Project: Titan America Penk5 Cement Plant
Client: Titan America LLC
Location: Medley, Florida
Construction Period: 2003 – 2004

Zachry began work on the Pennsuco Modernization Project in 2003. The project required Zachry to design and build a new 5,000 tons-per-day cement plant and furnish balance of plant utility engineering and construction services for Titan America.

The new dry-process cement plant was designed to produce a higher-quality product for Titan America’s customers, lower production costs, and reduce emissions to the environment. The Pennsuco Modernization Project has been called an “industry milestone” because of its rapid progression from conception to completion.

Zachry completed construction of the multimillion-dollar project in April 2004, two months ahead of schedule. The 5,000 tons-per-day facility replaces two wet process lines. The existing cement grinding facilities, along with the existing cement storage and handling systems, will remain in place in support of the new plant.

Titan management attributes the Pennsuco project construction success to a combination of strong teamwork, intelligent engineering and sound scheduling. F.L.Smidth and Zachry both praised Titan America for early site preparation and for pre-project planning that contributed to the project’s success.

The project was not without its share of challenges, however. Because of the high water table in Florida, Zachry had to pump out thousands of gallons of water before pouring the concrete. At one point, Zachry was pumping 12,000 gallons of water per minute to enable the concrete pour.

Despite the challenge posed by the shallow water table, Zachry was able to pour the foundations for the preheater by February 2003, and was out of deep water by mid-May 2003.

Zachry credits much of their success to the Zachry Project Execution Planning Process ® (ZPEPP), a project management system that maintains focus on the execution plan. Zachry’s team of experienced workers also contributed to increased efficiencies during the construction phase of the project. We estimate that 80 percent of the project’s workers, many of them from the local area, had worked on prior Zachry jobs. That experience – and the workers’ enthusiasm at being asked to work for Zachry again - contributed to an efficient and safe project.