Design Flaws Noted in Miller Park Roof

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | April 17, 2002 | Don Walker

[brewcrew]

Design flaws noted in Miller Park roof

Defects don't harm safety, officials say

By DON WALKER
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: April 17, 2002

The mechanism that drives the Miller Park roof has a "disturbing pattern of design errors" and is the product of defective workmanship, according to stadium district and construction officials.

Miller Park

Photo/Karen Sherlock

Officials associated with Miller Park say that the noise generated by the pivot system for the stadium's retractable roof does not indicate a safety problem. The pivot system is located behind home plate, high above those seated in the upper deck on Wednesday.

Warranty

The stadium district said there is a 20-year warranty on the pivot system, which should have a 30-year life.

Problems Detailed

In letters to roof builder Mitsubishi, the general contractor, HCH, claims there are six problems it considered defective work on the roof. They are:

Assembly bearings in some of the bogies, the train-like devices that move the roof on an outfield track beam, are "displaying early signs of failure."
A "Toblerone roller" axle bearing is showing premature signs of failure. This axle bearing rides atop the bogies and is where the roof panels actually sit.
Foreign material is showing up with the moving components of the bogies, causing damage.
Panel pivots are not turning on the spherical bearing. "Problem manifests itself by causing objectionable levels of noise," an HCH letter to Mitsubishi notes.
Rubber on the track rail on which the bogies travel is not staying in place.
Galvanized metal in the roof is rusting in various locations. The metal is not readily visible to fans and is underneath the roof.

Mitsubishi Response

Kano Saito, vice president of Mitsubishi's Milwaukee office, said HCH was misinformed. He said his company had told the stadium district and the Brewers of the issues involving the Toblerone roller, the foreign material, the cushion rubber and the spherical bearing, and that his firm was dealing with the problems.

Related Coverage

Miller Park: Special section

Photo/David Joles

The roof is not the only problem the Brewers are encountering. Fans wear bags and vent their feelings during the game Wednesday afternoon. The Brewers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2, to drop their record to 3-12, the worst start in franchise history.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America, representatives of the Miller Park stadium district and HCH, the park's general contractor, seem to agree on this much: The problem with noise in the pivot system, located behind and above home plate in the so-called Uecker seats, is not a hazard.

But HCH and stadium district officials, in recent correspondence obtained by the Journal Sentinel, say they have concerns about the pivot system and other roof-related issues.

"Our major concern continues to be the noise emanating from the pivot bearings," Mike Duckett, executive director of the stadium board, wrote April 4 to a construction official affiliated with HCH. Duckett added that, as of then, its consultants "found no reason to disagree with Mitsubishi's assurance that the roof is perfectly safe."

But he adds: "They have, however, found a disturbing pattern of design errors on Mitsubishi's part. Even though these design errors do not compromise safety, they will need to be fixed."

In an earlier letter dated Feb. 21 from an HCH official to Mitsubishi, the official lists six specific problems with the pivot system and other roof-related pieces and notes, "HCH considers the above conditions to be defective work."

In a written response to HCH, dated Feb. 22, Kano Saito, vice president of Mitsubishi's Milwaukee office, said that HCH and the stadium district were "trying to falsely inflate several technical issues associated with MHIA, however, your attempt will fail."

In a statement released Wednesday, Saito elaborated:

"It's not clear what the references to design errors are. No one has described what these design errors are. Furthermore, Mitsubishi is the world leader in retractable roof construction, and stands behind its design."

Consultants hired by the stadium district and Mitsubishi engineers are working on the noise problem in the pivot system. Once Mitsubishi forwards its recommendations to the district, it will decide on a course of action with its consultants.

Asked if the entire system might have to be replaced, Evan Zeppos, a stadium district spokesman, said: "We don't know yet. We're awaiting MHIA's proposed solution, and then we'll have our experts review that."

Roof problems date to July

The problems with the pivot system surfaced in July. The next month, on Aug. 8, Mitsubishi wrote a memo to the Milwaukee Brewers, admitting that there were noises coming from the pivot system, and that it would address them.

The issue did not become public until late last month, the night before the first exhibition game of the season. At that time, the Brewers and the stadium district jointly announced that the retractable roof would be operated on a limited basis until the pivot system could be evaluated.

