Jeffery T. Collins, PE

RLT Engineering Solutions is the engineering practice of Jeff Collins, PE. RLT Engineering was founded to serve customers by providing specialized engineering expertise in the lift planning, specialized rigging design and heavy transportation disciplines.

Prior to forming RLT Engineering Solutions, Mr. Collins served as a project engineer and lead engineer for several leading companies in the US crane and rigging industry. His project work covered a variety of industry segments including fossil and nuclear power generation, petrochemical, industrial, heavy civil and infrastructure. Throughout his career in the rigging industry, Mr. Collins has designed a wide variety of specialized heavy lifting and heavy transportation hardware including the development and production of all fabrication drawings, load test design and certification documentation.

When not at work, Mr. Collins enjoys spending time with his wife, Blair, and his three awesome kids and he hopes (in vain), one day, to actually finish all of the projects at his house.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PHILOSOPHY

I did not get where I am by myself.

God has blessed me with the opportunity to work with a number of talented people and innovative companies throughout my career. I am grateful to the following companies in this industry for the opportunity to be a part of their team:

Barnhart Crane and Rigging Co. provided me with a point of entry into this industry and exposed me to the possibilities of developing innovative solutions to complex challenges in the heavy lift industry. Thanks Eric and Alan for taking a chance on me.

American Heavy Rigging Co. and Jigger Tanner gave me the opportunity to fill the role of lead engineer for the company. While there I had the opportunity to work closely with a talented group of field superintendents, shop foremen, and craft journeymen who taught me so much.

Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. allowed me to continue in my professional growth as their Engineering Manager. I had the opportunity to work with an extremely talented group of engineers who allowed the company to accomplish some truly remarkable work. Vaughn, Trace, John, Claus and Brian, it was my great privilege to work with you.

W. O. Grubb Crane Rental gave me the opportunity to join the senior leadership of their company and to grow in my knowledge of the business side while also developing an engineering department to address the needs that accompanied the company’s steady growth over the five years I was part of their team. Thank you Bill and Michelle for the opportunity to join you, Cecil, Scott and Jigger. The experience forced me to grow personally and professionally in ways I could never have expected. I am also deeply grateful for all of your support for RLT Engineering including allowing me to feature the work we did together on this site.

I have learned so much from the owners, corporate leaders, engineers, project managers, and salesmen that have come along side me and helped me develop personally and professionally. Moreover I am grateful to all of the shop directors, field superintendents, craft journeymen, equipment operators, mechanics, and truck drivers that I have had the opportunity to work with on various projects over time. These men and women continue to teach me so much about what it means to take the ideas I put on paper and bring them to life in the field. They motivate me to develop plans that allow them to safely return home to their loved ones at the end of the work day.

Without the accumulated wisdom and experience shared with me by these people and so many others along the way, together with the example set by my parents, Bobby and Ann, as well as the love and support of my wife and children, there would be no RLT Engineering Solutions. Thank you.

Some of the engineering work by Mr. Collins has included the following:

580-ton Rotor "Spider" lift at a midwest hydroelectric plant - Developed lift plan and designed and tested specialized rigging hardware used in the lift

114'-long modular temporary bridge to support heavy transport trailers - designed and oversaw fabrication and testing of a portable temporary bridge system to support heavy transport loads

Lift planning for numerous stator frame and elevated runway projects including lifts up to 500 tons.

Load testing of a customer's reactor head tripod assembly utilizing 400 tons of static weight certified to NIST requirements.

Replacement of a pressurizer vessel in a nuclear plant in the northeast US - In addition to all lift planning, the project required the design of a specialized powered swivel device (that consumed almost no headroom) to maneuver the pressurizer as it was lifted through the containment cubicle

Rapid replacement of a 250-ton single span railroad trestle - Developed lift plans and designed specialized rigging hardware to facilitate the removal and replacement of the railroad bridge in a 24-hour cycle.

Sliding a completed 850-ton SCR structure into place - In addition to developing execution plans to synchronize lateral and vertical movements of the 80ft wide, 120ft long and 140ft tall structure, Mr. Collins also designed attachment points to the existing structure for jacking supports

Developed transportation and tie-down plans for 400-ton prototype combustion turbine - Planning also included the transload of the turbine from our transporter to a specialized rail car.

Lift planning for setting compressor components in a natural gas liquefication facility - performed all lift planning for components weighing approximately 200 tons; designed complete 300-ton capacity lift system including all lift beams, frames, runway systems, columns and bases grillages and developed all fabrication and load testing plans within a five-month time-frame from award to execution.

Developed numerous critical lift plans for multi-crane lifts and alternative lifting systems (gantries, strand jacks) including the combination of cranes and alternative lift systems

Experienced in engineering systems using the following equipment:

Hydraulic gantry systems
Strand jacks
Sliding systems
Hydraulic platform trailers
Dollies
Synchronized jacking systems
Powered chain hoists
Heavy duty skates and rollers

EXPERIENCE

Solutions Driven, Value Oriented
I am passionate about problem-solving and helping the team to be successful. I love the crane and rigging industry because of the many unique challenges that present themselves in trying to move loads from point A to point B. These challenges can include working in tight spaces or other difficult environments or finding ways to work around obstacles, including passing loads over ground surface or structures that are not designed to support the heavy weight of the object being moved. Other times, the challenge is resource-driven: accommodating an aggressive schedule or finding a way to enhance the capabilities of a smaller piece of equipment because that is what is available. Often these challenges combine on a given project. As we all know, the failure to adequately address such challenges can be costly, ranging from loss of schedule to loss of property to injury and death. While sobering to think about, the desire to avoid these consequences is a key motivation to developing sound approaches that address the challenges mentioned above.

For me, any approach to addressing these challenges must include the following considerations:

Is the proposed solution feasible? Can it be executed by the people in the field with the resources they have available, including accessibility, tooling, experience and schedule?
Is it safe? Does the plan effectively eliminate as many hazards as possible from the activity?
Does it make the best use of available resources? Is there something else in our “toolbox” (or someone else’s) that we can use to make this activity safer/easier/more efficient?
Can the design of new equipment improve the safety and efficiency of the work?
Have all potential obstacles been considered and addressed?
Can the decisions that go into the development of the plan be defended when challenged?

An addition to the considerations listed above, any solution must consider how to best balance the variables of Cost, Quality, and Time (or Schedule). This is the value proposition that RLT Engineering Solutions provides to our customers – to help them maximize profitability without compromising quality or schedule and, most importantly, the safety of the people involved in the work.