You wouldn’t wait for a coker unit or a pulp mill to fail before inspecting and repairing the equipment. Why not provide the same level of proactive maintenance to the concrete structures that support your operations?
When it comes to process equipment, the oil and gas industry has turned proactive maintenance into a science. Rigorous schedules for inspections and maintenance optimize performance and maximize equipment life. This is just good business sense. After all, there are financial and reputational costs to unplanned downtime.
However, the same level of scrutiny is often not applied to the civil infrastructure that supports process equipment and industrial operations. Despite the beating that concrete structures take from weather, traffic and chemicals, inspections and upkeep are often a low priority. This creates a blind spot for operators — one that can have devastating consequences, including structural failure.
As industrial assets age and funding tightens, the need for proactive maintenance of concrete structures is becoming more critical than ever. With proper care and attention of their civil assets, owners and facilities managers can reduce costs and risks while getting more value from their concrete structures.
The High Cost of Deferred Maintenance
In the industrial sector, proactive maintenance of concrete structures is often pushed to the back burner by competing priorities and limited resources. Often, repairs are reactive and limited in scope, leading to a patchwork of fixes that never fully rehabilitate the deterioration.
When left unchecked, damage and deterioration will cause embedded metal corrosion. This, in turn, can result in cracking, spalling and, ultimately, structural failure. When this occurs, there’s more at stake than the operations and maintenance budget. Structural issues can increase risks to safety and productivity. For example, if overhead concrete delaminates and falls, it can cause injury and damage equipment.
Proactive Restoration Reduces Risk
Creating a proactive maintenance plan for civil assets extends the life of concrete structures by protecting them from the elements that cause damage, deterioration and defects. It also enables operators to break free from the repair-and-repair-again cycle that burns through time and money. And the good news is, operators don’t need to do it alone. By partnering with an experienced concrete restoration provider, they can protect their assets and decrease the cost of repairs without adding yet another task to their plates.
As a full-service civil contractor, Baker Gulf Coast Industrial has the expertise and capabilities to support industrial clients through the full life cycle of their projects. We have an entire service line, Concrete Solutions, that is devoted to concrete restoration, repair and protection of industrial assets.
Because we are a specialty contractor, we have the expertise and capabilities to provide our clients with an informed assessment of the current state of their concrete structures and a prioritized plan for upkeep. When deterioration is identified, we address the cause rather than patch up damaged spots. As a result, our clients can more confidently budget their capital dollars on higher-value projects and needs while getting more life from their structures.
Learn how the expert team at Baker Gulf Coast Industrial can help with your next project by visiting www.bakergci.com or contacting Rusty Robbins, Director of Business Development for Concrete Solutions, at (225) 465-5500 or robbinsr@bakergci.com.
