Manufacturing/Industrial

Under a $1.45 million contract from Hohl Industrial Services, O’Connell Electric was hired to build GM Powertrain’s new Ecotec 2.4 Liter engine and crank assembly lines. This was our eighth major project completed at the Tonawanda plant marking a working relationship that has spanned more than ten years with the auto giant.

O’Connell demonstrated its core values of adaptability, by constructing the two new lines under fully operational industrial manufacturing conditions and dependability, by completing all work without interruption to the surrounding production lines. Our management and technicians worked in tandem with GM plant operations and safety personnel to establish communication and scheduling protocols, utilizing one and two-week ‘look-aheads’ as well as the training and enforcement of stringent onsite safety procedures.

O’Connell powered all new machines and equipment off of the plant’s existing bus ducts with wire drops from a complex electrical duct system for equipment hook-up and testing. Throughout the five-month project, O’Connell systematically energized the giant snake-like conveyor assembly lines and worked closely with assembly line production systems manufacturer, Hirata, to bring hundreds of machines and equipment online and operational. In addition to electrical, O’Connell was responsible for all communications systems related to the assembly lines which required installation of all data cabling, hook-up to machines and machine consoles, and tie-in to the main communications hub.

O’Connell met all timelines for the project and had no recorded safety incidents.

O’Connell employees have been providing Anheuser Busch with exceptional customer service, dependability, and quality of work at their Baldwinsville brewery for more than sixteen years. That history of trust helped determine O’Connell’s selection as prime contractor for the challenging and complex $2.5 million electrical construction portion of their modernization project, designed to increase efficiency and production at the facility.

The project called for the highest level of skill to meet Anheuser Busch’s exacting and demanding production process requirements. O’Connell’s scope of work involved power and connections for 5,300 new system control valves, 1,700 discrete and analog devices, and 214 pumps. For the brains of the operation we installed several new programmable logic controllers (PLC’s) and network-wired them, along with existing units in the plant’s central control room, to remote Input/Output (I/O) cabinets spread across the one-and-a-half million square foot facility. We were also responsible for removal of existing equipment and subcontracting the concrete work.

Through planned and skillful orchestration, O’Connell was able to minimize production disruptions at the brewery by staggering round-the-clock process shutdowns between brewing, packaging, and shipping. With no margin for error, our crews demonstrated extreme commitment and efficiency in completing all work within the allotted down-times—lasting between two days and two weeks—and even ahead of schedule, while maintaining the high quality standards O’Connell is known for.   

O’Connell garnered recognition for their industry leadership and work on this project through foreman, Todd Naramore, who won the Syracuse Builders Exchange Annual Craftsmanship Award for excellence in construction for the electrical building trade category. Other projects completed by O’Connell personnel at the Baldwinsville brewery include their new Variety Pack line that facilitates combining of several brands into a common package, upgrade and modernization of their keg line, and a new high-speed can line.