Future Foundations #2

MID-ATLANTICA Low Headroom Nightmare

WESTCalTrans Highway 165 Project

APE GOES SOCIALDoes Social Media Matter in Construction?

OCTAKONGA Piledriving Revolution Taking Place in China

American Piledriving Equipment, Inc. • 7032 South 196th Street • Kent, Washington 98032

FUTURE FOUNDATIONSBy American Piledriving Equipment for the Deep Foundations Industry

WINTER 2012

Newsletter2V8.indd 1 1/31/2012 2:09:59 PM

MID-ATLANTICAmerican Infrastructure’s Low Head Room Nightmare

When American Infra-structure was awarded the new Highway 15 bridge in Chester Virginia the existing large overhead power lines looked awfully low. They scratched their heads as they kept looking at the headroom situa-tion and how they were going to get machinery under them to drive the piles… can’t do anything till the piles are driven… right?

The management staff knew if any company could help them with this situation it was American Piledriving Equip-ment. They contacted Jimmy Deemer, APE’s Mid-Atlantic manager, to come to the job-site and have a look at what the jobsite conditions were and what recommendations he could make. After looking

things over with the onsite staff the only solution was using an excavator. APE’s in house engineering staff and head engineer Joe Klekotka, came up with a very produc-tive & slick system. They

decided to use one of the APE 7.5 series low-head room ham-mers, the 7.5C.

APE designed a self-contained system with the APE 7.5C

hammer, 30’ of APE 21” leads with a 2 line headblock and a hydraulic sled that mounts directly to the tip of a 345 CAT excavator. The hydraulic sled that mates up to the back of the leads has tilt cylinders built into it for the side to side bat-ters they needed

to drive. It also batters fore & aft. All functions are run off the excavators hydraulic system “plug & play” This system can do it all!

Part of the design incorpo-rated a Gear Master hydraulic winch on the back of the sled for hoisting the hammer and piles. This is run with a foot control form inside the cab of the excavator. Using TAPERTUBETM taper style pile, they pre-drill the first 15 feet and set & seat the pile 17 ft. taper bottom. Then they weld the second section, a 20 ft. mid, and drive it and then splice & drive the 3rd and last 20 ft. mid or top .

They will drill & set about 15 piles in one set-up. This system is extremely quick & productive and all aspects of safety are incorporated into it. The onsite supervision staff said “We had no idea this low head room nightmare could have worked out so well

That’s why APE has a reg-istered trademark, “When a piledriver talks we listen”.

Jimmy Deemer:[email protected]

“When aPiledriver talks, we listen”

FUTURE FOUNDATIONS

CORPORATE OFFICENORTHWEST USWESTERN CANADA7032 South 196th St.Kent, Washington 98032(800) 248-8498(253) [email protected]@[email protected]

MIDWEST USCENTRAL CANADASt. Peters, Missouri(877) 296-8044 (636) [email protected]

WEST COASTStockton, California((888) 245-4401 209) [email protected]

MID-ATLANTICVirginia Beach, Virginia (866) 399-7500 (757) [email protected]

GULF REGIONConroe, Texas(800) 596-2877(936) [email protected] Gonzales, Louisiana(225) [email protected]

NORTHEAST USEASTERN CANADASayreville, New Jersey(888) 217-7524 (732) [email protected] [email protected]

SOUTHEASTMulberry, Florida(800) 570-3844(863) [email protected] [email protected]@apevibro.com

THE CARIBBEAN,CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA+1 (863) 660-8716+1 (863) [email protected]

APE MEXICO+1 (786) 991-6875+52 (55) 4990104172*1036439*[email protected]

APE CHINAShanghai, China +86 21-5677-1221

APE HOLLANDBeilen, Netherlands+31 (0) 593 54 08 91

APE AUSTRIAVienna, Austria+43 1328 9980

APE RUSSIAMoscow, Russia+7 495 603 5345

YinglingDeemerKuzik Brumsey Gough Ellis Corbett


MIDWESTHot Coffee is Always On.

APE Midwest is happy to have Saint Louis Bridge as a new customer in the Saint Louis area.

