120,000 sqm Modern EV Assembly & Battery Gigafactory in Thailand: Long-Span Conveyor Skybridge Integration, Full-Roof Photovoltaic Loading, and Turnkey SOP Erection

Located in the Rayong industrial corridor of Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), this mega manufacturing campus serves as a flagship international production hub for next-generation electric vehicles and battery modules. For the automotive client and EPC project management, the project schedule was non-negotiable—anchored to a global vehicle launch date and rigid Start of Production (SOP) milestones. In the EV industry, missing the SOP deadline by even two weeks triggers tens of millions of dollars in lost market momentum, dealership breach penalties, and idle labor overhead.

The primary structural anxiety centered on the dynamic rigidity of the elevated logistics skybridges and the massive rooftop solar load. Enclosed tubular steel skybridges span across access roads to transport vehicle bodies and battery packs between workshops on automated overhead friction conveyors; if the skybridge girders deflect under live loads or twist from thermal expansion under Thailand’s blistering +40°C sun, the conveyor rails misalign and the automated lines jam, grinding the whole plant to a halt. Simultaneously, the client required full-coverage rooftop photovoltaic arrays, demanding high structural stiffness without localized ponding during torrential tropical monsoons.

Shijie Heavy Industry engineered a high-precision, low-deflection structural steel system. Utilizing finite element dynamic live-load analysis, Shijie stiffened the skybridge truss systems to hold dynamic deflection within ≤ 1/1200, integrating thermal slotted guide bearings at expansion joints. The continuous portal frame rafters were shop-profiled with reverse precambering to perfectly counterbalance the combined dead-weight of solar panels and heavy paint/battery shop air handlers. Fabricated with multi-axis CNC drilling and protected with high-build C4 industrial epoxy coatings, over 18,500 tons of steel members were delivered in crane-synchronized container packs. The structural framework bolted together aloft with 100% first-pass accuracy and zero field torch-cutting, completing the facility envelope 24 days ahead of the equipment installation deadline.