That said, the construction business is booming, although increased competition has meant timelines and budgets are even tighter, just as jobs are becoming more complex. Management consultants McKinsey and Company report that many companies just can’t keep up, with some large projects running 20 percent overtime and as much as 80 percent over budget.

“The industry is at a technological tipping point,” Smartsheet construction management app expert Stephanie Viers told Forbes. “We talk to hundreds of our customers in construction, and we hear the same story: it’s evolve or die. The competitive pressures are just too great to forego the advantages technology offers.”

Problem is, hours or even minutes wasted on a construction project can result in days or weeks of delays as one portion of the project is reliant on the successful completion of the previous one, and delays have a domino effect.

This is where adoption of digital platforms to create auto alert, collect digital sign-off approvals, and maintain project documents, helps to ensure that many of the delays caused by misinformation or lack of communication are a thing of the past.

Much of the delay encountered in any construction project stems from design mistakes and inaccurate project data. These errors are compounded when they’re translated to on-site construction and often require additional material and labour to correct.

This is confirmed by research in 2020 from the Navigant Construction Forum that found that more than nine percent of construction total project cost is rework. Consider that projects can be massive undertakings, with numerous workers involved, thick specification books and aspects of the job that can take months to finish.

So, how do you save time and thousands of dollars in cost overruns?

Experts point to the industry’s shift to a digital strategy using 3D planning, building information modeling and project management systems to cement success in today’s competitive market.

Building information modeling, or BIM, coalesces all elements of a project with fully interactive 3D models that detail geometry, aesthetics and even thermal and acoustic properties. This way, projects can be collaborative from start to finish. BIM keeps everyone on the same page during construction, even when the workflow changes.

More advanced BIM software will also track estimates in real-time so that project managers can troubleshoot and make smart choices that impact material or labour costs. And architects may decide to have certain pieces prefabricated in bulk using robotics, saving time during construction. On-site crews simply have to secure the pieces in place.

Concept 3D software, for example, creates immersive online experiences with multidimensional modeling, interactive maps and virtual tours. The 3D virtual model can help building engineers perfect design and see how the planned structure fits into the environment and surrounding buildings.

These solutions can help construction trades operate more efficiently with less waste and increased revenue.

However, the industry as a whole has been slow to adopt digital tools. McKinsey and Company reports that construction’s productivity has only grown by 1 percent over the past 20 years. The global average for productivity increases in all sectors over that same period is 2.8 percent. By comparison, manufacturing has increased productivity by 3.6 percent.

The answer to boosting productivity? Turning to new digital technologies that automate repetitive work and retraining workforces to address the skilled trades gap.

The recession in the late 2000s saw many skilled trade labourers out of work and many never returned to previous occupations. “The construction industry lost 1.5 million workers during the recession, and we’ve only brought back about 600,000. The median age of a construction worker right now is more than 40 years old,” Rob Dietz, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders, told Forbes.

Next generation employees are not entering the construction trades as readily as previous generations. While graduate students are incurring large amounts of educational debt, many high-paying trade jobs are unfilled.

Millennials are digital natives, so the focus on emerging technologies will attract a younger tech-savvy workforce, and streamlining operations with new technology will mean less time fixing mistakes, so you’re able to maximize your existing labour force.

For example, project-management software platforms help automate mission-critical communications. Team members can be automatically notified about changes that may affect their trade and task. If a plumbing contractor finds that a back-ordered drain part will cause delays, a notification can be sent to all other trades to help reschedule labour and tasks so there’s less downtime.

Processes such as change orders and safety logs can also be maintained in a shared location – like cloud-based software – and reduce time spent chasing paperwork and supervisor approvals.

Procore is one software platform that connects all on-site crews and supervisors to everything they need instantaneously. This platform allows for hundreds of data points to be integrated and easily shared.

Another major cause of costs and scheduling delays arises from discrepancies between geological surveys and actual on-site conditions. This is where the integration of new technologies like high-definition photography, 3D laser scanning and drone aerial surveying provide more accurate survey information to reduce on-site surprises.

On that note, Bluebeam Revu allows project stakeholders to review designs and make real-world changes during construction, with transparency for the team.

And if you’re impressed by smartwatch functions, wearable technology is also part of construction sites – smart helmets and smart safety glasses with built-in video cameras or smart vests with GPS and bionic exoskeleton properties that enable super-strength. These Six Million Dollar Man-style vests increase productivity, reduce fatigue and result in fewer work-related injuries.

All that virtual reality that is tricking out video games is taking training for the construction industry to new heights. Lifelike VR experiences help workers hone skills like scaffold safety 25 stories up or operating a crane on a foggy morning – situations that are too difficult or expensive to prepare for in the real world.

These are important steps forward. According to a recent safety index report from Liberty Mutual, the most common injuries to construction workers include falls or over-exertion such as lifting too much.

Wearable technologies can identify employees who are not wearing proper safety gear or working in dangerous locations. They can also alert workers to potential tripping hazards like misplaced tools or equipment.

Even homeowners are adopting the use of these new technologies. Kukun Home Intelligence software, for example, allows homeowners to virtually plot the equity in their homes and to estimate the value of a proposed renovation in terms of the yield in increased equity delivered.

Homeowners can rationalize everything from repairing a popcorn ceiling to building a new garage. And get the kids that new surround-sound home theater and games room!

Bottom line here is that diminishing resources, both human and natural, growing infrastructure requirements, and industry demand are pushing the construction industry to adopt new technologies.

The outcomes are promising.

Digital transformation is the reboot needed for the industry to navigate workforce issues, innovate for new efficiencies, and build an integrated platform to promote growth for generations to come.

The post New Foundations<p class="company">Lagging Productivity Cements Construction’s Move to Digital</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Iron Stag Crane Service was established in 2015 by Shane and Ned Eisenhart, a nephew/uncle duo, both of whom were born into the crane services sector. With only four years between them, the two grew up together around cranes in the family business, Eisenhart Welding and Crane Service.

“We were born and raised around it. We started off young in the business as crane operators,” says Shane Eisenhart, who serves as Vice President of Iron Stag Crane Service, which he co-owns with Ned.

Eisenhart Welding and Crane Service operated as a family-owned and operated business until 2000, when it was sold to a local construction company. It continues to operate under that name today.

When asked why the business was sold, Shane replies, “My dad and his brother were at retirement age, so that’s why the business was sold, and Ned is the youngest brother. We’re only four years apart, so we stayed with the business.”

Something missing
Ned and Shane remained with the company from 2000 to 2015, but it was clear that something was missing. It was a family business in name only and they longed to serve customers and do business their way again.

As Shane notes, “The construction company that bought us was huge, and their philosophy was different from ours. Our family philosophy was always to take care of the customer. The customer is always number one and when they need a crane, we do everything possible to make that happen.”