The APE MidWest branch was contacted by Saint Louis Bridge earlier this summer concerning an equipment recommendation for their Beelman River Terminal Project.

This project involves recon-struction and extension of the Municipal River South Dock in Saint Louis.

APE MidWest recommended, provided, and helped set up an APE Model 200-6 Vibratory Driver Extractor.

The difficult soil conditions are being handled quite well, and the crew on site is very complimentary to the support and service provided by APE personnel.

American Piledriving Equip-ment welcomes Saint Louis Bridge into our growing circle of customers and friends here

in the MidWest.The APE MidWest facility

would like to extend an open invitation to all in our area to contact the APE MidWest branch for all your Piledriv-ing and Deep Foundation Equipment needs.

Hot Cof-fee is always

on, and an open invitation to lunch is extended as always.

Come see our shop!

NORTHWESTAlaska Way Viaduct Ramp

Pacific Pile and Marine has driven 5 ft. diameter casing over 200 ft. in length with a company owned D100-42 for the Alaska Way Viaduct temporary detour off ramps. These ramps are ahead of the new underground tunnel that will be placed under down-town Seattle to replace the old viaduct. There will be 28 piles driven for the ramp under construction in the adja-cent photo alone.

The efficiency and reliability of the D-series single acting

impact hammers have been in service since the early 1940’s, building the world’s infrastructure.

When a contractor needs quality, reliability and ready service, they call on American

Piledriving Equipment.

Dave Yingling: [email protected]

Ed Corbett: [email protected]

FUTURE FOUNDATIONS

BushyeagerSegura CressZiadieCorbett GoransonWhite Wang Wright Casavant


AUI is building the largest solar panel farm in Texas us-ing three APE DHJ85 pilerigs. The piles are 6″x9 lbs. per ft. h-beams that are 20′ long. The job consists of 26,400 H-piles and AUI is averaging between 125 and 150 piles per day per rig. This solar farm will generate 30mw of power

which is enough to power 12,000 to 18,000 homes once it is complete. Matt Even, As-sistant Civil Project Manager for AUI on this project, says: “The equipment provided by American Piledriving Equipment out of Conroe Texas has worked great on this job! The combination of

service and service response time has been critical to the excellent performance and pro-duction of the DHJ 85′s.”

GULFCOASTFoundations for Solar Panels

Joe Wright: [email protected]

Working on a CalTrans project on HWY 165 just North of Los Banos Cali-fornia, Mike and Ed Cuneo are tackling a job with some

interesting challenges. Work-ing off of a failed existing structure while using heavy equipment is enough to make anyone work softly, especially when working at the limit. The Cuneo boys from EP Jar-rett are up for the challenge. Installing 36” diameter CISS pile 130’ deep, using an APE D100-42 diesel hammer while working off of a scoured bridge was a challenge that is never taken lightly, and EP Jarrett Foundation went at it with precision.

The piles got started with an APE 200 Vibratory Driver Extractor with caisson beam and clamps ensuring the exact location of the CISS pile. After the APE 200 Vibratory Driver Extractor finished its job the D100-42 single act-

ing diesel hammer took over to finish the driving of each 130’ long 36” diameter pipe pile, then the pipe was drilled out 100’ deep and the rebar cage was dropped into posi-tion ready for concrete to be poured.

It is all about quality. Every project that EP Jarrett Founda-tion Construction tackle is a job worth seeing. They carry out their work with precision and use APE as their founda-tion equipment supplier be-cause APE delivers precision equipment.

At the end of the day, when the sun goes down, the gang from EP Jarrett can go home with pride in a job well done!

WESTEP Jarrett Goes APE for the Caltrans Highway 165 Project

Steve Cress: [email protected]

NORTHEASTPearl Harbor Memorial Bridge

The Walsh/PCL Joint Venture in Connecticut working on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge replacement project came to APE with a dilemma. They needed to install a work trestle using 24″ open ended pipe piles, some of which would have to be driven underneath the existing bridge structure.

APE came up with a system that included an APE Tandem 150 vibro that allows the piles to extend through a centerhole clamp and above the height of the hammer to maximize headroom. The piles are then impacted in to capacity with an APE D62-42 diesel ham-mer in a specially built short section of leads.

