At GSM Industrial, our Purpose Statement, “Exceptional People, Exceptional Results”, is at the heart of everything we do on a daily basis. Yet, there are occasions when that foundation becomes even more prominent in the eyes of the customer. Recently, while performing preventative maintenance during a shut down at the Perdue Agribusiness plant in Bainbridge, PA., the customer asked our field millwright crew to remove a faulty boiler condensate letdown tank. Wasting no time, our experienced team disconnected the vessel and staged it in an area where the engineers could conduct a more thorough investigation. They discovered that while made of Stainless Steel, the baffles inside the foreign-sourced equipment had cracked and broken free from the tank wall. Desmet Ballestra North America, another customer of GSM, had originally supplied the tank and had representatives on-site for the shutdown as well.
With only 5 days left in the shutdown, both Perdue and Desmet were in a bind. A new tank, custom-made for the specific application could take months to source. The plant could not wait that long. Our knowledgeable team suggested the possibility of repair. Within a short period of time, GSM management converged at the site to further examine that option. While not fully knowing the extent of the internal damage, GSM leadership agreed the best approach was to attempt repair. With the tank cut open, there may be sufficient room to install replacement baffles and add new bracing as requested by Desmet.
Still, this required engineering time to make a plan and draft fabrication drawings. None of this could be done in the field. Within hours, the vessel was transported back to GSM’s 110,000 square foot facility. The engineering team took over, taking measurements of every dimension and transforming them into working CAD drawings. By the end of the same day that the problems were discovered, a repair plan was set in motion.
But this was a Thursday, and the tank needed to be re-installed no later than the following Tuesday. Two working days (Friday and Monday) would not be enough time to complete the needed repairs. For many companies, it would have been game over, but not for GSM. Our dedicated production team of certified ASME code welders now drove the timetable. Cutting, grinding, and welding commenced on Friday, proceeded through the weekend and did not stop until the job was finished on Monday. Production handed the tank back to the field crew for delivery to the site and re-installation. The plant was able to start back up on schedule on Tuesday.
GSM Industrial’s employees performed exceptionally and produced exceptional results for our customers. It is the core of everything we do and why it is part of our mission and purpose. Contact us today to learn more about our services and what we can do for our clients.