Unfortunately, since the family name was sold with the business, Ned and Shane needed to come up with a unique way to pay homage to the family legacy, while blazing their own path under a new moniker. While Eisenhart as a name was off the table, there was a creative way around it: “Eisen” is German for iron and “hart” is an adult male stag or deer. “Our family is German and this honors our family heritage,” says Shane. Thus, the name Iron Stag Crane Service was born.

With Iron Stag Crane Service, the Eisenharts have employed the very business principles that served the family business for 75 years, and ironically, find themselves in direct competition with their namesake.

In fact, Iron Stag Crane Service found itself in an entire market that was busting with competitiveness. “Everyone thought we should have our heads examined,” Shane says, “especially with the competition in our market,” but then Shane and Ned had the family’s secret recipe for success to bring to their business.

So, from one crane, two men and a dream, to a fleet of 13 cranes and a team of 25 people, the family, by way of Iron Stag Crane Service, has asserted its presence in the industry once again as a reputable and dependable crane rental and service provider.

Meeting the challenge
The only challenge was, and still is, finding the talent to take advantage of the opportunity to grow. This is especially true of the shortage of crane operators in the market, which is not just an Iron Stag problem, but rather, a national market challenge that continues to stifle growth.

“The biggest challenge we have had is getting employees. We can get the work. We can get the new equipment, but getting the employees is the hardest part. That’s been the biggest challenges since we’ve been in business,” says Shane. And, unfortunately, the pandemic just made things worse.

Luckily, or rather, strategically, Iron Stag Crane Service invests in its own and has developed an in-house training program to develop talent from within and give people career advancement opportunities, which makes it attractive to many.

“We train our guys in-house. We’ll hire them as Class A truck drivers, and we’ll run them with the cranes, and we’ll train them and teach them to eventually become crane operators and get them certified. There are a lot of certifications involved with a crane operator, and you have to be licensed now in most states,” said Shane.

He also explains how this takes place and why this is valuable to Iron Stag Crane Service, “Our trucks, tractor trailers, run the counterweights that go with our cranes, so the men are out there, and they see how the cranes get put together and operate and the crane operators will teach them,” which offers invaluable on the job training and exposure to real-life scenarios and situations.

Making customers the priority
Further to on-site training, there is a dedicated training center at the company’s brand-new headquarters which opened on April first of this year, six years to the day after its grand opening. Located on a twelve-acre property, the building offers approximately 20,000 square feet over two stories, ample enough to accommodate future growth.

“We had leased a building to get started in 2015 and we were there for six years. It was a great location and a great building; we just flat-out outgrew it. We had no more space and we had to do something, so instead of leasing we decided to purchase land at a good location for a good price and we put up a new building,” Shane recalls.

From its home base, Iron Stag Crane Service undertakes projects within a 100-mile radius, though it will travel further for the right client or the right project. The team will also offer consultation and support, even if the requirements exceed its in-house capabilities.

“We provide crane rental and trucking. We lift anything. We’ll entertain any project even if it’s something that seems over our head. We’ll still take a look at it to see what type of resources we can provide to get the job done,” says Shane.

The team at Iron Stag Crane Service goes to great lengths to serve and satisfy its customers, which it holds in the highest regard. This includes leveraging its existing relationships with other crane rental companies to subcontract overflow work to reputable sources to ensure their customers are taken care of, even if they themselves don’t have the bandwidth to do so.

Shane notes, “Our people are taught the same philosophy: our customers come first. We’ll do whatever we can, as long as it is safe, to make the customer happy. We tell the guys, we can sell the job, we can get the customers, but you are the ones that keep them. You’re the ones they see out there and you are very pivotal in maintaining that customer relationship.”

The Iron Stag way
The team works safely above all else and this philosophy and approach, as well as the ability to execute in accordance with it, is why Iron Stag Crane Service secures big projects. One of its largest projects took place last year at a power plant shut down in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which required six cranes on site. As Shane recalls, “It was one of the proudest moments for us.”

Another source of pride at Iron Stag Crane Service is the relationships it has built with its customers and employees. Customers want and appreciate the culture it brings to projects and how it operates day-to-day as a family-owned and operated entity.

“We are family-oriented. We consider our employees family. We are a team. Ned and I treat our employees like we want to be treated. We remember our roots and where we came from and we always try to treat our people that way; like they’re family,” says Shane. Consciously building a rich and vibrant family culture is clearly playing off in spades.

It’s apparent from the motivation that shows everywhere in the company that when it comes to a job well done at Iron Stag Crane Service, there is a lot riding on success. Not only does the reputation of the company depend on it, the reputation of the Eisenhart family and its legacy in the industry is on the line, and Ned, Shane and their team will continue to do what it takes to honor the past and challenge the future in that regard.

The post Honoring the Past, Challenging the Future<p class="company">Iron Stag Crane Service</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Now sixty-five years after its inception, Park Derochie is the largest industrial coating company in Canada.

Merle Derochie would later buy the company out from Jim Park shortly after but kept the dual-branded name. In 2008, Jeff Granberg and Mark Walker purchased the company outright, with Granberg as its majority owner.

Park Derochie offers services in its primary areas, shop coatings and field industrial coating, abrasive blasting, and intumescent and cementitious fireproofing. Park Derochie now includes further specialized services within industrial coating, like tank linings, high pressure water jetting, vapour blasting, metalizing, fibre glass work, and carbon fibre repairs, which are carried across Canada in various client facilities.

The company started performing mechanical piping and equipment insulation around 2005, as Park Derochie Canada, President Doug Barker remembers, with a further expansion into scaffolding in 2010, entering a partnership with Swedish scaffolding company HAKI in 2018 to become a North American distributor and installer of HAKI products.

Barker states that while Park Derochie never originally intended to offer the standalone services it does today, all these services supplement its main areas, with part of its identity revolving around working for itself while allowing the space to do direct work for owners and clients alike.

Over the last decade or so, Park Derochie has expanded across Western Canada. In 2010, the company established an office in Saskatchewan in a move Barker oversaw, and relocated from Edmonton to Saskatoon, and then expanded into Manitoba. The move was coupled with the introduction of new services like spray foam insulation, fire-stopping, fibre-glassing, and carbon fibre wrap. Additional expansions into British Columbia and Ontario have also taken place, and other work opportunities have seen the company provide services into the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

The company has also continued to grow in markets in the United States over the past four to five years, where it predominantly offered industrial blasting and coating, fireproofing, and myriad other services around Oklahoma and Texas.

Finally, Park Derochie is a member of the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) and is the only company in Canada with QP1, QP3, and QP6 certifications, denoting shop coating, field coating, and metallizing, respectively. Park Derochie is one of only six companies globally with QP6 certification.

