Ford’s $5. 6 billion BlueOval City complex in Stanton, Tennessee, will total about 10 million square feet when completed. Photo courtesy of Walbridge Technologies
Located 80 kilometers northeast of Memphis and named for the iconic Ford logo, BlueOval City’s 5-million-square-foot meetinghouse, the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center (TEVC), will manufacture an expanded line of F-electric series cars produced through South Korean development partner, SK Innovation, in a 4. 2-inch, million-square-foot BlueOval SK (BOSK) on-site facility. With ample housing for factories and supplier operations, BlueOval City will be “a vertically incorporated ecosystem. “according to Ford, which declined to speak to ENR for this article.
Ford will build its next-generation pickup truck in BlueOval City, which is expected to be completed by mid-2024. Photo courtesy of Walbridge Technologies
Everything about BlueOval City is important: from Ford’s $5. 6 billion investment to expand the nearly six-square-mile site, to its goals of generating about 500,000 cars a year and creating 6,000 jobs at full capacity.
Ford has also set ambitious carbon neutrality goals for BlueOval City. According to data provided through the company, an on-site wastewater treatment plant, combined with a water reuse and recycling system, will eliminate the meeting plant’s need to tap into new water sources. Once production begins, Ford will implement zero-waste-to-landfill processes to capture production fabrics and waste at an on-site collection center. The fabrics will be cared for and sent for recycling or processing, either at the plant or at offsite facilities.
Equally vital are the demanding situations that have been addressed through the Walbridge-led design-build team, tasked with building more than nine million square feet of high-tech vehicle and battery production facilities on an accelerated schedule that demands vehicle production to be accelerated. It will be up and running in early 2025, just 3 years after the start of preparation.
Crews moved nearly thirteen million cubic meters of soil to create the 3,600-acre site, shown here when painting began to place the concrete foundation. Photo courtesy of Walbridge Technologies
Chris Morgan, vice president of Walbridge’s mobility unit, says decades of experience with Ford on a variety of projects are a definite merit for making plans and executing such a large and exclusive effort.
“We know the work,” he says, Morgan. Es simply a large-scale project: the largest megaproject in our history.
Applying design-build to design and engineering partners with similar expertise has also proven beneficial, creating the collaboration needed for Ford milestones, driving design decisions, and adjusting plans as needed, a common occurrence given the immediate evolution of electric vehicle and battery technologies.
“Our day-to-day roles and jobs are well understood because we work extensively with Walbridge and Ford,” says Todd Rogus, senior assignment manager at Ghafari, a reference engineer for the BOSK battery factory. “This helped us make immediate breakthroughs in the design. “
Morgan notes that the design and construction also allowed the project’s major subcontractors to contribute.
“If we get stuck, have a problem, or want an artistic idea, we ask everyone to find a way to solve it,” he says.
Perhaps the most important detail in making BlueOval City a reality was the artisan workforce, and the task required a great deal of it. In the year leading up to the start of site preparation in early 2022, Walbridge mapped out an industry curve that Morgan likens to “a tidal wave,” identifying when capabilities and staffing would peak with around 4,000 employees on site.
Walbridge took advantage of any and all opportunities to identify and recruit a workforce that could meet BlueOval City’s not easy needs for quality and timelines. Efforts included local outreach through industry exhibits and contacts with the nearby Tennessee College of Applied Technology, as well as engagement with unions. nationally, backed by Ford’s commitment to implement a hard-working agreement on the project. Many local industries have proactively implemented forced learning systems to protect against staffing shortages.
When bringing subcontractors together, Morgan adds, “we had to strategically divide responsibilities because they were too big for a single company. When we call for tenders, we check their ability to manage the frames at the right price. “
Due to its remote location, the task relied heavily on off-site prefabrication. Photo courtesy of Ford
Preparing BlueOval City’s existing 3,600-acre parcel for the two production facilities required a major earthmoving effort totaling just under thirteen million cubic yards of dirt, 15 miles of anti-sediment fencing for existing streams and wetlands, and a physically powerful stormwater drainage formula. formula to make the site as sustainable and resilient as possible.
Walbridge has also installed more than 29 miles of underground pipes, traditional electrical systems, roads, a rail branch and a navigation area. Approximately 30,000 tons of structural metal and 600,000 cubic yards of concrete were needed for the metal-framed installations, either founded on thousands of 6- to 8-foot diameter caissons drilled at an average intensity of 70 feet to meet the region’s Category D seismic requirements.
Morgan calls the 5-million-square-foot TEVC assembly plant a “traditional automotive assembly facility,” albeit for a cutting-edge product. Designed through the SSOE Group, the facility will include a stamping plant, frame workshop, assembly line, administration and protection. offices, as well as related site application infrastructure. Greg Brogley, SSOE’s senior vice president of facilities operations, says all-electric mechanical appliances instead of herbal fuel reduce the generation of greenhouse fuels and nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollutants.
