Flegg’s Top 3 Most Complex Machinery Moves


12 July 2022
Flegg - Flegg’s Top 3 Most Complex Machinery Moves

Machinery moving projects come with intricacies and complexities. That’s just the nature of the work. From practical/physical issues and operational concerns, to commercial considerations, the chances are, a project will involve multi-faceted factors.

Most of the projects we take on often involve several parties too, sometimes over different geographical locations. This alone can bring about unpredictabilities and unforeseen challenges.

The big question is, how do you maintain and deliver quality amongst all of these complexities?

At Flegg, we’ve built our business on the knowledge and experience to easily take on these types of projects. We have systems to manage, evaluate and work with any challenges, rather than against them. We ensure all eventualities are assessed and prepared for. We run thorough risk assessments, and we prioritise communication with the client.

In this article, we’ve selected three complex projects from our portfolio to give you an idea of the types of challenges we’ve dealt with, how we’ve managed them, and how we’ve completed them with high-quality results for the client.

1.   Global leader critical power distribution – UK to Sweden

This high-profile project involved moving oversized, heavy, and valuable switchgear equipment from the UK to a receiving site in Sweden.

The receiving site was a brand-new facility. But the delivery and installation phase would see the switchgear arriving on-site during construction. The first challenge here being the trades and contractors present on site. So, it was vital that arrival on site was coordinated and managed properly.

The layout of the site and the building entrance meant that the equipment had to arrive in sequence to avoid delays. It was agreed that the trailers would be held at an off-site location and called in as required. This involved hours of logistics and planning, as our team had to consider the legislation for oversized loads across various countries.

As well as physically getting the equipment transported to Sweden, Flegg was also required to provide lifting and handling services to offload and move the items safely into the building. This was an exciting element of the project, and it led to Flegg designing and providing a lifting frame used in Sweden to expedite the lifting activities.

Our team were also involved with the design of the switchgear and provided advice on the location and types of lifting points, as well as tie-downs required for securing onto trailers.

Now for the biggest challenge of the project – and one that was completely unforeseen: the COVID-19 pandemic. This came shortly after being awarded the project and naturally led to significant delays in the site construction.

The delays also pushed the project outside of the Brexit deadline, adding the extra complications of freight documents and documentation for British workers in EU territory. Not to mention the ever-changing situation with Covid travel restrictions.

This added a great deal of additional complexity and risk to the project for all involved. But thankfully, through collaboration, experience and continuous communication with the client and third parties, the job was safely completed on time without any significant delays.

You can read the full case study here.

3.   Multinational supplier of cardboard packaging – Scotland

This project was for an existing client of ours; a multinational manufacturer of cardboard packaging products. It involved the construction of a state-of-the-art facility in Scotland and the installation of several new machines. The installation included brand new BOBST 4 colour, 6 colour, 820 and 924 printers alongside a new Fosber corrugating line.

For Flegg, the project should have been a reasonably simple “lift and shift”, but the pandemic hugely affected the delivery causing delays.

In Scotland, the restrictions effectively shut down construction sites. Originally meant to commence in spring 2020, Flegg did not commence site works until December 2021.

Complications revolved around a particularly demanding principal contractor (PC) and trying to get a definitive start date and programme from the client. Flegg had to give much more project management time than expected, particularly because of the PC. Challenges arose from the need to undertake site-specific health screening, and issues with floor loadings that required significant input from Flegg’s senior team and structural engineers.

Works are still scheduled to take place in 2023 to relocate machinery from their existing factories into their final position.

We know we’re not the only company affected by the pandemic and Brexit-related issues; many of us are still grappling with the aftershocks. But in our industry, we expect and thrive on unpredictabilities. It’s what ignites the fire in our bellies, keeps us learning, and challenges us to become the best service providers to our clients.

If you’d like to chat with the Flegg team about an upcoming moving project, we’d be happy to assist.