There’s always a way.Bill Ziadie:[email protected]


APE MEXICOEn Los Cabos

APE CARIBBEAN, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAAPES in the Amazon Jungle!

Costa Fortuna has taken delivery of new a APE 200T with a 700 HP Power unit for

use in the town of Almerim, Brazil on the Amazon River. Our long time customer is driving 800 and 1200 mm pipe pile for electric transmis-sion tower bases, the overall height of the towers will be 280 meters.

The pipe pile are 48 meters long and are driven to 150 ton capacity with some pile test-ing over 360 tons. The pile are started with the APE 200T / 700 and finished with a APE D50-42 diesel hammer. In some cases the pile are taken almost to grade and then set checked with the D50-42 to

prove Bearing Capacity.

Michele Corda, Equip-ment Manager for Costa Fortuna, was very impressed with the patented APE two-stage suppressor housing and its ability to dampen vibration back to their new Liebherr crane. While using their much older Foster 4150 Vibro, the crane computer would shut down due to the excessive vibration from the old style

suppres-sor. The APE 200T not only “shut down” the shut-down prob-lem, but also out-drove the heavier 4150 with ease with much lower fuel use.

GITSA purchased the latest Variable Moment Vibratory Hammer technology to drive 3800 concrete sheets of 12m length x 1m wide x 90 cm thickness to build the contention walls for the man-made-islands in Los Cabos.

The APE 170VM with 2,250 in/lb of eccentric vari-able moment and our newly designed octakong inspired concrete sheet clamp takes concrete sheet driving to a new level. The newly de-signed APE concrete sheet clamp attachment covers more area, transmits more energy, and has better grip than the

old 2 cylinder concrete sheet clamp. Not even one sheet broke or fractured! Very soft fine sands made the driving difficult, but nothing water jetting and slow driving with high amplitude could not overcome. The 170VM allowed us to control the speed and am-plitude infinitely with the phase in/phase out feature, high/low turbo, and the governor features.

In two days they went from 3 sheets to 6-7 sheets per day.

Franki Segura: [email protected]

SOUTHEASTNavarre Beach Pier

APE Southeast was proud to partner with contractor Ed Waters & Sons on the Navarre Beach Pier Project. The pier was built in record time even with a change order that added another 45 ft. At 1500 ft. in length, this makes it the longest pier not only in Florida, but the longest pier in the Gulf of Mexico.

The piles are 24 inch sq.

concrete, the lengths range from 50 to 90 ft. and all the piledriving was done was with APE/J&M equipment. To be the supplier of choice to one of the most respected piledriving companies in the country, Ed Waters & Sons Contracting, is something we take seriously.

Congratulations on winning the project of the year and all your many achievements.

Jim Casavant:[email protected]

GO APE!

Wally Brumsey: [email protected]


It’s why we got into this business in the first place: To build better equipment for the job at hand.

OK, we didn’t fathom it would be for a 600 metric ton, 72’ can in the middle of the South China Sea, or 120 of them. We were figuring on the job down the street, getting our equipment to the site when we said we would, having it perform like we said it would. Turns out that works in China too!

You know what else works? Innovation. The Octakong is one example, but for every Octakong, there are a dozen examples that never see past our engineers’ desks, or our shop floor in Kent. We’ll have a go at it if it makes sense. Twenty years of APE employees in the field, on the phones, in the shop - listening, discussing, trying. “Hey what if we try this...”, “Hey you know what would make an operator’s life easier?”, “Hey that setup sounds great but is it practical in the field?”

Jimmy Deemer wrote about it in his Mid-Atlantic Branch Report, “When a Piledriver talks, we listen.” You see more APE person-nel on the jobsites than any other manufacturer. Sure it’s good PR and good to provide the customer service, but its the feedback we’re after. Innovation comes from the field. Little things matter. They’re why crews prefer working with APE/J&M equipment: Like an on-board tool kits that facilitate drive time, “Where’s that wrench?”, waterproof document holder in the Power Units, Spare fuel tanks in the Power Units, Fully manifolded gear box, swap out panels, (Ever submerge one of our competitor’s Units? Don’t get me started. They’re all wet.) Built in ladders on the power units, fully remov-able power unit doors, shut-off valves between the hydraulic tank and hydrau-lic pumps for servicing the pumps without draining

the oil tank. Somewhere down the line a piledriver told us it was a pain in the ass to service the oil pump because you had to drain the oil tank on some units. Well you can say, “yeah that’s a pain in the ass” or you can say, “Hmmmm...”

