ENR 2024 Midwest Best Projects
Award of Merit, Manufacturing: Nucor Gallatin Automatic Racking System
Photo courtesy of JGM Team
Nucor Gallatin Automatic Racking System
Ghent, Ky.
Award of Merit
Submitted by: JGM Fabricators & Constructors LLC
Owner: Nucor
Lead Design Firm: Janus Automation
General Contractor: JGM Fabricators & Constructors LLC
Structural Engineer: CEC Inc.
Spanning 396,000 sq ft, Nucor’s newest state-of-the-art tube mill will have a capacity to produce 270,000 tons of steel tubing annually. This includes hollow structural section tubing, mechanical steel tubing and galvanized solar torque tubing.
This automated storage and retrieval system is one of the largest in the world, according to the owner. During construction, the contractor fabricated and erected more than 4,600 tons of structural steel racking, assembled and rigged in place six fully automated overhead cranes and set and aligned more than 3,100 ft of crane rail.
All steel had to be erected inside a building with minimal height clearances. The contractor designed a jig that allowed crews to lay out and install more than 3,500 post-installed epoxy anchors for all the racking columns. Through a collaborative effort, the team made structural design changes to allow for modularization use across the project. This process also eliminated 20,000 field bolted connections by welding the racking system arms in the shop with the help of a custom-fabricated assembly jig. Onsite crews developed a system to bolt half of the assemblies on the ground, eliminating a tremendous amount of elevated work, and used remote hooks to rig and set.
The project employed more than 500 craftworkers throughout construction and created 72 new high-paying jobs upon completion in November 2023. The entire project was completed with zero recordable injuries.