Barker attributes the company’s success over the past sixty-five years to “great ownership and good leadership,” explaining that the owners have always been close with the workforce and have always put a lot back into the company in the form of adding new equipment and technology and continuing to provide both internal and external training for employees at every level. Barker has had a long history with Park Derochie, initially serving in its fireproofing division decades ago before later returning as Manager of Business Development. He also worked as a Project Manager in 2003 and eventually became President of Park Derochie Canada, giving him a unique perspective on the company’s history.

The company’s roster features many union employees with long tenures like Barker, a sign of a workplace culture where, as a result of solid leadership and an open-door policy for communication, everyone feels good serving under the Park Derochie name. Many of these employees know what goes into a successful project and can be secure in the company’s ability to support them in providing the best service.

Barker mentions that a particular point of pride for the company is its involvement in its local communities, especially with the Indigenous communities of Western and Central Canada. Over the past five years, the company’s Saskatchewan office has employed a 25 percent Indigenous workforce, with Indigenous, Visible minority, and Female employment up over 40 percent and many of those persons in prominent company positions.

Park Derochie maintains important and valued relationships with the Pasqua and Metis First Nations and has recently established a partnership with an Ontario Indigenous partner, Cree Quest Corp, which represents three First Nations in northern Ontario. In British Columbia, partnerships and joint ventures include Haisla First Nation, Gitga’at First Nation, and Cheam First Nation, and the company continues to look at other First Nations to partner with. Barker outlines that in the past five years, Park Derochie has paid out over $30 million in wages to its Indigenous labour force. Park Derochie believes it is important to provide equal opportunity for our people and by hiring Indigenous people this puts money right in their jeans. Barker believes that by putting money directly into the jeans of the employee, this allows these individuals to become self-sufficient and help support their communities directly.

The company also gladly offers its financial backing and volunteering for local initiatives to provide backpacks with school supplies and sports equipment to underprivileged and Indigenous school children. It also speaks with youth at trade shows and in-school programs about the potential opportunities waiting in the building trades. In today’s marketplace, Park Derochie’s commitment to community, and especially to its local Indigenous communities, is something of a rarity.

As with so many businesses across North America, Park Derochie was hit with difficulties around the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Despite marking the tenth anniversary of the Saskatchewan office last year, it was hardly able to celebrate as workers were kept busy at every turn. Throughout the pandemic Park Derochie continued to work from its offices and remained active on job sites.

This March marked the sixty-fifth anniversary of Park Derochie, and there is much post-COVID regrouping happening after some necessary changes, such as the seemingly ubiquitous switch across all industries to Microsoft Teams and Zoom-led meetings. As a company Park Derochie continues to be an industry leader and has seen some new contracts with its multiple services capabilities. In the new world currently, the strength of ‘One Call One Contractor’ certainly has its benefit. Barker observes that the entire industry is still in recovery mode, and the effects of COVID-19 are still being measured.

“Some of our project dates were pushed back,” he says, “and some provinces have been quicker to recover than others.” The company has been forced to contend with an uncertain economy as investments in oil and gas have come down in the past year, and slowness persists in pockets of work. Despite these challenges, Barker and the company are observing positive activity in certain provinces and the strong likelihood of business picking up by Q3 2021.

As the second half of 2021 proceeds, Park Derochie will be looking to celebrate the things it has not been able to do throughout the past year and a half, from office anniversaries to the victory of provinces opening up. The company will be pulling all its groups across the country together to find new opportunities in different markets and more ways to sell its multi-service programs. Barker has noticed that there is more of an appetite for multi-service companies after the pandemic, as it is now favourable to have a singular company handle several different jobs for the sake of consistency.

The company will explore some non-traditional work that it can potentially add to its service roster and will continue supporting its innovation team and sharing expertise across provinces to sell its trademark “Best in Class Services” and determine where to deploy its best workers.

Park Derochie has built its brand on the principles of a strong work ethic, commitment to customer satisfaction, development of a skilled and dedicated workforce, and the belief that loyalty begets loyalty. The company has never faltered from these, Barker attests. “When we do a job, our work ethic is peerless. We don’t need to be managed; we price things to build a relationship and move forward.” These principles summarize the lessons learned over six decades of business and hint toward how the company will conduct business as it looks forward to the next great milestone.

The post Celebrating 65 Years as Canada’s Choice for Industrial Coating<p class="company">Park Derochie</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With projects across three countries, the U.S.-based energy company has been providing on-grid and off-grid power solutions via its own small gas turbine generators (also called microturbines) and custom-fit heat exchangers for over ten years. In New York, FlexEnergy Solutions just came through one of its biggest challenges yet, proving to itself and the world that, yes, it can make it anywhere.

FlexEnergy Solutions’ products, including the patented Flex Turbine®, provide uninterrupted power distribution for industries like oil and gas, commercial, industrial, and multi-family residential facilities. That was attractive to the residents of the Sheffield Condominium building in Manhattan, who were looking for just that – a power source that would not fail, no matter what the conditions.

New York is the home of some extremely tough environmental regulations, and the Sheffield’s Board managers were looking to exceed those requirements. They were searching for a way to meet New York’s emission reduction targets and boost the efficiency of power generation. The Flex Turbine unit, complete with Flex’s heat exchanger, fit the bill. A single 333 kW combined heat and power unit is now powering critical loads for the forty-nine-story building. The full gas turbine solution brings an annual estimated energy savings of between $200,000 and $500,000 and a resulting payback in fewer than six years.

“We believe this will demonstrate to the state and city of New York what we can do about greenhouse gas and carbon reduction,” said Flex’s Chief Commercial Officer, Doug Baltzer. “Resiliency was a big driver for them. They wanted to be able to run through any disturbances in power and avoid what has been happening with outages throughout the U.S.”

One of those instances he is referring to is the major winter storm that occurred back in February, which took out much of Texas’ power generation capabilities and left most of the state without power. It should be noted that during that ice storm, Flex Turbines delivered power to Flex’s Texas customers without interruption.

“If you become dependent upon a source of power that’s not naturally reliable, you’re going to want to find ways to get through these types of power interruptions. We fit into what the Sheffield condo Board was aiming to do with combined heat and power for efficiency and carbon reduction.”

That project presented challenges, as most projects do. The only real available space Sheffield could offer was in a utility room in an underground garage. It was not the most spacious place for an ultra-modern power generation unit, but the company made it work. The unit, a GT333S model, had to be partially disassembled to be brought in because of some low overhead clearance issues. Also, the exhaust system, which typically runs out the top, was reengineered to fit within the condominium’s specifications.

“So, we had to design a side exhaust exit for our machine. That will become an option (for other projects) going forward, but it was a first time for this particular installation,” said Chief Executive Officer Mark Schnepel. “The exhaust will be fed into a heat recovery steam generator, so they’ll utilize the waste heat coming off the turbine, which will offset their boiler loads.

