“Our work is all about material handling or moving equipment
from Point A to B,” said Cox. “We provide an array of services
under one roof, including heavy lift and rigging equipment rentals
and sales, custom equipment design and fabrication, engineering
consulting, equipment technicians and rigging professionals.
Engineered Rigging is also an Authorized Enerpac Service Center.”
Now, the company is looking to branch out. It recently joined
PDCA as an engineering affiliate member, and Cox says the goal is
to create new, long-term opportunities.
“Our goal is to broaden our audience of who we are able to assist
with our skills,” he said. “We’re more of a peripheral augmentation
to the pile driving community. A lot of the work we end up doing, or
the contractors we support, is what’s done in the very beginning for
foundations, and supporting the earth for what needs to be done.”
Engineering Rigging can provide innovative solutions to material
handling challenges, specializing in heavy lifting, moving
and infrastructure projects. Cox (the engineer) and Kitchen (the
heavy lifting expert) bring complementary expertise to bear on
each project.
“We’ve done different vessels in nuclear power, moved tunnel
bore machines and condensers,” explained Cox. “We did a project
where we moved a condenser for a company and they didn’t think
it would fit into the facility, but we were able to map it out and
install it without affecting the structure.”
For that job, Engineered Rigging created a lift system that
manipulated the condenser in three dimensions. Engineers were
able to choreograph the moving process, and mitigate the number
of interference items that had to be cleared out of the way.
Cox likened the work to moving a couch through a doorway.
“As long as it gets through, it works for everyone,” he said. “A
lot of times, we imagine how we can turn that component to get
it through that space. We create solid models and then simulate
the movements. We validate the results before we go to the site or
perform the work.”
In addition to its Valparaiso headquarters, Engineered Rigging
operates a fabrication plant in Russellville, Ark., where materials
can be built to exact client specifications, or created to meet the
requirements of a unique job. Remote staff members work across
the U.S., and there is an office in Europe and another in Chile.
Problem solvers
Cox says the company subscribes to measured growth, expanding
organically to keep pace with available opportunities.
On the equipment side, Engineered Rigging offers below the
hook lifting devices, hydraulic turnbuckles, hydraulic strand
jack systems, different kinds of material manipulators, a fleet
of custom knuckle boom cranes that are on specialized fixtures,
self-propelled modular transporters (multi-axle trailers), and
all kinds of synchronized lifting systems and portable hydraulic
gantry systems.
“We rent equipment and we can go and train the customer on
how to use it and they can self-perform the work,” said Cox. “That
helps them save money; it’s a cost mitigation measure.”
ENGINEERING AFFILIATE MEMBER
A custom strand jack solution for NASA A custom-designed strand jack gantry for an energy client in New York
“We have good judgment and
sound engineering guidelines
and we follow codes, but
we also are very creative.”
– Christopher Cox, Engineered Rigging
72 | ISSUE 1 2021 www.piledrivers.org
/www.piledrivers.org
