ASAP Group welcomes experienced project managers Michael Bowen for ASAP Installations LLC and Elizabeth (Beth) Brown for ASAP Specialty Foundations LLC to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding list of projects and strong company growth.
Bowen brings over 30 years of nationwide experience in the construction industry and possesses a vast experience in managing from conception through conclusion a diversity of projects, including roadways, bridges, dams, utilities, power plants, site packages, and Corps of Engineering work. Prior to joining ASAP Group, Bowen held positions such senior project manager, general manager and operations manager with Lyons Construction, Tetra Tec, Morgan Corp, HRI Bridge Co., Hubbard Construction, Co., and Middlesex Company, Inc. “Michael’s advanced project management experience and vast knowledge in foundations made him the top choice for the position”, adds vice president of ASAP Installations LLC, Kerry Lopez.
Brown has nearly 20 years of civil engineering and project management experience, with particular expertise in specialty areas including, but not limited to, tiebacks, ACIP/CFA piling systems, micropiles, permeation grouting, helical piles, earth retention systems using both sheet piling and soldier pile and lagging and conventional concrete pit underpinning, to name a few. Her most recent position prior to joining ASAP Group entail project manager at Keller North America (formerly Moretrench Group later acquired by HB/Keller) for nearly 10 years. “Beth’s knowledge of the market, her expertise with our work and her superb work ethics will allow us to grow our scopes and position ourselves as market leaders”, adds vice president of ASAP Specialty Foundations LLC, Stephen Dimino.
In addition to people power, ASAP Group is adding top machine power! ASAP Group is pleased to announce a substantial increase in its fleet of construction equipment with 2 grout plants with silo’s, a 120-ton crawler crane, a PMI sheet piler, an excavator mounted TEI drill mast and two Comacchio drill rigs. We are also finalizing the construction of a brand-new second-generation ASAP SheetpilerTM. With the purchase of this new equipment, the Group would be increasing its capacity by 50% before June of this year. “These additions enable us to service all of our existing and new customers in our expanding home market and creates opportunities to expand into the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast areas”, adds Den Tuinder.
About ASAP-Group LLC
ASAP Group is an all-round partnership of foundation companies with ASAP Installations LLC specializing in sheet pile installation based on patented technology and equipment developed in Europe; and ASAP Specialty Foundations LLC and ASAP Engineering LLC specializing in a broad variety of shoring and foundation support and value-engineering solutions. ASAP Group is a family-owned business based on relationships, trust, competence, technology and sustainability. Visit www.asapgroup.com.
To learn more about the company, its services, or for more information, contact Ed Bisono at ebisono@asapgroup.com.
ASAP Installations LLC, which prides itself on providing an innovative approach to sheet piling for over 13 years, has been retained by Plaza Construction Group Florida to work at the Royal Caribbean Corporate Headquarters project currently under construction at Dodge Island, Port of Miami.
“We are excited to be part of laying the support structure for the foundation that will showcase this incredible building and to be working with Plaza Construction and their team to make this mega project a reality”, says chief executive officer of ASAP Installations LLC, Simon Den Tuinder. “ASAP Installations will design, furnish and install the sheet piles and bracing system required for both the main tower and garage structure; all together 1,118 linear feet of temporary braced sheet piles”, adds vice president of operations Kerry Lopez.
A one-of-its kind development in the port of Miami, the Royal Caribbean Corporate Headquarters will energize the area with 350,000 square feet of new construction and the potential of creating nearly 2,000 jobs for the area.
About ASAP Installations LLC
ASAP Installations LLC is a sheet pile installation company based on patented technology and equipment developed in Europe. Now part of ASAP Group, an all-round partnership of foundation companies with ASAP Specialty Foundations and ASAP Engineering specializing in a broad variety of shoring and foundation support solutions. ASAP Group is a family-owned business based on relationships, trust, competence, technology and sustainability. Visit www.asapgroup.com. To learn more about the company, its services, or for more information, contact Ed Bisono at ebisono@asapgroup.com.
ASAP Installations LLC is proud to announce the introduction of the second generation ASAP Sheetpiler.
Ten years after the introduction of the ASAP Sheetpiler in the United States, we have taken our experience in driving tens of miles of sheet piling in the South East and created a new custom designed and custom-built Sheetpiler to serve our clients even better.
The second generation has improvements in hydraulic systems. Power-pack for the vibratory hammer and controls so we can install sheet piling even faster and more accurate for our projects.
On September 28th, the ASAP Sheetpiler was officially presented at the ABC contractor’s event at the Miami Dolphins / Hard Rock Stadium and created excitement with a lot of our (potential) clients.
