Rolling With The Pandemic Punches
Blast Furnace Reline Gary Works #4
Gary, IN
The furnace in Gary was in dire need of a significant reline, component upgrade and piping system replacement, and was originally scheduled for April of 2020. The project was an eight-system, multi-phase job scoped as a 58-day outage that would require 450 personnel per day at its peak.
And then the pandemic hit.
While supply chain logistics and our required job start delay forced us to correct on the fly, we handled the coronavirus as we do all surprise challenges—one step at a time, working toward keeping the original schedule whenever the new start date would be.
Pushed to Q4 of 2020, our Furnace Proper work included cleanout of the furnace as well as inspection, removal and replacement of the entire cooling system. Our work on Hoisting and Charging required a replacement in kind of the entire Skip Incline along with furnace top work—while working in conjunction with the Stock House upgrade of the feed system inclusive of hoppers, feeders and conveyors.
Our scheduled Air System replacement of the Backdraft and refractory inside of the Bustle Pipe revealed the need to replace eight sections of Bustle Pipe shell segments, an add-on we worked seamlessly into the original outage schedule. We replaced the Cast-house roof monitor, structurally upgraded the Iron Trough and added new crane components. We also executed significant repairs to the Gas System, Miscellaneous system, Stoves with the 41 Trunk and cooling system from stem to stern.
In total, Songer logged over 190,000 man-hours on the job and completed the massive project within our original 58-day schedule—all without a recorded injury.
New milestone reached.
The significant piping upgrade on the Gary #4 project represents a huge milestone for Songer Services as a corporation, marking a return to a type of full-service we haven’t provided since the 1980’s. Throughout the Gary job, Songer self-performed all piping scopes—meaning we field measured, in-house fabricated and installed everything the job needed.
Our large scopes included the replacement of all small bore stack supply and return (piping, hoses, isolation valves, etc.), as well as all headers, circle headers, risers and more. It’s a milestone reached and a new specialized in-house discipline that will save significant time and money for our industrial partners—something that’s always been a cornerstone of The Songer Way.
Want to learn more?
Please reach out to us to request our detailed (and proprietary) Post-outage Report for this job in conjunction with a face-to-face meeting—safely.