The Innovative IntegRex

Eastman Chemical Co. Building First-of-a-Kind Facility in South Carolina

By Scott Judy

An example of the Southeast's resurgent industrial construction market can be found in Columbia, S.C., where Eastman Chemical Co.'s Voridian division is working with CH2M Hill Lockwood Greene of Spartanburg, S.C., to build a first-of-a-kind manufacturing facility that will utilize what the owner calls a "breakthrough" technology.

The $100 million-plus facility, located at an existing plant site, will be the first full-scale plant in the world to utilize Kingsport, Tenn.-based Voridian's IntegRex technology process. The new technology was developed to produce PET resin more cost effectively, both in fewer steps and with a smaller plant footprint.

PET, or polyethylene terepthalate, resin is the plastics material used for water and soft-drink bottles.

Greg W. Nelson, vice president of technology for Voridian, told Engineering News-Record this development represented the first change in the manufacturing process of this material in about 30 years and said the new plant would provide "significant synergies."

For example, this new plant will have a capacity of 350,000 metric tons but will take up about half the building footprint of a conventional facility with a similar capacity, resulting in a capital investment that's about 50 percent of what it could be otherwise. In short, say Voridian officials, it's faster and cheaper to build and requires less real estate.

Engineering Effort

Like other industrial-type owners, Eastman/Voridian brought a wealth of its own engineering expertise to the job. Jim Harlan, vice president of operations support services, said the company - as it does on all projects - assigned more than 100 engineers and designers to develop the basic engineering package.

"That includes numerous operability/maintainability and safety reviews to make sure that we have a plant and a scope that is completely buildable and that can be started up and operate from day one at the design capacity and at the target quality," Harlan said.

Voridian normally invests between 3 and 5 percent of the total installed cost of the project on scope development, he added.

Pete Primm, president of Lockwood Greene's chemical process division, said Voridian's up-front scope engineering was helpful.

"Their front-end engineering package was extensive and very detailed - much more than we would normally see," he said. "They did an excellent job of painting the picture of what had to be done."

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Harlan said of his firm's efforts: "As an owner, we've got a huge responsibility to make sure that we bring a good scope and a qualified team. Even though this is a firm-bid project, we are heavily involved to ensure that we are supporting our contract partner in delivering what is a success for both companies."

Voridian also mitigated the project's risk by first building a "semiworks" plant, more or less a smaller version of the new technology. This enabled the company to produce some "hold-in-your-hand product" that it could show its customers, and it also educated the bidding contractors, Harlan said.

"Good" Secrets

With its extensive history and experience building facilities all over the world, Voridian has honed its process to three basic points, or "secrets to success": a good scope, a good team and a good start.

In choosing the contractor for the other half of its "good team" concept - which was solicited as a lump-sum bid for an engineer-procure-construct contract - Harlan said Voridian needed a low cost, innovation and a long-term commitment to the owner.

He explained that the PET industry is highly competitive, and the company measures its profit in half-pennies per pound of material. Moreover, the company has customer commitments, and therefore the project's schedule was immovable.

"We are looking for companies that have unique approaches," Harlan said. "Do they have integrated IT systems? Do they plan with a turnover system mentality? We look for folks who have done this before, who buy globally - (who do) all of those things that they can leverage into a low-cost offering."

He added that the search for a unique engineering effort was reflective of the company's investment in a breakthrough technology. "We wanted people who are excited about this, so we really pushed that we were unique and that we wanted a unique approach."

Lockwood Greene, which has engineered and built other first-of-a-kind facilities - a positive factor to Voridian - was able to come up with a few unique approaches that Voridian liked.

"We looked at ways that we could come up with innovative solutions to make the cost more competitive, while still meeting an aggressive schedule," Primm said. "It's a complex job, and time sensitive. They had to get done by a certain date to meet their market commitments."

One way was the use of a precast concrete exterior, while another was the use of auger-cast piles for the foundation - both of which were items Voridian had never implemented on one of its PET projects.

Harlan said the choice of precast - which only Lockwood Greene proposed - was especially important because it saved significant money and schedule over a structural steel building. "We're very pleased with the results," he added. "We were able to build that structure in a short period of time." The use of auger-cast piles, instead of driven piles, benefited the owner because the new facility was located directly next to an existing operation.

Tindall Corp. of Spartanburg supplied the precast, which was erected by Pre-Cast Erectors. Wayne Bros. performed the site preparation and Berkel installed the auger-cast piles.

In addition to the engineering and procurement efforts, Lockwood Greene is self-performing all mechnical, piping, equipment installation, electrical and steel erection work.

Good Result

Lockwood Greene also filled Voridian's third "secret to success:" a good start. The contract was awarded Feb. 8, 2005, and groundbreaking was held the next month - by which time sitework had already started.

With these keys secured, both parties are expecting a successful wrap-up to the project, which is scheduled to be operational by the fourth quarter of this year.

In the meantime, Harlan and Primm attribute any success achieved to date to a meeting of the companies' cultures.

"While that may sound a little warm and fuzzy, it's very true, and you don't have to look any further than safety to see if they're on the same page," Harlan said. "Culturally, we're looking for folks who have the behavior-based safety plans in place, they engage the owner in their safety programs and safety is indeed their first priority every day.

"Culturally, if you can't agree on that, then you're going to have a hard time agreeing on the basis for a change order. So we really hold that culture flag pretty high."

Primm added: "It's just a matter of how they operate and how we operate. They are very client-focused, and we're able to resolve problems as a team."

So far, Voridian feels that its time-tested project approach is producing the expected result.

"We've been pleased with Lockwood Greene," Harlan said. "From the usual metrics - is it safe, is it on time and are you getting the costs that you need? - the answer's yes."

Eastman/Voridian's investment in the area is definitely a positive for South Carolina, and a representative example of what possibilities remain for the Southeast's industrial development market.

Said Primm: "For Eastman Chemical to invest this much money in a revolutionary new technology and in the United States, in South Carolina, was a great thing. That was a good message that they're still evolving, and they're investing money in the United States - which is not the case with a lot of companies."