Out of the Box Thinking at TAKRAF Brazil

At a large alumina refinery in Brazil, the team from TAKRAF Brazil had to think out of the box and come up with a safe and effective procedure to change the tie-rods on a Continuous Ship Unloader (CSU).

TAKRAF Brazil were contacted by the client towards the end of 2018 for technical support regarding the replacement of the tie rods linking the main boom to the counter weight boom of a CSU delivered in 2002.

The question was how to perform this task safely and within a tight schedule and budget?

The traditional way of performing a tie rod replacement consists of supporting the machine counterweight and boom with scaffolding. This traditional procedure would simply not meet the strict requirements of tight schedule and low budget.

With this challenge in mind, TAKRAF’s engineering team came up with an innovative and creative way of performing the task - eliminating the use of scaffolding by employing a provisional tie rod to keep matters in place.

And how did things work out in the end?

Most importantly, there were no accidents or injuries on site and we had full stability of the machine at all times. The time to perform such a task was cut by 60%, without blocking other equipment on the pier, such as the jetty conveyor passing underneath the machine, or the jetty itself; while costs were cut by almost 50% as compared to the traditional procedure employing scaffolding.

Tiago Carvalho, TAKRAF Brazil MD had this to say upon successful project completion on site, “TAKRAF has achieved something really unique and this is a true testament to the willingness of all TAKRAF colleagues to think out of the box and find the best solution to our clients’ needs – most importantly safely and effectively.”

For further information regarding this project or for any support whatsoever, please do not hesitate to contact us on: info@takraf.com