When creative people work together to solve problems, the outcomes can be outstanding. That’s exactly what happened when a construction company, an architectural firm, and a material supplier put their heads together on the Redline Plastics building project last year.

Redline Plastics is a manufacturer of rotational molded and vacuum formed plastic products, as well as aftermarket motorcycle luggage and covers for powersports brands including Harley-Davidson and Polaris. Continued growth and expansion prompted Redline to build a new manufacturing plant in Manitowoc, Wis.

In 2020, the Redline Plastics project was selected for recognition as a Ceco Building Systems Project Award Winner based on the creative use of Ceco products to solve problems that threatened to cause significant delays and push the project over budget. Due to the efforts of Ceco Builder Hamann Construction Company and the McMahon Associates architecture firm, construction of Redline’s new headquarters and manufacturing center was an award-winning success.

Soon after planning began, the construction and design teams hit a significant roadblock. The manufacturing process Redline uses in plastic roto molding produces a significant amount of heat, requiring heavy rooftop heat exchangers. However, those heat exchangers would create a substantial roof load that would need to be supported by conventional steel construction.

That was not an expense that Redline had expected, said Hamann Construction President Steve Hamann.

“When we priced it out for them, it came in way over their budget,” he said.

They were back to square one—but the team was not ready to give up. Instead, they applied some innovative thinking that transformed a routine metal building project into a work of art.

Wisconsin is known for its cold winters, and facilities there need a lot of heat—which is especially tricky on loading docks and in other open areas that leak warm air.

McMahon Associates Senior Architect Gary Schneider proposed an idea. Instead of directing all that roto molding heat through heat exchangers on the roof, why not direct some of it to colder parts of the building, such as the loading docks? This solution negated the need for additional heating equipment in the loading docks and it made heavy rooftop heat exchangers unnecessary.

But the challenges were not over, said Travis Ladwig, a Ceco sales representative.

“It was a very complex structure and had a lot of parts and pieces that you normally don't have in a metal building,” he said.

Another challenge was including 10,000 square feet of office space inside the manufacturing facility. To make this possible, Ceco designed a custom mezzanine solution to place the office above a portion of the production space that didn’t require much height.

From there, the project moved forward with a rigid multi-span frame. The walls were constructed from Ceco’s cost effective, 26-gauge PBR panels, finished in Ash Gray, and reverse-rolled for a unique look. The entire roof span benefits from the durability and longevity of Ceco’s 24-gauge Double-Lok standing-seam metal roof panels in Galvalume Plus.

“This project would not have been possible without the teamwork of everyone involved,” said Ladwig. “Not only did we meet our builder’s and Redline’s project budget and timeline, but the innovative solutions to challenges that could have derailed our project, added the benefit of long-term operating efficiencies and cost savings.”

Thanks to the streamlined construction process provided by Ceco’s single-source system, the project was complete in a little over a year, with Redline moving into their new building in fall 2019.