it would rain every other day,” Wilson said. He added that another challenge is the project’s “very aggressive construction schedule.” “My thought coming into this job was ‘Well, 90 percent of this job is turn-key because The Bid Group is building it and supplying the sawmill machinery, so my job will be relatively easy,’ but trying to keep the other 10 percent going fast enough and keep out of their way has been an enjoyable challenge,” he said. January Saw Work Begin to Ramp Up The builders received their air permit just before Christmas, which then allowed them to begin doing concrete work and erecting structures. Actual building began January 3 with crews installing rebar in the ground and putting forms up before the first concrete pour two days later, Wilson said. By mid-Spring, 150 to 200 construction workers could be seen working on any given day. “It is moving so fast that when I go out there it looks different each time,” he said in early May. “There is always a steady stream of concrete trucks coming in and steel being erected. Most of the operating machinery is in place, too, with some of it having already been powered up for testing purposes.” The Georgia-Pacific site sits on approximately 90 acres, with 45 to 50 acres of it planned for active use. Some of the unused acreage is natural, but the company owns 170 acres in total, both at the plant and across the street. The additional land could be used,
if needed, in the future, Wilson said. The Talladega facility recently got another $15 million for additional expansion, with a fourth of that amount to go toward concrete work for log storage, as well as more scales to accommodate logging trucks. “Even after we begin running production in August, we will not be 100 percent done with building the plant,” Wilson said. “For instance, our initial funding was for two kilns, so with our start-up kiln we are going to be running several months on one shift, then we will put the second shift on in the fall, meaning the second kiln does not have to be ready immediately. “The new money that was approved also includes funding for a third lumber kiln, which I don’t anticipate needing until early next year. We will start that construction in the fall.” A variety of different-sized heavy equipment and cranes have been used to move materials, erect structures and lift heavy pieces of manufacturing equipment onto the new plant floor. “If I were to go out there right now, I could probably count around 60 pieces of mobile equipment that construction crews are using, between earthmoving equipment and manlifts and cranes, extended boom forklifts, one 30,000-pound forklift to move heavy stuff. Obviously, the various subs all bring their pieces, but I would think that most are rented locally from places like United Rental.” He added that unlike many wood plants that use cranes to handle raw logs, G-P prefers to use Cat 988 wheel loaders to do the job. Sawmills Have Gone High-Tech But, the intricacies of just how the lumber mill processes the seemingly endless stream of logs coming into the plant is key. At multiple points through the process, starting with tree-length logs, each one will go through a laser scanner that develops a three-dimensional picture of the log to deter-
mine how best to cut it to get the most value from the lumber. It then automatically moves the log through a saw to cut it to a 20-ft. lumber length. Another 3-D scanner passes over it in a tenth of a second to allow a computer to again consider — in more than 100,000 different ways, Wilson said — what the best way is to get maximum value from the wood piece. Even if the log is curved, the high-tech machinery can figure how to saw it properly so that at least part of the lumber can be laid flat and make for a good product. After getting run through continuous kilns that warm and cool the logs to turn out a high-quality piece of lumber, the wood then passes into the planer mill to allow it to cool for a day before going into the planer itself to square up the boards to a finished surface. “From there, we use probably the most sophisticated technology in the plant, which is the wood grader,” Wilson said. “It looks at each of the 150 boards running through it per minute with lasers and TV cameras to determine its grade and how to trim it. It can determine if, say, a brown discoloration on a board is part of the grain, or is rot, or is really a knot, and if it is the latter, it measures that knot quicker than in a blink of the eye.” He continued by explaining that the grade of the board is based on the volume of the knot, not the surface area, and how close that knot is to the edge of the wood, which could impact the board’s strength. The grader may decide to cut the board into different lengths to get the better value for G-P. All of these valuations and determinations are made in mere milliseconds. From there the lumber is sorted, packaged and hauled away to flatbed trucks or to the two rail lines that run by the plant site (a CFX line tracks on one side and a NorfolkSouthern on the other). (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) CEG
New Fultondale High School to Be Built in Central Alabama FULTONDALE, Ala. (AP) A new high school will be built in central Alabama. The new school in Fultondale is part of Jefferson County Board of Education’s $200 million capital outlay plan, Al.com reported. The school system announced in September plans to build new schools and conduct major renovations on nine others in the next three years. The new Fultondale High
School will cost around $38.5 million. The site of the school has not been confirmed. Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery said the high school is the oldest in the county. The school was built in 1967. “I feel very positive that all of the children that attend our school in Fultondale will be in a new facility,’’ he said. “That is very important to me. We are behind when it
comes to technology and the type facilities that education is in now in other communities.’’ Jefferson County Board of Education President Oscar Mann said there is no intent to merge schools from Fultondale and Gardendale. The county is also considering renovating the current Fultondale High School for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, which
is currently housed at Pleasant Grove. The county’s plans were contingent on a U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on whether Gardendale could form its own school system. The court denied Gardendale’s request on Feb. 13. Gardendale announced two weeks later that it would cease its efforts to start a school system. Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Craig Pouncey
said if the plans for Fultondale are approved by the court, he didn’t know when construction could start. He said the first project to be built will be the expansion and renovation of the Grantswood Elementary School in the Irondale area. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) CEG
Construction Equipment Guide • Alabama State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • June 20, 2018 • Page 7
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Page 8 • June 20, 2018 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Alabama State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide