The Oregon-based machinery moving company, Omega Morgan, has completed a full-service machinery moving project in Arlington, Washington, in the United States (US).

To enhance its production volume, a manufacturing company chose to enhance its telephone pole pressure treatment equipment, which consisted of a 160,000-pound (almost 72574.8 kilograms) 150-foot-long (about 45 metres) and 10-foot-in-diameter (just over 3 metres) autoclave.

The task of extracting and swapping the device from an underground pit added difficulty to the process. The company engaged Omega Morgan‘s Seattle team to provide a complete service that included removing, installing, and transporting the new equipment from a manufacturing plant in Sandy, Oregon. Omega Morgan’s machinery moving, specialised transportation, and crane teams worked independently and jointly to plan the heavy equipment move.

The project

The machinery moving crew conducted on-site inspections and collaborated directly with the customer during the construction of the new autoclave, which was 10 feet in diameter and weighed 230,000 pounds (about 104 tonnes). The installation of the larger-sized component in the original location presented a challenge, and the location of the pit beneath a pole barn added complexity to both the removal and installation processes.

Regarding the transportation aspect, the team obtained superload permits in advance for transportation through Oregon and Washington and was responsible for determining the optimal mode of transportation for the enormous component. Omega Morgan employed its custom-designed trailers for transporting oversized loads.

Omega Morgan‘s team of four machinery movers began by removing the original autoclave from the pit using jacks, skates, and cribbing over a period of three days. They then employed the tri-lifter and SPMT to pull it out. The transport and crane crews later gathered at the Sandy facility, where they used a 200-ton and a 350-ton crane to lift and position the new autoclave onto a custom dual trailer for the journey to Arlington, which lasted three days. Finally, the machinery moving installation crews took six days to jack and slide the larger component into the original space.