Winner – Southeast Region

Komatsu South Harbor Campus Machine Foundations

Location: Milwaukee
Owner: Komatsu Mining Corp.
Concrete Supplier: Riv/Crete Ready Mix
Engineer: Michael A. Corrigan, P.E., ALA
Engineer: Larson & Darby Group
Contractor: Hunzinger Construction Company

In 2017 Komatsu acquired the 120-year-old P&H Shovel, a global manufacturer of heavy industrial mining equipment. Over time the facilities became outdated. The decision was made to relocate and build a new state of the art facility in the Harbor District along the Kinnickinnic River.

The new $285-million-dollar complex occupies 59 acres including a 430,000-square-foot factory and 176,000-square-foot office building.  Throughout the manufacturing facility there are over 65 different machine foundations ranging in size.  The two largest foundations are called Powertec 6000 & 8000.

They are 24 feet thick and took over six months to complete.  Due to their depth, each pour had to be built in four phases.  Installing the rebar for one pour took over a month to complete.  The pours were so large that multiple concrete pumps were needed.  The concrete mix was a high slump 4000-psi.  To aid in the pumping of the concrete, both mid and high range water reducers were added. The mix incorporated a viscosity modifying admixture for flowability.

Over 35,000 cubic yards were poured on this impressive project.