Construction picks up at ThyssenKrupp site
Sunday, November 16, 2008
By JEFF AMY - Business Reporter

CALVERT — For anyone who ever saw it empty, it's hard to believe how crowded ThyssenKrupp AG's 3,700-acre site is these days — there's a line just to get in.

For anyone who ever heard it quiet, it's astonishing how noisy the place has become — pile drivers hammering, trucks beeping in reverse, motors roaring and workers blowing whistles as cranes swing panels into place.

And for anyone who ever wondered when earth-moving would yield to building construction, it's a shock to see how much steel has been erected.

With the $4.5 billion complex now a year past groundbreaking, and a little more than a year from beginning operations, activity is increasing rapidly.

The steel framework for the stainless division's cold rolling mill is far advanced. Meanwhile, a warehouse for the carbon division is days away from being roofed, so the German company can keep incoming equipment out of the rain.

Carbon steel division employees and some contractors have moved into a 65,000-square-foot modular office building with its own cafeteria. Contractors continue to pack more of their own trailers into the small town that's sprouted up on site.

A steady stream of salespeople, truckers and visitors now pours through the front gate off U.S. 43, leading to a more formal system for security officers to sign them in and escort them to their destinations.
Fire and rescue personnel now have a manufactured home to lay their heads in, with a Mobile County EMS ambulance and a Mount Vernon Volunteer Fire Department engine parked under a carport outside.
As trailers encroach on parking and the number of workers rises, the company has built two additional 1,000-space parking lots for construction workers. Almost everyone has to drive, as the company and local governments have yet to find a way to offer bus service to the site.

There's still earth moving, especially on the interchange the state is building for access along U.S. 43.
And there are still pilings to be poured, adding to the more than 36,000 already in the ground.

Down by the Tombigbee River, where Scott Bridge Co. of Opelika is leading efforts to build a dock for the complex, pile drivers are thump-thump-thumping concrete supports into the bank, the first time on the site that piles have been driven rather than poured using liquid concrete.

But concrete trucks are still busy, as walls for the lower levels of the hot strip mill are poured, partially filling a deep hole that took months to excavate and pump dry. A river of steel rebar runs along the edges of the concrete work.
 
Employees: In addition to the carbon division's 145 employees, the stainless division is up to 160 workers, pushing the company's total over 300 on the way to 2,700. More than 25,000 people have now applied for jobs either through the state's Alabama Industrial Development Training, which is screening hourly workers, or through the company, which is picking salaried employees. AIDT will soon begin building its on-site training facility.

Contractors: The companies building the complex for ThyssenKrupp now have more than 1,500 employees on site each day, ThyssenKrupp spokesman Scott Posey said. That total has more than doubled in the last two months, and is expected to keep climbing as more and more of the complex moves into labor-intensive phases. Posey said that United Forming, a concrete contractor based near Atlanta, has more than 450 workers on site, currently the most among contractors. The company says that in addition to the expensive production equipment it has purchased overseas, it has awarded $1 billion in other contracts, with half that amount going to Alabama suppliers. Overall, Thyssen- Krupp says it has awarded 30 percent of the bids it plans.

ThyssenKrupp jobs
To apply for an hourly position:
www.jobs.aidt.edu/steel
To apply for a salaried position:
www.thyssenkruppnew-usplant.com

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