Chris Kuenzer: Fort Wayne Site Visit

On Thursday this week, we were fortunate enough to be given a tour of the GM Fort Wayne Assembly Plant, which Barton Malow is working on. After some minor setbacks upon arrival in Fort Wayne on Wednesday, we all checked into the hotel and then went out to dinner with Glenn and Derek. I had blackened shrimp and rice, which was very tasty. After dinner, we went out and networked for a while, and played a few games of pool.
For the tour of the plant, we started by going over the site specific safety procedures, then Glenn told us a little bit about what he was involved in on the site. He explained what each of the additions was going to be used for, and how they had to accommodate GM’s production schedule by working in phases to make sure that GM always had loading docks available. We saw a concrete pour, looked at the roof, checked out all of the new steel that had just been put up, and saw some of the new retention ponds that they had just finished.
I learned quite a bit about concrete thanks to Gus; he explained to us what each of the tools and machines was doing, as well as an overview of the finishing and curing processes. One interesting thing that we saw was that their concrete mix did not require rebar because they mixed steel reinforcing right into it. The small pieces of steel were designed to interlock and create a mesh-like structure within the slab that greatly increases the weight capacity of the concrete. They were pouring the concrete in massive sections, and it was amazing to see it in action.
As promised, I have a few pictures. And I would like to thank Yesi, Alex, Jon, Gus, Glenn and Derek for setting the trip up for us. I had a great time, and I’m already looking forward to the next site visit at the Little Caesar’s Arena!