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Page 12 of Popular Mechanics August 2009

Long after my days interning at Popular Mechanics have ended, I am now the proud owner of a byline in the Tech Watch section of the August 2009 issue. I have never in my life been so proud of four sentences that I wrote; that is unless you consider when I was six-years-old.

To see the final produce is very interesting to me for several reasons. First, I really still can’t believe that my  name is printed in a magazine that reaches the entire country and then some. Second, it is fascinating to know that my four sentences were originally 250 words. That’s what the editor asked me to write. They ended up cutting that down to about 80 words and many of those words are organized  nowhere close to the original way that I wrote them.

This is just another reality of the publishing world. Just because you can write doesn’t mean everything you are asked to do will make it to the final copy.  It can be really easy to get down on yourself about it but there are so many factors involved. It’s not just your words they’re cutting. Editors need to consider layout, images and other content that’s going on the page.

Also, as I seem to be repeatedly saying, almost to try to convince myself as well, these are all just stepping stones to toward the destination. Maybe this might be a small step in the great scheme of finding a job, but it’s better than taking a step backward. How’s that for looking at the glass half full?

Anyway, here at Life Ink, I am my own editor. As a result, I want to share my original article that I submitted to the editors at Popular Mechanics. For the sake of space, they were not able to fit in some information that I found to be very interesting.

Recycling the Caterpillar, Inc. Way – written for Popular Mechanics, Tech Watch, August 2009

By Kimberly Grzybala

Known for manufacturing large dinosaur-like machinery, it comes as no surprise that Caterpillar, Inc., would find a way to chomp up unused steel framed buildings on their company site and spew them out again as something new.

Originally  company officials were planning to sell an unused foundry building onsite to make some extra money. However, with the price of steel skyrocketing in 2008, they soon realized that it was much more economical to demolish the building and reuse the steel for their own manufacturing.

The ongoing demolition uses Caterpillar hydraulic excavators with special metal shear and grapple demolition attachments. When completed, approximately 4,000 tons of steel will be harvested from the demolition and used to produce high strength grey and ductile iron components for CAT’s diesel engines.

The CAT foundry typically purchases several thousand tons of scrap steel each month for normal operations, said Gary Bevilacqua, Caterpillar, Inc. Facilities Manager. However, with the additional steel being recycled from the demolition, CAT will be able to supplement their steel purchasing through the third quarter of their 2009 fiscal year lowering the amount of money the company is spending and reducing the amount of iron that has to be mined.

Besides saving the CAT some money, the reuse of these buildings is also helping keep waste material from having to be sent to a landfill. The buildings being demolished have pits that will be used to dispose of clean non-metallic materials. CAT is also working with the local power utility company to fill the remaining pits with a mixture of fly ash and water, which acts as a flow-able fill material and provides a beneficial reuse of the fly ash, said Bevilacqua.