Baltzer commended the facility managers in that particular project for being so progressive. “Many of them are trying to get every last drop of juice they can from inefficient, unreliable, dirty equipment they bought in the fifties and sixties,” he said, “and here’s the facility’s ownership group, getting out ahead, asking how they can improve over the next decade or so. It’s really exciting for us to lead these forward-thinking groups in figuring out what is next in terms of energy.”

Schnepel said Flex is working with facilities and organizations throughout the globe to incorporate these methods of efficiency and carbon reduction.

Flex managed through the pandemic fairly well, all things considered, because it supplies critical power to industries that cannot shut down, such as medical, manufacturing, and oil and gas facilities. Baltzer said that the leasing side of Flex’s business did well through 2020 in spite of significant reductions to many customers’ capital budgets. When oil and gas took a severe dip in the last year—Baltzer still admits to being surprised at how low prices dropped—he said that clients appreciated that Flex could work with them through the difficult time. Flex’s scalable, clean power solution was what proved most attractive, he said.

“I think a lot of clients fail to really think about power until it’s absent. No matter how low the economy dropped, it would have cost our customers even more to shut completely down,” said Baltzer. “Budgets and expenses were cut throughout most of last year, but it’s coming back now.”

Schnepel said FlexEnergy Solutions was fortunate to have several existing orders that carried it through, with a great deal of inventory built up in preparation of those orders. But now, many businesses are back up in terms of capacity and have taken a lot of that inventory. A couple of years ago, Flex started designing, manufacturing, and selling heat exchangers in addition to its microturbines. Schnepel called this a “bright spot,” for business during the pandemic, because it helped the company maintain operations. He said many companies continued to invest in power generation, which kept Flex quite busy.

“We’re actually having to add labor now, because the turbine side is returning, and the heat exchanger side never really went away,” he explained. “A lot of investment is going into the next generation of power to run on hydrogen, and the pandemic seems to have accelerated this.”

So, business goes on.

“One startling thing has been the price of materials, like the increases in steel and copper and a lot of components,” said Schnepel. “We’ve seen some price increases that we’ve had to balance and stay on top of or else our costs would go up dramatically. It’s taken a lot of negotiation with our suppliers to make sure those prices remain at least close to where they’ve been in the past.”

Now, with the world beginning to see the end of the pandemic, Schnepel said companies are beginning to view energy in a different, more positive way and are adapting to using it differently, which is to Flex’s ultimate advantage. With a North American power grid designed in the 1950s powering twenty-first-century technology, things need to be done differently.

“I think what we’re experiencing in the market is growing sophistication with how businesses look at energy. It’s no longer just a utility bill, but is a substantial part of their operations,” he said. “That’s driving industries to get creative and to find savings through renewables or incentives, or combining everything into one system that can give them resiliency as well as an opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint.”

Baltzer said he is proud to be part of a company that offers new solutions to old technology. FlexEnergy Solutions helps companies and communities rethink what they have been doing with old, inefficient (dirty) power sources and introducing them to technology that helps reduce costs, improve performance, and provides more efficient operations.

“Customers are asking FlexEnergy for solutions that integrate with new renewable and clean energy sources and how we can become a part of the customer’s microgrid solution,” he continued. “This is how a lot of different sources of energy get combined into one resilient solution. Customers are being driven by the need for clean energy options – for the ability to tie in with wind and solar, and to maximize all sources available for a carbon-neutral solution.”

What that means is that with Flex’s technology, a company can optimize their power sources. They can access solutions to seamless connections to clean energy sources that combine microturbines, wind, and solar instead of strictly getting electricity from unreliable utility grids.

“We feel we can play into that larger picture with the customer who wants to use everything available, and we’re the ones capable of connecting all sources into one,” Schnepel added. “The way the world is going, energy diversity is becoming increasingly important – utilizing different sources of energy such as solar and wind power, battery storage, and generators to help maintain battery charge when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. This diversity will help companies and communities take advantage of different rates rather than just having to rely on what the local power company charges at any given time.”

In the area of power solutions, FlexEnergy Solutions offers services for on- and off-grid power, unique gases, and cogeneration, among others. The company sells and manufactures high temperature heat exchangers for a diverse range of end applications as well as for gas turbine recuperation.

The post Flexible and Sustainable Power Solutions<p class="company">FlexEnergy Solutions</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Continuity and longevity are important values to the firm, and this is obvious across its many projects, especially since a great deal of those involve heritage properties in Montreal.

Much of the company’s clientele is in the educational, institutional, commercial, office, and cultural sectors, and the DMA team provides building improvement and asset development services. The team also performs maintenance work and interior fit ups as part of their diverse portfolio. Mr. Ashby explains that, all told, DMA seeks to maintain assets, use technology to analyze information and develop and manage projects, and continually evolve toward new builds and more substantial and complex projects.

While the majority of the company’s work is in extensive building transformations and fit ups, over the years, projects involving heritage buildings have helped DMA make its name in the architectural community. One such example was working on the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, described by Mr. Ashby as “a substantial project with great visibility.” There have also been projects in Montreal like the Windsor Building and Windsor Station. He feels that being able to understand the conditions of these heritage buildings and properly document them is the key to a successful project.

Digital tools for better design
On a typical project, the digital design aspect comes in at the planning stage and works in tandem with modelling and visualization to give a client a greater understanding of the space they want transformed. Mr. Dubois notes that these tools and procedures are vital in bringing projects to term and are key to ensuring that both the firm and its clients are on the same page.

Digital technology continues to affect the way DMA does business as the field of architecture constantly evolves. The firm uses a great deal of laser scanning and 3D modelling software in its processes along with immersive visualization, whereby a client can take a digital 360° look through a prospective space and become better aware of what it is and what it can be – especially helpful for presenting a space under major construction.

“[These] new tools are helping us understand how to undertake these projects on a larger scale,” Mr. Dubois, IT Director says. Indeed, in the past ten years, the time span of planning and drawing has shortened greatly from months to weeks and even days, providing the company the ability to deal with greater complexity.

Digital programming further helps establish parameters within which a project can be developed, improving efficiency, and providing a platform for information to be exchanged down the construction chain. In addition, injecting program requirements into the spatial planning model ensures clients’ needs are incorporated as they stem from a database that is linked with an architect’s drawings. This allows for real-time changes to reflect a client’s desires for the space.

Mr. Ashby extols information management as an important requirement of both architecture and business, as accurate information is needed at the start of a project, and data must be shared in such a way that everyone involved can react to it – while keeping on top of code regulations and staying on target.

Key projects
Nothing speaks more clearly of DMA’s success in the architectural field than its case studies. One of the company’s significant recent examples is its 6750 Esplanade project in Montreal, a four-storey building that required a complete transformation of its lobby. A deep understanding of the space was important, Mr. Ashby explains, as the client wanted to test various tenant layouts. DMA used a data model to test different tenant scenarios and to keep sight on how to maximize the leasable square footage.