20 years ago we sent out the first Power Unit and 150 Vibro and didn’t look back. We were all Techs at one point and know what the crews run into out there. You want equipment that does the job, keeps you working. We want as few stoppages as the technology can provide, which means production. Where does the drive for production come from? The contractor. Contractors want Drive Time not Jive Time.

Its why we sell more of our competitors parts than our competitors. Its why we drill our Vibro bottom plates for all attachments, even the competition’s. Why? Drivetime. Production. Because we listened. Its truly just a matter of, “When our customers win, we win.”

A little improvement here, a big improvement there. The APE product line of today is the product of hundreds of conversations, many of them in ankle deep slop. Its a fact that equip-ment doesn’t always do what it’s set out to do. I’ll say it. So then its a failure or a learning opportunity. I’ll take learning opportunity. Show me a successful manufacturer who’s afraid

of failure and I’ll show you a flying pig.

Now there’s the Octakong. It’s a monstrosity. It’s outrageous, it’s audacious. We invested two years of research, negotiation and hard thinking before work got started. But what made us even think this thing could be done? The whole project would depend on the success of this idea, basically a radical revolution in cof-ferdam technology. What made us think we could sell this unproven, untested idea to the Chinese? How many nights we’d wake up with a start and ask, “How do we make the assembly lift plumb, square and even? The entire assembly? How does that rigging set up for equal force in each leg? Wire size? Handling? Fastening?

Well we’d been there before. We innovate.

I can’t say enough about the individuals that made this project come through. Its the same team that’s taking the comments in the field and applying them into the next phase of design, and that makes me very excited about the future of APE.

So I wonder what the Octakong experience means for American Piledriving Equipment in the years to come? There are lessons we don’t even know we learned yet. But one thing is certain, we don’t shy away from a challenge, and now you know why.

Frankly, we love it.

WHY APE IS THE BESTJohn White, President, American Piledriving Equipment, Inc.

Contact: John White, President, American Piledriving Equipment [email protected]


Helmets to Hardhats

Helmets to Hardhats is a free, non-profit program that connects transitioning military service members with qual-ity career opportunities in the construction industry.

Making a successful transi-tion from the military into the civilian workforce can be difficult. Transitioning military veterans face the same chal-lenges as any other job hunter – getting their résumé to the right people, learning how to sell themselves, tracking down promising leads, following-up with employers, headhunters, job placement agencies, etc. Navigating the unfamiliar channels of the civilian world itself can be a new experience for recent veterans. Learning to communicate the skills they acquired in the military into language that civilian employ-ers can understand can be a challenge. Helmets to Hard-hats (H2H) was formed for this reason and is dedicated to helping National Guard, Reserve, retired and transi-tioning active-duty military members connect to quality career and training opportuni-ties in one of America’s most challenging and rewarding fields – the construction industry.

info.helmetstohardhats.org

Soldier’sAngels

Soldiers’ Angels is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) non-profit providing aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and their families.

Founded by the mother of two American soldiers, its hundreds of thousands of Angel volunteers assist veter-ans, wounded and deployed personnel and their families in a variety of unique and effective ways.

Their slogan is, “May no soldier go unloved.” We’re behind you all the way Soldier’s Angels.

www.soldiersangels.org

APE Supports...

Adopt a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine

When you adopt you are committing to sending a card or letter each week, and

a minimum of one care package

a month.

CARL EDWARDS GOES APE!Yes. THAT Carl Edwards.

Jim Winn is our Fastenal representative at the APE headquarters in Kent WA. Fastenal is the APE vendor responsible for many of the parts involved in putting together a diesel impact hammer, vibratory driver/extractor etc.

