Ft. Wayne Trip- Dylan Cook

The highlight of this past week by far was our trip to The General Motors Ft. Wayne assembly plant where they produce the GMC and Chevy Sierras and Silverados . The trip started out Wednesday evening with a dinner at a nice restaurant, which led to a most of the group going out playing pool and hanging out afterwards.

The next morning we got to Barton Malow’s trailer village where we went through the safety training. After getting our stickers we loaded into the vans and went around the assembly plant campus. We first took a look at some “smaller” (30,000 SF) additions to the plant that were be used as Logistical and storage areas. These were almost fully complete and were to be turned over to GM soon.

After that we drove to the larger addition that was the main attraction for the trip. First we looked at the concrete pour that was being placed that day. The pour was only a small part of the total addition, which is almost a million square feet all together. Due to the specifications and nature of the pour, we looked at the metal fiber mesh that was imbedded in the concrete to strengthen the finished slab once it is cured. This was required because they needed the necessary strength, but could not have rebar placed in the slab. This was most interesting to me because I have had some experience working with a concrete company last year for a previous internship.

We then went up to the roof of the large addition to see what was going on up there. It was very informative to see the different layers and steps in takes to get from a corrugated metal deck to the finished product with insulation layers and the waterproof membrane.

The day ended with lunch and a PowerPoint presentation that Glen gave us on the current work they were doing there.  It was a very informative trip and I know that there are plenty of things that I will be able to take away from this. I wanted to give thanks to Glen and Derek for being excellent hosts and for Jon, Yesi and Alex for organizing the trip. I also can’t forget about Gus, who was very informed on the projects and the various processes of the concrete pour.