ASAP Installations is your one-stop-shopping sheet pile supplier: we install, remove, supply by sale or rental and design all your sheet-piling needs, including pre-drilling of hard soils. Our crews and equipment strive for the best and most cost-efficient solutions for our growing client base.
ASAP Installations LLC, based in Lutz in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, was established in 2006 as a specialist steel sheet piling subcontractor by company president Simon den Tuinder. Despite the market downturn, it has built up a fleet of four piling rigs with four crews by persuading general contractors of the benefits of outsourcing piling to a specialist.
“As a specialist, we can do sheet piling installation more quickly and more economically than anyone else,” Simon den Tuinder says.
This capability has been significantly enhanced with the purchase in December 2009 of a Liebherr LRB 125 piling rig, which has subsequently proven its value on numerous assignments.
More force equals more productivity
“We needed a high production machine because we had a contract installing nine miles of sheet piles at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach for the US Army Corps of Engineers,” he explains. While a conventional crane-based piling rig with a free-hanging hammer can look to install maybe 20 pairs of sheets a day, at Eglin ASAP’s LRB 125 rig – fitted with a Liebherr 2323 VML high frequency vibratory hammer with variable moment – achieved a maximum production rate of 75 pairs of sheets a day, equivalent to 300 ft. ASAP initially took the machine on a lease deal last summer from Liebherr Nenzing Crane Company. After a successful trial period, ASAP went ahead and purchased the machine.
Conventional vibratory hammers drop only with the force of gravity and are pulled back up with a cable. On Liebherr’s LRB series piling rigs, the hammer slides from top to bottom on a fixed leader that pulls the hammer down at the same time as vibrating. The LRB 125, the smallest model in the series, gives a downforce equivalent to 33,700 lbs – at least triple the downforce offered by conventional free-hanging hammers.
“We like this machine because not only does it offer high production, but also the additional downforce means we can penetrate harder ground,” Simon den Tuinder says.
In addition, the rigid mast system means a lot less deflection than conventional telescopic leader piling rigs, which ensures straighter piles and minimal readjustment required during the driving operation.
After completing at Eglin, ASAP’s new rig again proved its merits in the Everglades in January, installing steel sheet piles for a South Florida Water Management District stormwater control project. The power of the LRB 125 was able to penetrate a layer of hard rock.
“Typically, conventional sheet piling equipment could not have penetrated that rock. With the LRB 125, we were able to chip away and toe the pile into the rock, rather than just sit on top of it. Making the foundations more solid like this increases the strength of the structure,” says Simon den Tuinder.
Mobility enhances use
It is not just the speed and strength of the machine that makes it so useful to ASAP, however. It is also highly mobile and, pound for pound, significantly more compact than an equivalent lattice boom crane.
As a specialist, ASAP takes on jobs all over the state of Florida, sometimes quite small and lasting just a few weeks. “For transport, we just take off the vibratory hammer and fold back the
leader. There is no dismantling the boom, like on a crane. It is much easier and quicker to move between jobs.”
On site, too, the LRB 125 has proved itself a nimble mover. In February ASAP put it to work on a Florida Department of Transportation project on I-75/I-275 in Tampa, where new exit ramps are being built to State Road 56. ASAP installed a series of six coffer cells, each 30ft square.
Sheet piles provided a structure that could be excavated to enable the installation of utilities by micro-tunneling from within the pit. The rig was compact enough to set up inside each cell, install three sides and then walk back to complete the last side from the outside. “We do not need a lot of space to set up,” he says.
“Moving between cells was easy too. Where there was an overpass to go under, it was simple to fold back the leader to reduce the machine’s height”, he says. “Although when navigating slopes the hammer would also be removed to ensure maximum stability”.
Stability of the Liebherr LRB series is also improved by having a lower center of gravity than comparable machines. This achieved by having the hydraulic hoses move up and down with the
hammer without routing them over the top of the leader.
ASAP’s machine is now returning to the Everglades for further work with South Florida Water Management District.
Adding versatility
The flexibility of the Liebherr LRB 125 also opens new possibilities for ASAP as it’s a combination piling and drilling rig, delivering from 33,200 ft-lb to 88,500 ft-lb of torque. This depends on rotary – a performance unrivaled by any other machine in its class. The LRB can also run a hydraulic impact hammer.
Says Simon den Tuinder: “We can put an auger or a press-in system on this machine too. So if the ground is too hard to install the sheets we can pre-drill, or if the client does not allow vibrating then we can use the press-in system. This means we can offer an even more complete package to general contractors – vibrate, pre-drill or press in.”
As well as the standard Liebherr LRB 125, with an effective leader length of 51 ft, Liebherr also offers an LRB 125 XL with a 64 ft leader.
Excerpt taken from For Construction Experts.
