Efficiency Slide Rail helps Battle Creek, Jackson (Michigan) contactors out of tight spots

Every contractor prefers installing underground utilities in wide open spaces where they can open cut and slope to required specs.  Rarely is this the case when repairing or upgrading in-town utilities.

When sloping is not feasible, contractors turn to the old standbys like trench boxes or steel sheeting.  Sometimes, even these standard applications are not feasible.  What then?

Efficiency Slider Rail keeps excavation “parked” close

Hoffman Brothers, Inc. of Battle Creek, Michigan, recently installed a new pre-cast manhole over an existing storm sewer line…right in the middle of the Garfield Street parking lot in front of the Federal Office Center in downtown Battle Creek.  Hoffman needed to keep the excavation as tight as possible so the parking lot could stay open for the federal government employees who park in the lot.

Needing a custom shoring solution, Hoffman contacted Efficiency Production, Inc. - the country’s leading manufacturer of trench shielding and shoring.  Using a 4-sided 16 x 16 ft. Slide Rail System rented from Efficiency, Hoffman was able to excavate a pit 18 ft. deep to reach the existing 8 in. storm line. The entire excavation took up only a small area, and the parking lot was able to stay open!

“We would have had a mess everywhere had we not used Slide Rail,” comments Terry Fryer, Hoffman’s Foreman on the project.  “The system worked great, exactly as we expected.  It went in and came out very easily and we were able to keep the cut just a few feet from the system,” he adds.  It was Fryer’s first time using the innovative shoring system.

“Dig and Push” system reduces over-excavation

Efficiency Slide Rail is a component shoring system comprised of steel panels (similar to trench shield sidewalls) and vertical steel posts.  Slide Rail is installed simultaneously as the trench or pit is excavated by sliding the panels into integrated rails on the posts–either double or triple rails depending on needed depth–then pushing the panels and posts incrementally down to grade as the pit is dug; a process commonly referred to as a “dig and push” system. 

Slide Rail helps Jackson contractor excavate one foot from road!

In Jackson, Michigan, Jule Swartz & Sons, Inc. recently install a new pre-cast concrete sewer lift station one foot from the curb of Seymour Street, buy shoring the 14 x 14 four-sided pit with Efficiency Slide Rail, then excavating 20 ft. deep.

“The Slide Rail worked real well, it was great for the tight space,” said Albert Swartz, President and Co-Owner of the company.  “We didn’t need to over-excavate.”

This was the first time Swartz had used Efficiency’s Slide Rail System.  On other past projects, Swartz has stacked trench boxes to get down to 20 ft. depths, but has had difficulties removing the boxes.  “Slide Rail was ideal because we could handle the system’s panels and posts separately and lift them with our normal equipment, in this case a Kamatsu PC300,” Swartz added

Swartz was able to install the shoring system, lay the pre-cast lift station, and remove the system all in three days.  Swartz added, “The project engineer from Elite Engineering commented how clean and smooth our install of the system was, and he was surprised how quickly we were able to finish the entire project.”

Established in 1947 by Ed and Hollis Hoffman; Hoffman Bros., Inc. currently employs 100 employees, and owns and operates over 100 pieces of construction equipment.  They are proud members of the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association.

Hoffman Bros. Inc. was able to install a manhole structure right in the middle of busy downtown Battle Creek, Michigan, parking lot without disrupting business with the help of a four-sided Slide Rail System from Efficiency Production, Inc.	Efficiency Slide Rail is a dig & push system, allowing contractors to excavate and install the shoring at the same time; saving a significant amount of time and money.
A four-sided Slide Rail System from Efficiency Production, Inc. allowed Jule Swartz & Sons, Inc. to install a lift station one foot from the curb of Seymour Street in Jackson, Michigan.	Slide Rail is advantageous because it is installed and removed by its components which keeps the total shoring system to a manageable weight easily handled by typical equipment.