The Longer the Better for Adua Engineering

17 January 2007

Adua Engineering supplied trough girders, made from XLERPLATE® steel, for a major bus transitway in Sydney’s west.

Specialist steel fabrication company Adua Engineering has continued a long run of success by delivering the first of two ultra-long curved trough girders for Melbourne's Eastlink project.

Provision of trough girders made from XLERPLATE® steel for the 39 kilometre Eastlink motorway project is a major breakthrough for Adua, whose workshops are at Riverstone on Sydney's north western outskirts, more than a thousand kilometres from the construction site.

If employee numbers were the basis of any formal ranking of specialist steel fabrication companies, then Adua Engineering's name would not appear towards the top of the list.

Its head count may be just a fraction of that of its competitors', but the company has consistently won key contracts, especially on rail and road infrastructure projects, for more than 30 years.

"We have built up a reputation as a specialist fabricator, particularly for bridges, but most of that work has been in the Sydney region," Adua Engineering Contracts Manager, Craig Hogarth, said.

"We don't advertise, but word of mouth in the construction industry has been enough to keep our order book healthy. We also have a record of successful steel bridge completion for NSW RailCorp and the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority."

Recent Adua work has included high profile projects such as bridges associated with the Parramatta Railway Station redevelopment, 50 toll gantrys for the M7 motorway, work on the Cross City Tunnel and provision of long girders for a bus transitway in Sydney's west.

"The Eastlink work was attractive to us and our bid to the Thiess John Holland joint venture was obviously competitive, even though we had to factor in the cost of moving massive girders from Sydney to Melbourne," Craig Hogarth said.

The steel trough girders will provide an overpass on the new motorway which is scheduled to open in 2008. Once in position they will be topped with pre-cast concrete panels and a road surface.

Adua Engineering's blue chip client base, developed since the company was established by current managing director Phil Bonanni in 1971, is one reason for the success of the business.

Others are to be found in the skilled and stable workforce Adua has developed and in the key relationships it has established with its suppliers and sub contractors.

The Eastlink girder project required close co-operation from Adua's suppliers and contractors, from BlueScope Steel, its distributor, OneSteel, RED Abrasive Blasting and Protective Coatings and specialist haulier Rex Andrews Transport.

"We always use steel from BlueScope Steel which we source through OneSteel at Wetherill Park," Craig Hogarth said.

"It's important to have a relationship with key suppliers where you have total trust in their delivery performance and in the quality of the steel they provide. With BlueScope Steel it's just a matter of picking up the telephone to get an honest and reliable update on lead times.

"We take a meticulous approach to quality," he adds. "Apart from the RTA and Railcorp audit processes, we have our own quality system and also invest time and effort in research and development, particularly relating to welding processes.

"We've never had a quality issue with XLERPLATE® steel and when other issues have arisen BlueScope Steel have alerted us before we've even become aware of it ourselves. They informed us recently for example, that a plate ordered for the Eastlink project had been cut to the wrong dimensions."

"By notifying us early in the process we were able to adjust our plans and make use of it elsewhere in the job. "

"There's also a documentation system which lets us keep track of every piece of XLERPLATE® steel that we order, from when it leaves the steel mill to when and where it is finally put in place as part of a bridge structure."

Adua Engineering achieved this level of traceability by developing its own documentation system to build on the information provided with all XLERPLATE® steel.

"We're using about 400 tonnes of 350 Grade L15 XLERPLATE® steel for the Eastlink job," Craig said. "It's in various thicknesses from 16mm to 40mm with the heat treatment numbers marked on every plate even after it is profiled for us by OneSteel."

"If the paperwork gets separated from the job there's a very user friendly BlueScope Steel website that I can use to confirm the information that I need."

Heat treatment markings on the XLERPLATE® steel used at Adua Engineering also serve a very practical role during the fabrication process.

"We use the consistent placement of the marking on every sheet as a reference point when we are positioning them for welding," Craig said.

"On the Eastlink job the girders are slightly curved, there are subtle differences in the profiling, especially of the smaller pieces and the positioning is crucial."

After fabrication, the Eastlink girder sections are delivered to local St Mary's paint shop, RED Abrasive Blasting and Protective Coatings, where they were blasted and painted.

The girder sections in lengths from 21.5 to 38.5 metres are transported by road on special rear steer jinkers built by Adua Engineering for their long term carrier, Rex Andrews Transport.