THE PROJECT
Rocky Mountain Bottling produces and supplies glass bottles on behalf of Miller/Coors at its Owens-Brockway facility in Wheat Ridge, CO. As part of a renovation at the bottling plant, two smaller glass furnaces were replaced with one, unique, bottom-fed mega-furnace. The project represented a number of substantial innovations in glass furnace design that required an exacting installation schedule. Included were a new approach to maximizing efficient heat delivery to the glass manufacturing process—placing the electrode heating units directly below the product. The furnace itself called for a unique French transformer designed to transform utility power into a unique lower voltage with significantly higher amperage capable of yielding much higher temperatures with little additional energy expenditure.  The Guarantee Electrical Colorado
team completed a full scale replacement of two conventional glass furnaces with a single innovative, bottom-fed megafurnace, more than doubling the production capacity of the original units. The placement of the electrode heating elements below the work in progress area brings greater efficiency and space savings in spite of the much larger
capacity of the new furnace. This configuration also made necessary the bringing of power distribution in from below the furnace proper. Moreover, the new design necessitated a substantial expansion of the cooling system, as well as the relocation and build-out of two new control rooms for enhanced cooling and general furnace operations. In all, the new features provide improved access for easier management as well as subsequent maintenance. The new installation also makes use of the very latest in glass furnace emission control systems. The Tri-Mer® catalytic filter systems technology combines lower energy consumption with superior control of SO2 and other emissions associated with glass manufacture.

THE APPROACH
An aggressive 99-day project schedule called for running two shifts, seven days a week for the duration of the project. To support that timeline, Guarantee utilized its advanced prefabrication resources, which involved staged deployment of pre-assembled modules for wire-pulls and cabling, componentry and conduit trays, etc. for enhanced efficiency. The schedule reflected the fact that plant ownership expected sustaining uninterrupted operations of the balance of the facility through the duration of the install; the plan, of course, being to minimize impacts on overall production.

It’s important to mention, too, that given this intense schedule, maintaining rigorous discipline around safety was essential. To this end, Guarantee’s daily huddles to review assignments and tasks, including close coordination with other trades sharing a tight space proved invaluable. Other feature of Guarantee’s service was the wholesale replacement of all wiring serving bottle production equipment together with replacement of all the existing lighting in the basement control spaces with advanced, ultra-energy efficient and much cooler LED lighting throughout.

SUCCESS
Guarantee’s pre-planning, prefabrication know-how coupled with the fact that the Guarantee team know the Wheat Ridge facility well, having worked before under similarly exacting circumstances on an earlier installation. In spite of the intense 12-hour days, 7-day weeks, weather delays and unforeseeable engineering challenges that come with new-to-the-world technology, the Colorado crews met their objectives on budget and on schedule with zero lost-time incidents or injuries.

HIGHLIGHTS

• UNGROUNDED EUROPEAN SYSTEM
• UPGRADE CONVEYOR SYSTEM
• MODIFY EXISTING BATCH PLANT
• LIGHTING RETROFIT
• FULL WIRING REPLACEMENT ON EQUIPMENT