In 2006, ASAP Installations, LLC was established in Tampa, FL. to target the state’s market for the installation of steel piling. Since then, ASAP has developed into one of the market leaders in the installation of sheet piling, H-piles and tubular steel piles in the southeastern part of the U.S. This quick growth has been accomplished by hiring talented and experienced people in combination with introducing a new sheet piling technology to the market.
This new technology, culminating in the ASAP Sheetpiler machine, was developed in-house with the company’s Dutch partners, the Sterk Group.
The Sterk Group has been in the pile driving business since 1882 in The Netherlands, a country of which 60 percent lies below sea level. The key factor in the success of the ASAP Sheetpiler is the combination of vibratory installation with hydraulic downforce and a telescopic boom, which creates a highly flexible, highly productive sheet pile installation machine with minimal impact on the environment as far as noise and vibrations are concerned.
Conventional sheet pile installation production is typically limited by size (moment and horsepower) of the vibratory hammer. Because of its unique design, the ASAP Sheetpiler allows an additional downforce of up to 17 tons to be applied through the telescopic boom, thereby dramatically improving production. The design also allows for direction adjustment to keep the sheet plumb continuously during installation. The ASAP Sheetpiler has proven itself capable of productions to up to three times that of conventional installation methods on large projects over the past few years, according to company president, Simon den Tuinder.
“We performed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Eglin Air Force Base where we installed a total of nine miles of sheet piles with productions of over 400-wall feet per day, reducing the overall project schedule by more than four months,” he noted.
Another advantage of the unique machine is that it uses a patented driving device capable of high-frequency vibrations without the typical heavy vibrations inherent with conventional vibratory hammers during start-up and shut-down. This variable moment feature avoids vibration energy being applied near the soil’s resonant frequency, avoiding damage to surrounding structures. The system is extremely suitable in areas where existing structures are fragile.
“In these kinds of situations, the ASAP Sheetpiler is a good alternative to the much more expensive press-in systems,” den Tuinder said. “On several occasions we have been able to work with owners and general contractors to use the ASAP Sheetpiler in combination with vibration monitoring, in lieu of a press-in system, to successfully complete the project in a faster and more cost-effective way.” On numerous projects, the ASAP Sheetpiler has been selected by Pinellas County as the preferred method of installation because of the limited impact on the environment (vibrations and noise) and low cost.
The innovative machine was designed with economics and flexibility in mind. Because of its configuration, the ASAP Sheetpiler requires only three people to operate – the operator and two ground men. One of the main advantages is its reach – up to 67 feet vertically and up to 50 feet horizontally. The driver features a quick disconnect system and the counterweight with built-in power pack is self-erecting. The ASAP Sheetpiler can be operational within a few hours after arrival and easy to move around. For situations where there is no room for a crane to install sheet piling, the ASAP Sheetpiler is the ideal solution with a footprint of only 20 by 20 feet.
Besides the technical advantage, ASAP relies on their experienced and highly trained technicians, pile drivers and operators. “Due to the specialty of our work, it is very important to us to find the right people who are motivated and experienced in their field and it’s our job to continuously train them and improve our overall performance,” den Tuinder said. “The management team is highly educated, experienced in the industry, both locally and internationally, of more than 20 years on average, combined with an in-depth knowledge of the market. We strongly believe in working together as a team, within our own organization and also with our vendors, clients, and fellow contractors.”
Since 2006, the company has built solid relationships with vendors and suppliers as well as alliances with local general contractors in addition to some of the large construction companies in the U.S. “Repeat customers, in the form of partnership with our clients, is the most important success factor for our growth. As everyone in construction knows, plans and schedules always change, but deadlines sometimes don’t. When that happens, it is important to have a partner on your team that realizes that and will continue to work hard to achieve the project goals,” den Tuinder explained. “Just like our equipment, we are focused on flexibility and continuing to stay focused on completing the project quickly, with high quality in a cost-effective manner.”
Besides vibratory installation of sheet piling, ASAP also performs installation with impact hammers. Most recently, the company worked on two projects for the USACE, including both vibratory and impact installation of sheet pile with lengths up to 81 feet as part of the Everglades Restoration Project in South Florida. Currently, they are starting a project in New Orleans, La. for the USACE in a very sensitive area where vibration limits are critical and sheets up to 67 feet will have to be installed. ASAP was selected based on the combination of advanced technology and low cost.
The company’s philosophy, coupled with the competitive advantage the patented ASAP Sheetpiler presents in helping general contractors and owners build their projects faster, more cost-effectively and with the highest quality standard, has helped propel ASAP to success.
“This has been very important to our growth and success during our start-up years, especially with the bad economic downturn the last few years,” den Tuinder said. “Because of the adverse economy, we are especially proud to say that we currently have our biggest backlog ever due to our hardworking staff and innovative technique.”