When Jim went down to Florida for a Fastenal convention he had a chance to get a picture and autograph

with Carl Edwards, current points leader in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Tied with Tony Stewart.) Jim took his opportunity with Carl and got him to take a photograph with him holding a sign saying, “GO APE!”.

All of us at APE have to say (especially Wayne in the shop) that’s pretty cool Jim, much appreciated!

LET’S RETURN THE FAVOR...GO #60 & GO FASTENAL!

Contact: John White, President, American Piledriving Equipment [email protected]


APE Workwear

Advanced Styling Primal Strength

What began as your typical company t-shirt has evolved into a line of good lookin’, rough wearin’, PileBuck lovin’ construction wear found on jobsites from San Fran to Jersey City; from the Florida Keys to the Aleutians!

www.apeworkwear.comNewsletter2V8.indd 8 1/31/2012 2:10:09 PM

J & M

FO

UN

DATION EQU

IPM

EN

T

Hammer:S/N# 484308 [Year: 2000]Ram 16,000 lbs (7257 kg)Maximum stroke 4 ft (1219 mm)Rated energy 64,000 ft-lbs (86 kJ)

Power Unit: S/N# J20060606 [Year: 2000] Engine Caterpillar 3116TA; Power 230 HP (172 kW)Operating speed 2,600 rpmPrice FOB Kent, WAUSD $255,000.00Contact: [email protected]

APE Diesel Impact Hammer Model D36-26 (Light Version)

APE Diesel Impact Hammer Model D30-32

KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR EXPERIENCED EQUIPMENT...

DFI/PDCA Driven Pile Seminar Location & Date TBA (est. March 2012)ADSC Equipment EXPO & Technical ConferenceSan Antonio, TX (14-17 Mar 2012)PDCA 16th Annual Conference & ExpoAlbuquerque, NM (April 25-27 2012)DFI SuperpilePortland, OR (May 16-17, 2012)SEFE7: 7th Seminar on Special Foundations Engineering & Geotechnics/1st Foundation Industry & Geotechnics FairSao Paulo, Brazil (17-20, Jun 2012)37th Annual Conference on Deep FoundationsHouston, TX, October 16-19, 2012

KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR UPCOMING EVENTS...

J&M Model 160 Hydraulic Impact Hammer with J&M 230 Power Unit

For more go to: http://www.apevibro.com/wordpressclassifieds/ Contractors! Sell your equipment on www.apevibro.com. Contact: [email protected]

S/N# 200707528 [Year: 2007]Ram 7,938 lbs (3,600 kg)Stroke at maximum rated energy 135 in (343 cm)Maximum rated energy (Setting 4) 89,302 ft-lbs (121,076 Nm)Price FOB Kent, WAUSD $ $69,000.00Contact: [email protected]

S/N# 20000372 [Year: 1999]Ram 6,615 lbs (3,000 kg)Stroke at maximum rated energy 135 in (343 cm)Maximum rated energy (Setting 4) 74,750 ft-lbs (101,346 Nm)Price FOB Kent, WAUSD $47,000.00Contact: [email protected]

MEMBERMEMBER MEMBER

APE PROUDLY SUPPORTS THESEINDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS:


OCTAKONGThe Biggest Baddest Piledriver. Ever.

On December 8th 2011, the APE “Octakong” hammer drove it’s final pile to grade in front of a crowd of 200 people overlooking the South China Sea. Many Engineers, officials, contractors, and China T. V. Stations came to witness the final pile drive to grade. In total, 120 piles were used to create the east and west man-made islands for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project.

The 31 mile long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will link Lantau Island, Hong Kong at the Eastern point, across the mouth of the Pearl River Delta west to The District of Macau and neigh-boring Zhuhai in mainland China, using a series of bridge spans and tunnels. The tunnel and bridge system is similar to that of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the US. The 4.2 mile tunnel section will allow for passage of large container vessels to pass to and from the South China Sea into and out of the Delta. The tunnel and bridges will transition at either tunnel mouth constructed within the artificial islands. The islands are to be formed by two circular earth-filled cofferdams, each constructed with 72’ diameter steel piles as cells, interconnected by 37’ sheet pile, or wing walls, to complete the bulkhead.

