Accuride Corporation

Accuride is one of North America’s largest OEM aluminum wheel manufacturers and suppliers of business vehicle components. The company’s products include business vehicle wheels, wheel-end components and assemblies, truck body and chassis parts, and other business vehicle components.

In February, 2004, Kustom received a call from Accuride’s Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, plant expressing concerns about the accumulation of wet snow on the building’s 150,000 square foot roof. Accuride’s plant workers had reported the sound of creaking steel-bar joists and multiple roof leaks. Each time it rained or snowed, plant workers grew more concerned about their safety. Because these types of issues often indicate the potential for a catastrophic roof collapse, Kustom immediately sent a team to assess the threat. Completing the initial investigation, it was determined the overload of wet snow was causing the plant’s roof to yield and putting lives at risk.

Rapid Emergency Response

Neutralizing the threat of a roof collapse was job number one. Kustom mobilized a team of over 100 to hand remove the snow using plastic shovels and wheel barrows. Inside the building, Kustom assigned an engineer and 25 steel workers to simultaneously shore up the weakened roof joists. Working non-stop, Kustom alleviated the immediate threat within hours of the initial call.

Roof Repair Challenges

After it was determined relocation of the plant to another site would cost Accuride over $3-million, Kustom explored the cost and viability of other options. The main challenge was removing and resetting the roof’s 85- foot long, 2-ton steel bar joists while plant operations continued down below. Along with a team of top-notch engineers, Kustom developed a creative solution which satisfied Accuride, the building owner, their respective insurance carriers, the local building department and OSHA.

The Safety Deck Solution

To protect plant workers from harm and harsh winter weather, Kustom erected a safety deck a few feet below the bottom cord of the steel bar. The deck was composed of a series of shoring towers in neutral areas of the plant. Spanning these towers were large wood I-joists on 12-inch centers and a double layer of plywood. Temporary lighting was installed underneath the safety deck to illuminate the plant’s production floor. For Kustom’s crew, the deck itself provided a staging area for lightweight materials during the roof construction process. The safety deck was utilized in a series of 20,000 sq. ft. sections. As one deck was in operation, another deck was removed from a previous section, and yet another deck erected for the next section. This seamless approach enabled Kustom to maintain a continuous, highly productive work schedule.