Strongco : A New Look for the Toronto Blue Jays – On-Time and Under-Budget

A New Look for the Toronto Blue Jays - On-Time and Under-Budget

06.10.2016

Customer Success Story: Rapid Equipment Rental and Verdi Restoration Ltd.

Customers	Spiro Marinos, Partner Vito Nardi, Director
Companies	Rapid Equipment Rental Verdi Restoration Ltd., a division of Verdi Alliance
Location	Toronto, ON
Core Business	Large-Scale Concrete Restoration Solutions
Strongco Customer	7 years (Verdi) 3 years (Rapid)
Equipment	Volvo EC220E Excavator
High-Profile Project 2016	Toronto Blue Jays Dirt Infield at Rogers Centre

The Toronto Blue Jays' April 8 home-opener loss to the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre may not have made history, but it marked another milestone for the team - thanks in part to the experts at Strongco. On that day, for the first time ever, the Jays played on a regulation dirt infield, just like the other 29 major-league teams.

The move from artificial turf to all-dirt was announced in December of 2015; however, work only commenced in March, with an aggressive, three-week timeline that included excavation of the cement floor between the bases and throughout the infield - a total area of approximately 12,000 square feet.

Long-time customers Vito Nardi of Verdi Restoration and Spiro Marinos of Rapid Equipment Rentals, turned to Strongco to recommend the right machine to meet the level of power and precision demanded for the job, while keeping on-time and on-budget.

After preliminary consultation, they determined that the project required a machine in the 20-ton class, powerful enough to work with a 3,000 foot-pound Atlas Copco hydraulic breaker. Ultimately, they settled on the Volvo EC220E as the best fit.

'I've experienced every brand of machine and every problem an excavator can have. I didn't make the recommendation for the Volvo lightly - I made it because over the years our Volvo dealer, Strongco, has given us the support we need so that I can do the same for my customers. That, partnered with the excavator's capabilities made it an easy recommendation.'

After measuring the outer perimeter of the bases, work commenced on the break-up, but not without a few surprises along the way. In one instance, as the Verdi crew arrived at third base, they encountered a block of concrete measuring five feet deep. Up until that point, they were only working with a 12-inch depth of concrete at most.

While issues such as these can easily throw a project off-schedule, the obstacle soon became a non-issue. 'The whole process of breaking and removing that extra concrete took less than an hour with the EC220E, said Nardi. 'We kept right on schedule.'

Not only was the EC220E a huge contributor to productivity, working in eight-hour stretches at a time, it completed the job under budget, on less than one tank of fuel, just in time for opening day.

'I've experienced every brand of machine and every problem an excavator can have. I didn't make the recommendation for the Volvo lightly - I made it because over the years our Volvo dealer, Strongco, has given us the support we need so that I can do the same for my customers. That, partnered with the excavator's capabilities made it an easy recommendation.'

~ Spiro Marinos, Partner, Rapid Equipment Rentals

Source: Volvo Construction Equipment, On-Site Magazine, April 2016.