To drive 72’ steel caissons, 60-70 feet into seabed for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge islands, APE con-ceived of eight Model 600 APE Super Kongs linked together to form one mas-sive vibratory piledriver, The Octakong.

This had never been done

before. The equipment to do the job had never been built before, never been tested before. Piles of such a diameter, let alone the wing walls, were on the drawing board, uncon-structed, barely fathomed. Overcoming the skepticism of the Chinese engineering community would take about 2 years of research, sweat and moxie; especially sweat.

The schedule benefits of driving cells one at a time as a single unit, in comparison to the traditional construc-tion method of constructing each cell individually driving circular sheet pile walls was enough to gain APE China consideration in the bidding process. Demonstrating the capability of the yet un-built equipment that would need to be built to drive these massive yet un-built piles would be a major leap of faith. Convincing the China’s Number One Marine Group, First Harbor Marine Group, First Harbor Engineering Bureau, the Chinese Communication Bureau and the Chinese government of the drivability of the piles themselves, each nearly 100% larger than the next largest pile ever driven, would be a major challenge.

APE had 2 successfully completed projects installing super large diameter cais-sons using multiple vibratory driver/extractors. In 2009, the APE Quad Kong drove 40’ diameter, 10” wall concrete piles to install 2 massive pile walls along the Yangtze River. The Quadkong comprised of four APE Model 400 vibra-tory driver/extractors and four APE Model 1000 power units to provide 4000 horsepower.


The pile walls were part of the $1.8 billion Yangtze Estuary Waterway Construction Project to deepen the chan-nel so that larger ships can get to deep ports in Shanghai. Another project, in the Pearl River in southern China in 2010, demonstrated the equip-ment driving 44’ diameter, steel caissons.

Also under their belt, APE had Aat de Neef and his team at APE Holland and Peter Middendorp of Allnamics Pile Testing Experts BV. Aat steered APE China through

rough waters along the way. Middendorp, GM of Allnam-ics, was able to successfully calculate the skin friction for the 22m diameter piles with the given soil conditions, and was able to do a drive-abil-ity study for this potentially record-breaking pile.

In November of 2010, Mid-dendorp was able to stand in front of 20 Chinese engineers and explain to them how this very accurate system works. Allnamics Pile Testing Experts convinced the Chinese contractor First Harbor Marine

Group China that a massive multi-vibro hammer could be used to drive 130 ft long, 72 ft diameter steel pipe piles weighing 600 metric tons each into the bed of the South China Sea. Combining APE’s hammer design, production and operation know-how with the pile driving simulation and installation know-how of Allnamics made it possible to show the feasibility of driving these gigantic piles into bot-tom of the sea to the required depth.

The contract was awarded and APE in Kent Washington headquarters began immediate manufacture of eight Model 600 Super Kong vibratory driver/extractors, or vibros. The vibros would be manu-factured in Kent; tested, partially disassembled and shipped, to be reassembled in China. Each vibro would be connected via fourteen gearboxes to regulate the timing on the vibratory power transmission, synchronizing the vibration of each of the vibros. American Piledriving Equipment gave gear vendor Excel Gear only 10 weeks to manufacture, test, assemble and ship. Any problems with the gearboxes on site, and the entire system would not work.

Fortunately, this was never an issue. “Thank you Excel!”

Other suppliers included Driveline Service of Portland Inc., NC Machinery, North-west Castings, Pacific Rub-ber, Machine and Fabrication Industries, and American Machine. Who says nothing’s made in America anymore?

On Sunday, May 15th 2011 at 5pm the world’s largest vibratory hammer drove the world’s largest pile in 7 and a half minutes! The first pile was 72 feet in diameter, 131 feet tall, and 500 US tons. The first pile took about 3 hours to place into the exact correct position. The diffi-cultly level of the placement was due to the fact that not only did the pile need to be in the exact correct GPS location, it also needed to be at the correct degree to line up the interlocks on each side of the pile. Therefore it was critical that these piles be driven into the ground with a high degree of precision. While the Octakong has the power to provide pile removal capability, we didn’t want to use it if we didn’t have to.