Another such project was 5690 Rosemont, an existing Montreal convent that DMA converted into a research laboratory centre, a process involving considerable changes. Laser scanning was done on all floors after the demolition stage to understand the structure and constraints of the building. “It was really tight in order to fit the necessary mechanical systems required for laboratory spaces,” explains DMA’s IT Director. “It was paramount to have the mechanical and structural engineers as well as the trades work in 3D given we typically aim for fourteen-foot ceilings but we [were working with] 9.5 to 11 [feet], therefore precise coordination was extremely important to get it right.” The firm also utilized virtual visits to allow clients to ‘walk through’ and imagine the space prior to construction.

Both projects are a microcosm of how DMA likes to do business, with the client at the forefront of design and with every measure taken to ensure a great final product.

There is an internal push to use new digital tools such as virtual reality and augmented reality. All these components and tools enable DMA to maintain transparency in the design process as the firm looks to introduce more clients into a digital world.

Into the future
Countless lives were upturned by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic but, unlike many other businesses, DMA was able to mitigate the effects of the situation quite ably. Mr. Dubois describes how the company had been ramping up its virtual computer infrastructure since 2012 so employees have been able to work remotely for a long time now.

Since the workstation is virtual and hosted on cloud servers, the move away from the workspace “truly didn’t impact [DMA] at all,” from a technological point of view. The company was able to quickly set up everyone at home to keep the work going. This new condition provided an opportunity to rethink recruiting practices; previously location-based, DMA took the opportunity to hire outside the immediate Montreal area. It now counts staff in Ontario and Vancouver as well as across its home city as part of its team.

These additions to the team brought not only a breadth of expertise but, as Mr. Ashby puts it, a greater relevance to the company’s digital processes. “It opened up opportunities for people to make better use of digital tools,” both for communication and design. “[The pandemic] forced us to better our digital communication skills, as well as exchanges within platforms and drawings.” Where so many businesses saw an uncertain future, DMA discovered opportunity in one of the business world’s most trying times.

Collaborative work and building a close-knit atmosphere are important to DMA architectes, and it remains determined to keep up this spirit even in uncertain times. Although the pandemic has subdued workplace relationships a bit, this has been mitigated by the encouragement of more digital social activities that are “doing what we can to bring the team together,” as the DMA partner describes.

It is important for the company to maintain a collaborative, small office atmosphere and to encourage transparency and communication at all levels through such means as weekly drop-in meetings that encourage discussions among workers. Onboarding and supporting junior staff have become somewhat difficult with remote work, since DMA puts a lot of emphasis on mentoring, but work is being done to provide junior members with resources and insight into how things are done.

Throughout 2021, DMA will keep building on its strengths as an architecture firm. There are still many building restorations undertaken in a calendar year, but these have also led to important development projects which always keep it busy. And it will continue to excel in showing its clients the ways that a design can be realized to its greatest potential.

The post Blending Modern Architectural Technology with Heritage Properties<p class="company">DMA architectes</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Framaco runs two Divisions. The construction management division acts as a Prime contractor for design-build and bid-build projects, primarily for the United States Government’s Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the USAID. Established in 2003, this division has successfully delivered eighteen construction projects from start to finish with a total value exceeding $800 Million, and is currently completing the construction of the all new U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby.

The other Division is the procurement management business, and this was the foundation of the company when Framaco was created nearly thirty years ago. The U.S. government spends billions of dollars annually building facilities outside of the country. Since these healthcare centers, military facilities, embassies, and consulate buildings have specifications from American designers and are funded by the government, the materials must also come from the U.S.

The role that Framaco has taken has been to focus on standards and specifications made in compliance with the Buy American Act, passed in 1933. The act requires the U.S. government to prioritize American-made products in any purchase. The company does not need to compete with the local contractors in other countries and does not use subcontractors in procuring these materials and providing logistics services to get the materials to the overseas contractors that work for the U.S. government.

Complete construction projects are broken up into sixteen divisions as defined by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) to be carried out in order. Initially, Framaco’s supply chain business focused solely on the division that specialized in Architectural doors, hardware and windows. The company’s fully trained staff gained a wealth of knowledge covering projects from small facilities to large aircraft hangars, airports, and mixed-use facilities.

“The contractors found our strategic approach very enthusing and unique since we acted as a single-source responsibility to their contracts, bringing to them a large array of products. So, of course, this has added value, and this is how it became an exceptional win-win for us and for them,” says Gilles Kacha, co-founder and CEO at Framaco.

Its vendors in the U.S. are manufacturers that mainly focus on the North American market. These companies welcome the opportunity to serve American contractors overseas with the support and experience of Framaco.

“They don’t know how to approach a project in many corners of the world, and suddenly they have this U.S. company, based in New York with established overseas branches, staffed with very well trained personnel to take their product from, say, Ohio and move it to 20 to 30 countries around the world. In the past two years, we set ourselves a strategic plan and penetrated a new marketplace in the Pacific region and have since landed several new clients and projects there. We plan on growing aggressively in that region that is hungry for professional groups such as Framaco,” says Gilles.

The company has established exclusivity with its vendors. It does not act as a representative; it is in the role of true distributor. Many manufacturers in the U.S. are searching for ways to expand beyond the borders into international markets, and Framaco is an excellent partner for the task because of its years of expertise and experience. It has worked in every corner of the world, counting 78 countries this year, on a robust portfolio of American-manufactured projects.

Framaco has also expanded into the commercial sector. One project Gilles calls his “crown jewel” is the Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar. The $6 Billion project is one of the largest medical centers in the world, at four million square feet, and was designed by Cesar Pelli and managed by the U.S.-based company AECOM. All the products and materials for this massive hospital had to be sourced from the United States. Framaco completed the supply of thousands of doors, hardware and state of the art access control for the project and was rated as one of the top subcontractors of the dozens subcontractors on that healthcare facility.

“Everything that we do involves value-added engineering that very few companies are capable of doing. Additionally, after we do the design for these contractors, all the engineering, shop drawings, and technical submittals, we also move the products, and that is where the logistics come in,” explains Gilles.

If a contractor has an American project to complete in Guam, for example, Framaco will skillfully select, estimate and procure while contributing to designing and engineering the products that are then consolidated in its warehouses in New Jersey and transported to the defined destination into Guam. The company provides its services as one complete operation.

The Framaco team thrives on communication and employee engagement, and this became more complicated as a result of having to adjust to a new work style during the pandemic. However, the leadership faced the challenge head-on, and the company has pulled through quite successfully.

In the first few months of the pandemic, the company equipped its employees with the technology tools to work at home and maintain consistent communication. The leadership was pleased by the results, realizing that working from home actually increased productivity for its sales force. “You end up working more because your desk is right there, and you maintain productivity and keep up with meetings on the client and team sides, so the result of the pandemic was it grew our Division revenues, and our sales were up twenty-two percent in 2020 over 2019,” says Gilles.

