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DuroTerra Dialogue: Ductile Iron Piles – Supporting the Speed of E-Commerce

June 29, 2021

Ductile Iron Piles – Supporting the Speed of E-Commerce

Even before the Pandemic, construction of warehousing and distribution centers was on fire. These industry sectors have continued to explode with so many U.S. households now relying on e-commerce more than ever. This trend is not likely to diminish even as the Pandemic moves into the rear-view mirror. New warehousing space, new distribution centers, and structural renovations to existing facilities dominate construction across the country. With surging demand, speed of construction is critical to getting these projects completed on schedule and operational.

FAST. SIMPLE. SAFE. This is where Ductile Iron Piles can help. Production rates often range from 500 to more than 1,200 LF or more per crew day. The speed of installation is 2 to 3 times the rate of traditional drilled micropiles. Plus, the simple Plug and Drive, low vibration installation process provides project teams with a better option when working inside existing facilities where overhead clearances are limited or adjacent to existing structures where vibration control is required.

Ductile Iron Piles providing rapid pile installation in an existing shipping facility.

Interested to see where Ductile Iron Piles have helped move E-Commerce forward? Are you involved with a project where there’s value in getting out of the ground faster? Keep reading to see a couple example projects and reach out to us for a feasibility assessment.

Relevant projects

ARIZONA ICED TEA WAREHOUSE

Woodbridge Township, New Jersey

Installation of DIPs for interior warehouse renovations

When a 36,000 square foot mezzanine level was added to the scope of a recently constructed beverage distribution facility, a low vibration foundation system was needed that could be installed within the overhead conditions. Ductile Iron Piles were selected to accelerate the installation and eliminate the mess from spoils associated with micropiles or grouted displacement piles. Piles were rapidly driven through undocumented fill to terminate in dense sand. Load testing showed about 0.1 inches of deflection at 60 ton capacity. A total of 250 piles were installed by one crew in 4 weeks.

AMAZON DOB4 CANOPY ADDITION

Stratford, Connecticut

Rapid turnkey solution on an Amazon Facility Renovation

Amazon’s response to unprecedented customer demand includes improvements to existing facilities. When the scope of work for an Amazon renovation project expanded to include support of new canopy foundations, the project was in jeopardy of delays. The project team selected a Ductile Iron Pile solution to deliver a rapid, low vibration pile solution to reliably support the new foundation loads. DuroTerra was able to assist with design and immediately ship material from our large inventory to support the rapid response. Helical Drilling, Inc. proposed, designed, mobilized and installed the solution in less than 2 weeks after getting the initial call. With over 800 LF/day, 56 grouted friction piles were installed in only 3 days on-site.