Over forty top engineers participated in the coordinat-ing of the driving procedure. Everybody was separated into

APE was successful in obtaining the additional contract for driv-ing 260 wing walls to be installed to join each of the 72’ diameter piles. APE China received an order to build two Model 200-6’s and perform a test with the two machines in tandem to drive 37’ wide 72’ long, shell piles.


many different teams with a total of sixty people involved directly to making sure the first pile drove successfully. In addition, most of the top engineers for the bridge project, safety administration, environmental protection agencies, government offi-cials, and top level engineers from the China Construction Communications Bureau came to watch the first pile go into the ground. Over eight boats and three ships were in the vicinity to witness the historic operation. Number 3 Marine also had a sand-pile-ship nearby that moved closer to allow for more people to stand and watch. Over 200 people came to see the first pile be driven.

Through the remainder of May, and through the second half of 2011, the Octakong matched promise and power with productivity. The entire project lasted just under seven

months, an incredibly fast time to make two full island foundations. ZPMC, the Shanghai based company who fabricated the piles, could hardly keep up pile produc-tion with the driving speed of the project. At the fastest point we drove three piles in a single day to grade, and seven piles in three days.

The largest pile was 72’ in diameter, 180’ high, and 660 US tons.

One of the biggest chal-lenges was learning how to drive 72’ diameter piles in complex soil conditions for the east island. When driving large diameter piles the soil condi-tions on one side of the pile can be very different than on the other side of the pile. At some points the right side of the pile was facing N47+ soil

while the left side only saw only N15. Soil layers are not flat, which is not usually not a problem when driving small diameter piles, but when faced with super large piles often one full side of the pile will cut through a soil layer for 10’ before the other side of the pile hits the same layer. This creates a big challenge when trying to get the pile to go into

the soil per-fectly straight.

APE can report that the Octakong hammer never had even one day of down-

time, something our APE team should be very proud of. The hammer never wasted even one day for repair and service.

The Octakong has 4,000 metric tons of drive force, is 502 metric tons in weight, and requires 9,600 HP to run.

At this printing, the 120 72’ diameter piles were all driven and the APE 200-6 tandem following right behind installing the last of the 37’ intercon-necting wing walls. As the next phase of the project progresses, these piles will be filled with sand, followed by construction of the islands’ interiors.

Says David White, APE Chi-na’s Managing Director, “It was a surreal feeling to watch the last pile go into the ground after nearly two years of research and planning. As the pile reached its final feet many surrounding boats launched fireworks and large cheering could be heard as soon as the machine was shut off.”

It was a company-wide accomplishment, including stellar support from our partners. Thank you every-body who worked so hard on this project!

Who says nothing’s made

in America anymore?


Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - three social media platforms you may know about - the three heavyweights.

APE views social media as a vehicle to new insights, an opportunity for an expanded dialog with the industry at large, outside of traditional channels. We’re jumping in

with both feet and we invite you join us.

APE has established accounts on all three platforms and we’re building ways of creat-ing useful content for founda-tions contractors of all types.

“I don’t care what Achton Kuster is doing!”, you say.Neither do we.

What we care about is the experiences of Piledrivers, Drillers, Bucks, Operators, Monks, Supervisors, Equip-ment Managers, etc. We see Social Media as a window into those experiences and an opportunity for American Piledriving Equipment to learn from them. Our equipment is refined and built around feed-back collected from jobsites

every day - that’s why its the best in the world.

“I don’t spend alot of time tweeting, fooling around on

Facebook, etc. But there’s a dialog to take part in online though these platforms and its growing. APE can learn from it, so that’s all I need to know about it. There’s a huge upside for APE and the whole industry,” says John White, President of APE.

Social media is more than just celebrities tweeting non-sense. Its a chance to define and engage in community dia-

log and tap resources beyond your company walls.

The secret treasure behind social media is you never know who you’re going to run into online, who you’re going to meet, or re-connect with.

Yes, social media does take a bit of time and consistent ef-fort, but anything worthwhile usually does, no?

APE GETS SOCIALThe Landscape is Changing.

There’s a dialog to take part in online though these platforms and its growing. APE can learn from

it, so that’s all I need to know about it. There’s a huge upside for

APE and the whole industry.”