The strong team spirit has led to real transparency within the workplace. All department employees are acquainted with each other’s work to ensure a seamless and effective transition if and when someone needs to be interchanged into a project for any reason. The company also rewards its people for exceptional performance. In the procurement division, the turnover rate is less than two percent, and some staff members have been with Framaco for over twenty years, which speaks volumes about the company culture.

Moving into the future, Framaco intends to stay ahead of technological advancements in the industry. The access controls and building security systems continue to improve, and these are key components to any project. Blast proofing and fire and life safety systems are always a priority, and it is important to stay up-to-date concerning the technology in this area. Acoustics is another part of construction that continues to develop. The company constantly trains its personnel to be educated on new product generations, and in turn deal skillfully with the new demands from owners, designers and engineers.

Employees are invited to all sorts of regular training and new certification sessions in the U.S., and before the pandemic, they would even travel overseas for these opportunities. “We are training them all the time, and as the person responsible, I communicate with them daily. I spend, on average, two to three hours a day in virtual communication with my sales and technical staff in the U.S. and internationally every morning. From 9:00 am until almost 12:00 pm, I am in full communication via video conferencing with our various teams addressing ongoing and new client projects, along with logistics matters,” says Gilles.

Framaco Procurement Division has grown between ten and twenty percent annually since its first year in business and attributes much of this success to the repeat business and track record it has experienced over the years. “Most of our clients come back to us. I have customers that I started with on one project in 1991, and we have now completed in excess of fifty projects with them. This is the type of relationship that we have forged over thirty years with these clients and these vendors, which for me is a measure of our success,” says Gilles.

Gilles makes clear, however, that the true backbone of the company’s achievements is the skilled and experienced employees. “It’s all about the team, integrity, loyalty, and the collaborative and excellent relationships. That’s how our company was built and how it has been growing over the years, and we plan on continuing that thriving trajectory in the future.”

The post A Complete Materials Procurement and Logistics House<p class="company">Framaco International</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

It’s been said that teamwork is “less me and more we,” and that’s a statement Harrington and Associates takes to heart.

Started in 2008 with an eye to shaping its construction management services to create quality client care, over the years the Richmond Hill-based company has stayed true to its original goal: developing protocols in a partnership manner, making a supreme effort to know their clients and understand their clients’ businesses, and always embracing a true team attitude.

“We spend a lot of time learning from our clients, how they operate today and how they plan to in the future,” says Vice President Chris Flanagan. “Once we have an understanding of their goals, we build a project team to help them grow and complete their projects, always keeping in mind the end goal, so we correctly make the right steps together. We take pride in understanding their business and growth plan, and build their project to fit.”

The company’s impressive work across the GTA and surrounding areas has been diverse, and covers a wide range of industries, including heritage reconstruction, new construction, interior renovation and pharmaceutical production.

“We’re strategic, experienced and ready to take on complex projects,” says Flanagan. “As a team, we’re focused on the fine details, the big picture and everything in between.”

This focus is due in large part to the company’s ongoing collaborative relationships with sub-contractors, and the ongoing effort to build strong, confident relationships with clients.

“Our company would not be the success it is today without our quality contractors who make the clients’ spaces possible,” says Principal Paul Harrington. “Our Harrington team are specialists in managing the many layers of a construction project and supervising it to ensure it meets our high standards.” Harrington stresses that the level of quality and reliability from the company’s sub-trades have been built over the years on repeat projects together.

That level of trust and reliability is one that Harrington and Associates is proud to maintain, with reliability leading to satisfied clients.

“We have developed a culture of yes, everything is possible for our clients,” says Harrington. “We are faced with many challenges with our clients, whether it’s a tough schedule, difficult builds, or value engineering, but we always find a way to work together and succeed.”

Again, it’s that capacity for collaboration and working together that is at the forefront of every one of the company’s projects. Both Harrington and Flanagan express their appreciation for the team at large, and how that culture of cooperation, appreciation and teamwork is at the heart of the company’s core values and beliefs, and ultimately carries the company to success.

“Our company has always done business in a collaborative manner,” says Flanagan self. “Our office is a high-energy, family-style operation where teams work together and have access and support from the senior staff whenever needed.”

With core values built on a foundation of honesty, Harrington and Associates fundamentally cares about the growth of the company scaling the right way, says Flanagan.

“Our leaders pave the road and lead by example for when new staff come on board,” he says. “They follow the program and immediately strengthen the team.”

It’s obvious the company takes great pride in maintaining a healthy and supportive relationship with its team, aiming to foster the passion that keeps employees ready and eager to do their jobs well.

“Doing the right thing — company first, team second and self last — is key,” says Flanagan. “Our staff are addicted to improving each other’s skills, making our clients’ experiences better each time on our repeat projects, and simply being kind to each other. It really makes our work environment fun to be part of each day as we treat everyone like family.”

That “family feeling” stems in part from hiring practices that embrace those core values that Harrington and Associates prides itself on fostering.

“We hire for the right attitude and personality,” says Flanagan, adding, “We can teach the skills of construction, so we look for solution-oriented people. As problem solvers, we have to make sure they are a good host. We’re often the centre of the show, organizing all the members. The company and staff are constantly evolving and improving technology, but remain consistent on all projects and teams.”

That impressive consistency includes a hard and fast dedication to safety in the workplace — the company boasts an above-average safety record — which is another one of the company’s important core values.

“We make every decision with the highest regard to the safety and well-being of our families, partners and clients,” says Flanagan.

Integrity is another value the company works steadily to embrace and practice on a daily basis, striving for the highest standards of ethics in everything they do. “You can always count on us to be honest and transparent, and consistently exhibit the highest level of integrity,” says Flanagan.

The ongoing client-first approach means clients are present and appreciated at all stages of every project, big or small.

“We put the focus on you: anticipating needs, solving problems and helping you to make the right decisions,” says Flanagan. All of this, of course, involves developing excellent communication skills, which the company works tirelessly to maintain. “We are a diverse and connected group of professionals,” he adds. “We create efficiencies for you by leveraging our deep pool of expertise and knowledge.”

Finally, implementing engagement as a key core value means social awareness, respect, and showing appreciation for the community where they work and live. “We strive to be good neighbours,” says Flanagan. “We’re interested in understanding other cultures, sharing our culture, and engaging in community outreach.”

Challenges are met head on, and always as a team. Of course, this past year-and-a-half has presented truly unique difficulties to Harrington and Associates along with many other businesses around the globe, but the company has worked hard, through positivity and team spirit, to make the best of a challenging situation.

“The majority of our business was deemed essential through the pandemic, and our team had to rise to the challenge for increased safety measures,” says Harrington.

