$12 Million Fontana Facility Called Pacesetter in Transloading Industry; Building Handles Five Rail Spurs.

FONTANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 1999--A new $12 million building in Fontana, featuring the diversity of a concrete floor that could handle major airliners and that admits five rail spurs, yet is complemented by the precision of two computerized 30-ton cranes, is being called the most state-of-the-art rail transloading facility in North America.

Recently completed by Oltmans Construction Co. of Whittier, Calif., the 120,000 sq. ft. headquarters for Budway Trucking is located north of Interstate 10 just east of Interstate 15 at l3600 Napa St. The property was formerly owned by Kaiser Steel and is contiguous to the California Speedway in Fontana.

"With five rail spurs extending through our building, we can accommodate 60 rail cars at a time. No distributor runs that much rail into a building. That's why we can transport 125 loads of steel a day," said Dan Heykoop, director of business planning for Budway.

Budway's primary activity is the receiving, storing and transporting of 33,000-38,000 pound rolls of cold rolled and galvanized finished steel used to make desks, cabinets, conduit and fence posts.

Heykoop explained that Budway's new facility was designed and built with the necessary strength to quickly and accurately unload, re-load and deliver the product.

Massive steel rolls weighing as much as 52,000 pounds arrive aboard rail cars along five rail spurs from such leading customers as USS-CAPS (a joint venture of U.S. Steel and Pohang Steel of Korea) via Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroads.

"Having the capacity to handle two railroads serving us means we're never down," Heykoop declared.

During the evening two cranes unload the steel rolls from 40 rail cars in just six hours. During the day the same cranes, equipped with 4,000-pound hooks, lift coils off the floor and place them on flat bed trucks for delivery.

Oltmans Construction Co. erected the building not only to hold the massive weight of up to 3,600 steel rolls, but to exacting standards that enable the computerized cranes to smoothly move to and fro, Heykoop said.

"The building, by necessity, has no interior walls. To solve the inherent sheer and seismic issues, Oltmans built a dozen moment frames, using 36-inch support columns, each anchored by 35 yards of concrete. These columns rise out of a 10-inch thick, double reinforced concrete floor that can hold 32 million pounds of steel. A separate system supports the cranes, providing a 90-foot span and 39-foot clearance," Heykoop said.

Designed by Facilities Engineering of Anaheim, the heart of the material handling system are two computerized cranes, powered by electric motors that delicately move along two parallel rails on either side of the building.

"These are the biggest cranes in town, bigger than the local steel processors," said Heykoop.

An unusual feature of the cranes are the hoist attached cabs which enable them to move 350 feet per minute.

Ken Smith, a crane operator for Budway, said the new single hoist system is high tech compared to the company's earlier system.

"This is computer assisted. Previously, workers on the ground had to find the appropriate coil and manually hook it up to a crane. This system allows me to do most of the work alone," Smith said.

Heykoop explained that computers in the company's Dispatch Department identify the proper coil for each customer. This information is electronically transmitted to crane operators, each of whom has a laptop computer. The crane operator then moves his equipment to the precise aisle and coil, hooks it and moves it to an awaiting truck for delivery.

Computers also track all loads to be delivered and to what destination. A pneumatic system fires a Bill of Lading from Dispatch to the crew on the loading floor.

Heykoop uses a bar code gun to verify that the right load is on the right truck and that the load is complete. He then sends the Bill of Lading back to dispatch which marks the load out.

"In trucking, documentation is everything. Our computer system tracks whether, when and where we achieve proof of delivery (POD). I can look at the computer and see what's been delivered and what hasn't," said Heykoop.

He added that computers also control the top speed of trucks for safety and economies.

On the strength of its building features, notably its heavy duty floor and rare dual rail capacity, Heykoop is attracting major manufacturers who cannot afford down time.

He revealed that this month Alcoa Aluminum and Anheuser Busch will begin transporting product through the new Budway plant.

"The strength of our building turns out to be its critical feature. Oltmans Construction made it happen. The steel columns that hold up the high-speed cranes, in particular, were erected to exacting specifications. Oltmans built them without a hitch.

"A top marketing official for Burlington Northern Santa Fe said at a recent industry meeting that our facility is the most advanced of its kind in North America," Heykoop concluded.