WHAT IS THIS THING ANYWAY?It means: There is an RSS Feed available.RSS = Really Simple Syndication. It’s a method to broadcast and receive brief web-based ‘feeds’ (Blog text, headlines, audio, video, etc.) to subscribers. Subscribers collect feeds from various sources into one electronic

location, called a Reader or an Aggregator. Many mainstream software applications, such as Outlook, Firefox, Explorer offer RSS readers. There are stand-alone desktop readers and readers that feed into smartphone apps.Next time you see a click on it. You might learn something. Something like this...

John White, President American Piledriving Equipment, Inc.

You talkin’ to me?


SOCIAL MEDIA 101

Your 140 Character “Tweets” display on your ‘followers’’ Twitter pages. (Tweets = Messages or Announcements) Tweets also display on your own feed to be found through searches and when people view your Twitter page.

You ‘follow’ Twitter users (for example, @PDCAorg) with subject matter (content) that interests you. Their Tweets display on your Twitter page.

Your facebook ‘fan page’ is home base for your Facebook activity. (For example: http://www.facebook.com/apeincor-porated) Fan pages are used for companies, organizations and differ somewhat from personal pages. Facebook users who ‘like’ your page will read your ‘posts’ on their page. Other users ‘comment’ on your posts, or post their own. Think of each page as a room full of conversations.

LinkedIn starts with your ‘profile page’, a resume on steroids. From there, you add ‘connections’ as you might to your Rolodex. (Under 30? See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex) LinkedIn sug-gests ‘People You May Know’ to add to your ‘Network’. LinkedIn also allows Company pages where you can post ‘up-dates’, similar to Facebook & Twitter. You can also join and create ‘Groups’, based

on an interest or associated with some existing group, (For example, DFI). This is a great resource for getting a little insight into an issue that you need help with.

JOIN APE’s SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES ... www.facebook.com/apeincorporated

www.twitter.com/apeincorporated

www.linkedin.com/company/american-piledriving-equipment-inc-

Local Pile Drivers Union 2404 Teamed Up with APE

to Offer Pile School

Contact:FUTURE FOUNDATIONS

By American Piledriving Equipment for the Deep Foundations Industry

[email protected]

American Piledriving Equipment, Inc.7032 South 196th St.

Kent, Washington 98032(800) 248-8498(253) 872-0141

See Contact info for all APE locations on inside front cover.

www.youtube.com/user/APEincorporatedAmerican Piledriving Equipment Inc. is ahead of the curve when it comes to online video. APE has been collecting video for years. You can see lots of piledriving on the APE YouTube Channel...

APE 200-6 Time Lapse HME Construction for

United Grain Corp Project

200-6 Vibratory Hammer Construction

Time Lapse

APE Octakong Complete Process


JOIN APE’s SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES ... www.facebook.com/apeincorporated

www.twitter.com/apeincorporated

www.linkedin.com/company/american-piledriving-equipment-inc-

“I need a lightweight hammer with the heaviest ram you’ve got, to deliver the greatest possible energy per blow, used in the smallest possible leads for the greatest possible operating radius on a crane having the least amount of lifting capacity ... and I’ve got 1 line.”

GOT APE-mail?

GET APE-mail!FAX THIS FORM TO APE: (253) 872-8710OR

• E-mail a request to [email protected]• Call: (800) 248-8498

YES! Please add me to the APE mailing list:

Name: _______________________________________________

Company: ___________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________

City, State, Zip: ________________________________________

E-mail: ______________________________________________

Contact:FUTURE FOUNDATIONS

By American Piledriving Equipment for the Deep Foundations Industry

[email protected]

American Piledriving Equipment, Inc.7032 South 196th St.

Kent, Washington 98032(800) 248-8498(253) 872-0141

See Contact info for all APE locations on inside front cover.

J & M

FO

UN

DATION EQU

IPM

EN

T


DRIVING INNOVATION

FUTURE FOUNDATIONS

HEY PILE...

YOU’RE GOINGDOWN

J & M

FO

UN

DATION EQU

IPM

EN

T

(800) 248-8498www.apevibro.com


Future Foundations #2

Documents

Transcript of Future Foundations #2