Weathering a change in communication and managing the very volatile supply chain, the cost increases and delays, was a test to the company’s resources, but in some ways brought everyone even closer together.

“We successfully grew our business in this tough time and strengthened our relationships with our staff and clients,” says Harrington. “We stayed extremely focused on the challenge at hand and delivered our projects as promised to our valuable clients.”

That dedication to creating and maintaining quality client care has been a longstanding mainstay for Harrington and Associates, and will be a key part of its future plans and growth. The company has accumulated numerous achievements over the years, but its team and client relationships remain at the forefront always.

“Since the company started, we always had a plan that we would partner with our clients on a construction management/design build style of business,” says Harrington, adding that they wanted to continuously grow the company’s size sufficiently and effectively serve its repeat clientele.

“We have had to annually increase staff to keep up with the on-going repeat business and referral work from our valuable clients and relationships our staff have developed,” he says.

That initiative has been a success: Not only has the company’s business volume significantly increased annually, the dedicated team has maintained Harrington and Associates’ high level of quality throughout.

“Staff on-board training ensures all of our new members successfully represent our brand as intended,” adds Flanagan. “Having our clients compliment our staff and let them feel part of the team and original partnership is very rewarding.”

With the company’s employees being such a vital part of Harrington and Associates, it’s easy to see why this message is so important to impart. “If anyone knows us, they know we like to compliment our employees first,” says Flanagan. “There’s a team vibe here, and we want our employees to get a big pat on the back.”

Whether it’s “making the old new again” through restoration, building from the ground up with new construction, or renovating an existing space, Harrington and Associates takes the time and care to ensure every client receives the attention they deserve from start to finish, and again, they stress: the team is the heart of the company.

“We have always lived by the expression that we are only as good as our last project,” says Flanagan. “This has always been driven into the teams’ brains – that we ensure that we finish our projects on time, on budget and with first-class professionalism. We have built the company with a goal to grow the company by quality first and volume second.”

The post Team Spirit – Harrington and Associates Upholds Passion and Pride<p class="company">Harrington and Associates</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Adhesive Applications is the industry leader behind a tremendous number of North America’s bonding solutions. There is hardly an industry that Adhesive Applications does not serve, with expertise in aerospace, appliances, automotive, building and construction, doors and windows, electronics, graphics, medical, and HVAC. For 50 years, through economic downturns and fantastic market highs alike, the company has thrived, innovating, collaborating with, and serving Americans through tough and great times.

The company’s success is closely tied to the high level of collaboration its teams are encouraged to maintain – both within the organization and with clients. “We’re really rejoicing in the ability to just walk down the hall and have a conversation with every part of the organization [again],” says Petra Schaefer, President.

Based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, the company concluded a thorough overhaul of its headquarters earlier this year. An addition of more than 55,000 square feet to its existing footprint meant that all departments, including converting and shipping, can now operate from one facility. “This [expansion] has allowed us to greatly improve our efficiency and processes for our customers,” says Schaefer. “Having the whole management team engaged and involved in meetings allows for decisions to be made quickly. We excel at being nimble and quick to market,” she adds.

Powered by people
“Even our new office is collaborative,” agrees Judette Savino, Vice President Sales and Marketing. We have a new whiteboard table [where] we have quick meetings. And we do this constantly. Throughout the day you’ll see people standing there talking through an idea before everybody goes back to their desk.” Naturally, this type of collaboration takes place within the safety of COVID-19 distancing regulations and is juxtaposed with cleverly appointed office cubicles that offer both privacy and space.

The company’s specialty lies in being solidly committed to custom product development backed by science and innovation at a price that suits its clients’ budgets. Adhesive Applications particularly focuses on companies in need of a sophisticated, yet affordable single-source adhesives partner, one that is adaptable and diverse in its capabilities with a well-developed research and development team. Adhesive Applications’ breadth of expertise means that the team can meet customers’ diverse bonding, laminating, mounting, gasketing, splicing, and sealing needs, with products developed and manufactured to exacting, high-performance specifications.

Serving key sectors
Experts from a multitude of fields trust Adhesive Applications to develop proprietary solutions to their unique challenges in its state-of-the-art laboratory, making the company the go-to advisor for some of North America’s biggest names. “Because if you don’t have trust, you don’t have anything,” says Schaefer. “Now we’re seeing, because of COVID and so many other factors, the drive to get things done faster and respond more quickly is more and more critical to everyone’s success. We see and understand that.”

At Adhesive Applications, customer care is another cornerstone of great service, and the team meets daily to improve its level of service even further. Staff are encouraged to look at the bigger market picture as well as future market demands. Interestingly, while customers come from wide and far for its custom solutions, some of Adhesive Applications’ best sellers remain its longstanding foam, silicone, and acrylic tape selections popular in a wide range of markets for their equally diverse performance specs.

As markets adapt to the pressures of improved personal and environmental health, the company has seen a defined surge in business from the medical field as well as the electric vehicle sector. The latter follows the drive for putting more sustainably powered cars on the road in a new, more wellness-oriented world. In terms of surviving COVID-19, the company’s innovation made a large contribution to point-of-care testing (POCT) through developing adhesives in microfluidic testing tools. This is a tremendously important field within diagnostics, especially in these times, as POCT microfluidic testing tools abate the need for laboratory testing, saving both patients and medical care providers time and money. “It’s a great industry to be in because it is ever-changing,” says Savino.

Rooted in quality
To ensure optimum quality, the company’s adhesives adhere to strict rules such as those set by The International Organization for Standardization. At present, Adhesive Applications holds ISO 10993 and 10993-1 certifications that comprehensively govern testing procedures around cell toxicity and issues concerning skin sensitization and dermatitis triggers. “Our approach to developing products is unique in the industry as we let the application drive the product selection. Through a company-proprietary, objective evaluation process, we carefully assess the attributes and requirements of every product application,” says Erik Vinh, Digital Marketing Manager.

The company’s history is one of tenacity. It was started by Petra’s father, Michael Schaefer, who emigrated from Germany in 1986. Originally, he acquired three separate businesses. When the tape manufacturing outfit started outperforming the rest, Schaefer decided to place his focus there and, in 1970, founded Adhesive Applications, leveraging the synergies that had developed between the original companies over time. In 2002, the company expanded again, giving clients more variety and better versatility as well as more powerful research and development capabilities. And, while the firm continues to grow, it prides itself on serving its loyal clientele better than ever.

That’s because the company’s staff of over 70 is as knowledgeable and loyal as its median tenure is long; some members of staff have been here for thirty years or more. “We do not have the staffing issues that we hear about to the degree that we see throughout the industry and throughout the world right now,” shares Schaefer. To ensure that its staffing status quo remains this way, the firm researched its pay equity situation some time ago to guarantee that everyone was earning a fair and sufficient salary. Management also used the opportunity to share the company’s financial well-being with employees.

