Posts Tagged ‘Millwrighting’
On-the-Job Safety During Winter Months
Posted by: Tracy Gath in Safety on January 13th, 2010
Job safety is the number one concern at Maple Grove Enterprises. Steve Noel, MGE road supervisor and on-site safety coordinator, holds “job box” safety talks before work begins and after work ends every day. Always a stickler for safety, Steve ensures that every member of his crew is meeting or exceeding MGE safety guidelines, OSHA guidelines, and the facility’s own guidelines. While safety awareness at any time of year is important, it is especially critical during the winter months, when crews face sub-freezing temperatures.
According to OSHA, “when the body is unable to warm itself, cold related stress may result. This may include tissue damage and possibly death. Four factors contribute to cold stress: cold air temperatures, high velocity air movement, dampness of the air, and contact with cold water or surfaces. A cold environment forces the body to work harder to maintain its temperature. Cold air, water, and snow all draw heat from the body.” The most common problems induced by the cold are hypothermia and frostbite.
To prevent cold stress, Steve makes sure that his crew wears the appropriate gear to maintain their body warmth. This includes insulated gloves and boots and hard hat liners. Beyond personal warmth, other winter-related safety issues relate to icy conditions at the job site. Steve makes sure that they have sand, salt or cracked corn on hand to deal with the ice. He also makes sure that ladders, tools, and other job materials are kept under cover when not in use.
According to Steve, the twice-daily job box safety talks keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s mind, ensuring the safety of both our crews and our customers.
Complete In-House Fabrication of 10,000-gallon Molasses Storage Tank
Posted by: Tracy Gath in Metal Fabrication, Welding on December 15th, 2009
One of our feed mill customers needed a round molasses storage tank that would hold 10,000 gallons. To hold that much, we designed a tank that’s 20 feet high and 10 feet in diameter. The project required that we roll 10′ sheets of steel with our pinch roll. This was a Maple Grove Enterprises project from start to finish. We designed the tank for its custom application, designed and fabricated the OSHA-approved custom outside safety ladder, fabricated the tank, and installed it at the feed mill.
This was a total team effort from initial design concept through fabrication, with communication flowing back and forth between designer and fabricators throughout the entire project. Our customer was onsite during installation and is ecstatic with the results!
Watch a video of our crew flipping half the tank on its side so two pieces can be welded together.
Keep Your Grain from Blowin’ in the Wind
Posted by: Tracy Gath in Farming, Feed Mill, Material Handling, Millwrighting on May 6th, 2009
When you have to feed over 6,000 dairy cows every day, you do not want to see a fifth of your grain blowing away in the wind. That’s the problem faced by one such farm in a windy area of central New York State. They currently store their grain in lean-tos and manually load the grain into trucks, resulting in shrink of up to 20%. Ouch! With the high price of feed, they can no longer sustain such high losses. They called Maple Grove Enterprises for a solution, and we called Barney Leach from the LeManco division of Chief Industries.
Barney flew to our shop in Arcade a few weeks ago to give us the benefit of his 30 years in the business of grain storage and handling. With his help, we supplied the farmer with a quote for a grain storage and batching feed system that will provide better feed and nutrition control. Chief/LeManco bins contain more steel, are stronger, last longer, function better, and retain their value compared to other bins. (See the Chief website for more information.) The system is expandable, so if one day the farm decides to become a feed mill they can do so with minimal cost.
The millwrights at Maple Grove Enterprises have decades of experience and dedicated service to farms and feed mills throughout the Northeast. We do our very best to help your farm or mill increase productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. We are with you every step of the way, helping you plan for your current and future needs. Our services range from such maintenance work as welding, pipefitting and machine overhaul all the way to engineering, fabricating and installing complete feed mills to your exact specifications.
NY Farm Show 2009
Posted by: Tracy Gath in Containment, Farming, Floor Coatings, Metal Fabrication, Millwrighting, Secondary Containment on March 2nd, 2009
Maple Grove Enterprises just returned from the NY Farm Show held in Syracuse last weekend. Our thanks to Scott Grigor and the rest of the Farm Show crew. They did a fantastic job of organizing and promoting the show, and they kept all the exhibitors happy with the endless hot coffee and fresh doughnuts!
We met farmers from all over New York State, as well as others from New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. In today’s tough economic climate, they remain as resilient as ever. In fact, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture, the number of farms in the U.S. has actually increased in the last five years.
While Maple Grove Enterprises offers a wide array of services, the visitors to our booth were most interested in farm bins, custom conveyors, floor repair and coating, and millwright services. Also, because farms will have to be in compliance by August 2009 with the USEPA Pesticide Container and Containment Rule requiring secondary containment around pesticide tanks, information about our secondary containment services was in demand.
Our unique custom booth, designed by owner Ted Hobin, Jr., and Aaron “Reggie” Mayer and fabricated in our shop, was also quite a hit!
Maple Grove Enterprises display at the NY Farm Show
