Construction

Our products are usually some of the last items to see installation at a new commercial or residential development. Temporary site lighting sometimes becomes an oversight during planning, but can prove an efficient solution, eliminating any chance of damage to a final installation. Architectural Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory (RAL) colours, light fixtures and foundations are all elements of a project that require attention during the planning stage, but most important is attention to detail and proper communication with owners and consultants alike.

In 2011, the C.N. Logistics Intermodal Port expanded with new infrastructure and a new location to serve Calgary and Western Canada more efficiently. The project involved telecom structures that the client wanted to be scalable so that future growth and sustainability would be designed right into every pole. We were honoured to be considered a capable manufacturer and proved to the owner, engineering consultants and general contractor alike our capabilities and workmanship quality.

Roadway

Our team works closely with planners and engineers who pave the way alongside lighting specialists and electrical contractors, to bring a large scope down into a manageable, efficient process. We provide systems for everything from standard highway or interchange needs all the way to the lovely, artistic designs that you see while strolling among shops and neighbourhoods within your community. In addition, some individual municipalities and districts throughout Canada have their own particular specifications for roadway and traffic standards, and Ceco can manufacture to any of these specifications. In fact, some of these products can be found in our limited stock inventory, providing for quick delivery and reduced downtime on location.

Roadway system owners also want long-life equipment, and Ceco’s processes ensure that what we build will go the distance. Davit poles, high mast poles, traffic interchange lighting and sign structures for our roadways are typically coated with hot-dip galvanization, which is among the longest-lasting anti-corrosion processes available.

Speedy delivery is another very common imperative among municipal and provincial owners. When Ceco was awarded the opportunity to build sign bridges for the Deerfoot Trail causeway in south Calgary, the coordination of production and overtime was paramount for the timeline available to us. The manufactured items were fitted, inspected, welded for further inspection including a test assembly, and finally coated and shipped to site for installation, all within a tight time-frame that met the client’s schedule.

Energy

Among your industry’s needs are timeliness, affordability and quality, and Ceco delivers. Some environments such as upgraders and potash mines have specific anti-corrosion requirements that Ceco can meet or exceed. Other applications require ease of maintenance at a remote location, and this is where the Ceco hinged pole really shines. Flare stacks and lifting/hoisting structures are all part of the Ceco project portfolio and customer relationships within a global market that Western Canada has helped to define.

Western Canada’s growing, diversifying economy has provided us with the opportunity to supply overhead transmission hardware to goat-trail conditions on Vancouver Island all the way to transformer bases and roadway lighting to Russia. We manufactured and delivered multiple pre-coordinated truckloads to a Vancouver Island offload site to facilitate the ease of assembly of each overhead power structure, which was then heli-transported to the installation site. This project was completed on schedule and within budget.

Ceco’s expertise in structures is best illustrated by the following project description: In 1993 Ceco was approached by the CEO of Mammoet Canada Western Ltd. to see if we were interested in quoting a special project for Suncor Inc. near Fort McMurray. We had a look at it and concluded it was something we could handle. Ceco quoted the job and started work right away. The scope was to facilitate moving a 200-tonne pump barge out of a tailings pond that had reached its maximum capacity, to a new location 15 kilometres down the road, where it would be used to dredge a new tailings pond.

This kind of job had never been done before. Quite simply, North America did not have the technology for this kind of heavy transport. Suncor initially planned to build a new barge (20’ x 40’) on site, to be powered by two huge diesel engine-driven pumps. But the estimated cost would be 10 times the cost of moving and reusing the old pump barge. So Mammoet was awarded the contract for the move, with the goal of saving Suncor a lot of money.

Mammoet’s in-house engineering team designed a large skid frame to carry the flat-bottomed barge. It was too big for our shop, so the skid was built by another fabricator. Ceco’s unique contribution was to build two heavy-duty, Teflon-lined channel tracks onto which the skid would slide. The tracks were 20’ long and paired using cross-braces for rigidity. Each channel was mounted on a 16” x 16” x 20’ pine timber to make it float. Ceco manufactured 200 lineal feet of dual-track, which was assembled on-site and pushed into the old tailings pond one section at a time. After assembly, 160’ was floating on the water and 40’ remained on shore. The skid was then mounted onto the onshore portion and slowly pushed outward, gradually sinking the track and the skid.

Pushing the skid was accomplished by a patented hydraulic “push-pull system” developed by Mammoet. After the skid had sunk to the bottom of the pond the barge was winched over the skid and secured with chains. The push-pull system was then reversed, pulling the skid-mounted barge along the Teflon-lined tracks onto shore. After the barge was pulled ashore, four Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMT) were positioned under the skid. They hydraulically extended, lifting the skid and barge off the tracks, then transported the unit 15 kilometres down the road to the new location. There, the SPMTs lifted the unit, wood blocking was placed under the barge, the SPMTs were lowered, and the skid and SPMT’s freely drove out from underneath the barge. Job complete!

Fabrication of the channel tracks was done in Ceco’s shop, where they were also prime-painted. The tracks were assembled and checked for dimensional accuracy in Ceco’s yard. The tracks were then disassembled and shipped to Suncor’s operation near Fort McMurray, where they were reassembled under the supervision of Ceco staff.

Ceco enjoyed the challenge of contributing a key element to one of the most complex and customized heavy equipment moves undertaken in western Canada in many years.

Agriculture

The landscape in Canadian agriculture is ever-changing, literally and figuratively. Ceco has provided support throughout the spectrum, from county governments and private businesses to environmental professionals. Whether it’s the repair of farm equipment or the rehabilitation of agricultural installations such as a liner in an 8-foot-deep dugout, we have built custom-tools and structures to keep them all going. A packing facility here in Alberta required recalibration of its overhead conveyor, including expansion of the current hollow structural steel structure. This involved the design and fabrication of ceiling strapping, field welding and assembly.

Another notable success was a vessel Ceco built for immersion in a collection pond. It was fitted with a platform, ladder and pump manifold, as well as natural, 1¼-inch-thick latex on the steel plate base for adequate adhesion to the pond liner, which required repair. This vessel was just over 7 feet in diameter and 10 feet in height, and the platform included a tie for a rowboat and a safety railing for scientists employed by our client, a leading environmental consultant with broad industry experience.