Behind the scenes, especially in the past few months, officials representing Mitsubishi, HCH and the stadium district exchanged letters about the extent of the problem.

In the correspondence, Mitsubishi referred to the problems in the pivot system as "minor glitches" or "snafus" that would be repaired at Mitsubishi's expense.

In addition, Mitsubishi argued that "based upon our knowledge, we have no concerns that the matters we are addressing with the driving system represents either safety concerns or hazardous conditions."

Repair cost unknown

It is not known how much it would cost to repair the pivot bearings system, or in a worst-case scenario, to replace it. The pivot system represented about $5 million of the $46 million HCH said the roof cost to build.

Mitsubishi is embroiled in a contentious legal fight over the cost of the roof. The company says the cost of the roof ballooned out of control and ended up costing the Japanese firm $87 million more than agreed upon. The stadium district has sued Mitsubishi for $5 million, accusing the Japanese conglomerate of negligence and poor management.

The stadium district said there is a 20-year warranty on the pivot system, which should have a 30-year life.

The Brewers also have been an interested player in the roof dispute. While the team appears to be an innocent victim of the roof's pivot system, it is one more problem in a season that has begun with a 3-12 record, the worst start in franchise history.

In one letter dated March 13, Bill Drew, a lawyer who represents Mitsubishi, wrote to Wendy Selig-Prieb, the club's president and chief executive, to assure her that Mitsubishi was committed to maintaining the pivot system.

"As engineer of record, MHIA believes the roof driving system has proven its integrity throughout the course of the last baseball season and none of these issues will negatively impact that integrity in any way."

Drew adds in his letter that Mitsubishi officials had promised Drew "that we will have a smoothly functioning roof on opening day, for the All-Star Game and during the total season."

But the roof was not fully functional by the first exhibition game, nor was it ready for opening night. The roof, which once was opened or closed - depending on weather conditions - every game, is now used sparingly.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on April 18, 2002.

[HEY4QDEMS]

If I recall correctly I believe a crane accident during construction of the roof killed 4 people.

Some things are just bad from the get go.

[Quilla]

The problem with noise in the pivot system, located behind and above home plate in the so-called Uecker seats, is not a hazard.

Uecker seats! Now that's funny.

[brewcrew]

Uecker seats! Now that's funny.

It IS funny! They are obstructed view seats due to the hardware that holds the pivot point of the roof up. They sell them a couple of hours before game time for $1.00 (which makes it even funnier!).

[brewcrew]

Some things are just bad from the get go.

I hope this isn't one of them. I and my fellow citizens in the 5-county area are going to be paying for that thing for the next 20 years or so via a 0.1% sales tax.

[steveegg]

The problems with the pivot system surfaced in July. The next month, on Aug. 8, Mitsubishi wrote a memo to the Milwaukee Brewers, admitting that there were noises coming from the pivot system, and that it would address them.

The issue did not become public until late last month, the night before the first exhibition game of the season. At that time, the Brewers and the stadium district jointly announced that the retractable roof would be operated on a limited basis until the pivot system could be evaluated.

Let's see; problems in July, admission in August, NO WORK DONE since then, and the first we found about it was late March? Who is running things, FU Ament?

[Doomonyou]

From bad to worse! Brewers Suck this year, Lopes gets fired today and now this!

[brewcrew]

LOL! I think that if FU Ament had been running it, they would have started working on it when they found out. But the work would have been contracted to one of his cronies, and the repair costs would have been outrageously overinflated.

Warranty? We don't need no steenkeen warranty.

[brewcrew]

From bad to worse! Brewers Suck this year, Lopes gets fired today and now this!

I'm convinced that the Selig family has a penchant for destroying baseball.

[steveegg]

You forgot the fact that the Brewers would be playing at Henry Aaron Field (or that Little League park where Third-World Country Stadium used to be) this year because Miller Park would be all torn up all year.

[lewislynn]

If I were HCH I would write a letter to the owner stating that due to inaction by Mitsubishi, HCH could no longer guarantee the safety of the occupants of the structure.

CC: Mitsubishi.

[quietolong]

What a wast of money. Plus putting the rat's in control over something that was not needed.