“We’ve also incorporated devices that will provide an exciting environment for Ford employees,” Brogley adds.
While Morgan says TEVC would have been a primary task for the team, BOSK amplified and expanded those technical challenges, given its unique processes and clean, dry room spaces supported by building systems designed to consistently deliver harsh environments.
“Add to that a tight timeline and a generation that the world needs to push up to mass production, and then boil it all down to a 4-million-square-foot box,” says Mike Ryan, senior vice president at Ghafari. an engaging adventure. “
To meet those requirements, the approximately 3,000-foot-long and 1,000-foot-wide production space of the building at the point of the floor is augmented through a mezzanine housing construction formula kit.
The task will use approximately 30 miles of underground pipes, 30,000 tons of structural steel and 60,000 cubic yards of concrete. Photo courtesy of Ford
Dave Green, Walbridge’s assignment manager, says the team implemented a “layered pie” to install the building systems in the 30 feet of pore space, descending from the back chord of the truss in stages with pipes, conduits, wiring and conduits.
“Everyone had a window and a time frame, going down 10 feet at a time,” Green says. “It turned out to be a very effective system. “
The same was true of the integration of the gigantic mechanical “backbone” of the tube that splits the formula in two. Manufactured in 10- to 20-foot sections to accommodate column spacing, the pipe was installed in series with the structural metal without the need for another crane.
Given BlueOval City’s relatively remote location, amenities relied heavily on off-site prefabrication, which reduced congestion at the peak activity of the site structure.
While other primary projects across the country are competing for fabrics and source chains are still plagued by pandemic-related issues, Green says Walbridge has adopted a “backwards” technique for ordering primary components, securing roofs, siding, air handling systems and switchgear before purchasing steel.
While Ford is also building the $5. 8 billion BlueOval-SK battery park in Kentucky, “we had to take a look at the capacity of the suppliers and contractors on any of the projects to make sure we weren’t impacting them,” he adds.
Karlos Melgar, Walbridge project manager for TEVC, adds that huge quantities of aggregates, building materials and appliances were purchased at the start of the project and stored on-site to ensure everything was available when needed. To achieve sustainability, an on-site concrete batching plant produced 600,000 cubic yards of concrete for both facilities, cutting off dozens of trucks on local roads.
“We have also signed agreements with two companies that rent equipment to set up yards with fleets available to meet the project’s wishes,” Melgar adds.
The application of a variety of assignment control and structural data modeling equipment across the team helped synchronize the moving parts of design and structure activities, helping the team manage large amounts of design knowledge and track the movement of fabrics and trucks, including, at any given time, Up to 50 metal deliveries per day.
Matt Kraft, senior vice president at Ghafari, adds that the team helped the design team stay as far ahead as possible in procedural adjustments related to the technology. “Some of the adjustments would be quite intense,” he says. We were striving to bridge the gap between our facilities and procedural teams to ensure a unified strategy and minimize surprises. “
With SSOE coordinating all BIM/CAD design for the campus, “we were able to minimize design and structure conflicts, saving Ford time, hassle and money,” Brogley adds.
According to Morgan, at the root of all that equipment is the basic detail of data sharing. A daily assembly provided a forum to review safety issues, scheduled activities, logistics, workflow adjustments, and milestones. The presence of Ford executives on site also ensured quick approvals when adjustments were needed.
“It sounds simple, but it’s the little things that do a smart job,” Morgan adds.
Weather, a variable no plan can control, has altered the facility’s structural schedule, with West Tennessee experiencing 3 times its overall annual rainfall in the project’s first year. Stormwater collection spaces and transient pumps helped keep ongoing excavation sites viable. to continue the activity, while extended hours and rearranged responsibilities made up for the lost time.
Both production facilities are more than 80% complete and closed. Photo courtesy of Ford
However, as Tennessee flooded, a drought in the upper Midwest brought the course of the Mississippi River to its highest point. This left many barges unable to reach the docks to unload huge volumes of materials, forcing them to scramble to find options. Transportation options per floor.
At the beginning of March, both production facilities were more than 80% complete and completely closed, and the task is now focused on application finishes and commissioning, as well as the installation of procedural apparatus through separate contractors.
Brogley praises the team-wide collaboration that simplified a highly complex, multifaceted task into an effective process, which included engaging with Ford on valuable engineering approaches that resulted in $227 million in construction-related savings.
The result, Brogley says, “is a much better end product for Ford’s production team. “
Walbridge’s Green admits that, at first, the scope and scale of BlueOval City seemed overwhelming. With the goal in sight, he adds, “it’s now starting to look general. “
You want to enable JavaScript on a limited number of articles over the next 30 days.
Click here to take the ENR Sud-Est survey on design firms
Click here to take the ENR Sud-Est Contractor Survey
Click to take the survey on ENR Sud-Est’s top specialty contractors