In addition to being a fair and generous employer, several of the company’s management team are women. “[In this way we could show our people] what we’re focused on and what we need to do to get there. Now I think we’re attracting very hardworking people… Almost everybody goes above and beyond in some way, shape, or form to deliver to a customer. And that’s huge,” Schaefer says. The company’s management team is as hands-on as all its other teams and it is therefore not uncommon to see leaders working just as hard as the rest of the company’s people out in the field. “It’s a very collaborative group. Everybody at every level works with each other,” she adds.

Adhesive Applications’ signature knack for adaptability remains one of the company’s strongest attributes. As illustrated through its robust response to COVID-19, staying on top of technological advances in the field will continue to strengthen its bonds with clients. While continuing to monitor market changes closely, the Adhesive Applications team will also stick to what it knows works – solid science, rigorous testing, and quality relationships.

The post Next-Generation Adhesive Solutions<p class="company">Adhesive Applications</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With myriad uses across military, towing and recovering, all-terrain, forestry, mining, utilities, and large-scale industrial and consumer applications, the popularity of Ramsey Winch products can be attributed to their dependability and ruggedness, which is genuinely legendary. And all this is framed by committed customer service.

Designed and manufactured to the highest possible standards, Ramsey Winch products are punishingly tested to ready them for a hard, unforgiving life in the field.

As company President and Chief Executive John Celoni says, “these aren’t winches made to sit on front bumpers and look pretty,” but winches manufactured for the military, mining, and other tough-as-nails industries where working vehicles and equipment sent must be able to self-recover in any environment, from muddy terrain to deep snow and ice.

Far from an ordinary winch company, Ramsey employs highly trained, dedicated staff who ensure their products function under these challenging conditions – every time!

The people factor
Responsible for the design, machining, assembly, sourcing, finishing, painting, and outfitting of 50 to 60 different products, Ramsey’s team is composed of mechanical engineers, manufacturing engineers, electrical engineers, machinists, supply professionals, warehousing, and shipping and receiving with both domestic and international capabilities.

“The differentiator between Ramsey Winch and any other competitor is our people,” says Celoni. “It’s our people and our culture standing behind the product and service. We have staff with over 40 years’ experience in the winch business – specifically the Ramsey Winch business,” he says.

“We machine our own products, and we take it from concept to delivery, and everyone collaborates to solve problems and find opportunities to grow the business. It all evolves. Anybody can have a great strategy and a great product, but it’s the people that differentiate Ramsey Winch from anybody else.”

Unlike many companies where clients call and are immediately placed on hold, the opposite is true at Ramsey Winch. When customers phone, they talk to a live person, not a recording. “This is a people business, and Ramsey Winch is a people-first business, both internally and externally,” says Director of Sales and Marketing, Samuel Rooke.

With an extensive background in heavy equipment, Rooke knows the challenges of the industry, and the importance of working closely with customers. “We take care of our employees internally, and they want to take care of our clients externally. The single biggest piece of what makes our customer service team successful is that they care, and they’re going to work through a solution until it’s resolved, not give you piecemeal answers.”

Hard-won skill sets
Much of the company’s strength comes from the scope of its skill sets, which are shared among three wholly-owned subsidiaries: Ramsey Winch, Auto Crane, and Eskridge.

Ramsey represents the winch side, while Auto Crane designs and manufactures truck-mounted electric and hydraulic cranes, crane-control technologies, mechanic service bodies and work ready trucks, with Eskridge designing and manufacturing power transmission products such as planetary gear drives, anchor drives, and associated integral brakes. The three entities complement one another and continue the vision of founders Claude and Rayburn Ramsey.

Established as Ramsey Brothers Tool & Die in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1944, the company started off making tools, dies, and parts for the world-famous Douglas Aircraft Company.

The next year, the brothers unveiled their first winch, a design by Claude called Model 101, a heavy-duty worm and gear model. Ideal for pulling stuck vehicles out of sand, mud, snow, and through rough terrain generally, the Model 101 was soon seen on “Willys,” the iconic jeeps conceived and manufactured by Willys-Overland Motors for theater-of-war use.

The winches produced by the Ramsey brothers soon became essential equipment in the towing and recovery industry. Demand for products grew so much that Claude and Rayburn renamed the business Ramsey Brothers Winch Company in 1947.

As Ramsey Winch phrases it, “due to the significant impact that Ramsey Winch had on the Towing and Recovery industry, in 1987 the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame inducted Claude Ramsey as the first member who was not actually a towman.”

Still steadily growing, the company continues to manufacture products that set the benchmark of quality and endurance, including the PowerMaster™ Series – made for power and utility markets – and the Wildcat Series, used in oil and gas production.

Ongoing innovation
To satisfy every extreme of customer requirements, Ramsey developed two types of winches: worm-gear driven, and planetary-gear driven. While the early years saw a focus on heavy-duty industrial worm gears – which, even today, some customers prefer for their ruggedness and durability – the technology grew to include planetary gear sets, the company’s primary focus today.

“The planetary tends to give you a faster and more efficient product,” says Rooke, “and therefore can potentially give you better return on investment.” He does point out, nevertheless, that with more moving parts, planetary winches can be more expensive than the worm-driven models. But whatever the final choice, Ramsey Winch quality is never in doubt.

Paying close attention to customer requirements, Ramsey Winch constantly designs and produces new series to meet the needs of the marketplace. These now include Wildcat and the Hercules series which was unveiled to the market about a year and a half ago, with 2021 seeing the full release of this exciting product along with Helios.

Focused on tow and recovery, the company’s Hercules has a line pull of 20,000 pounds (9,072 kg) to 50,000 pounds (22,679 kg), while the Wildcat has a line pull from 50,000 pounds (22,679 kg) to 250,000 pound (113,398 kg), making it well-suited to the oil and gas industry.

With a pull of 20,000 pounds (9,072 kg), the Helios 20000 has a speed of 37.5 feet (11.4 meters) per minute, and a cable capacity of 155 feet (47.2 meters) short, and 260 feet (79.2 meters) standard. The model is also available in other specifications. “When you need it to work, the Helios will pull it for you,” says Rooke.

Although relatively new to the market, client feedback on the Hercules and Helios lines has been overwhelmingly positive, both in terms of quality of manufacturing and of product performance.

“People are excited about these products coming into the market,” says Rooke. “They are a new iteration, and perhaps a little bit more modern than the older series of winches. Efficiency and return on investment is what we strive for.”

Like all Ramsey winches, they are subjected to rigorous testing internally, and undergo a four-step gate process for new product development at the company’s facility, which is ISO 9001:2015 certified. Meeting additional external standards including those set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and SAE International standards, products are then field tested with customers in real-life situations before being rolled out.

Future growth
At Ramsey Winch, it can take anywhere from 18 to 24 months to bring a new product to market. Winches are never rushed out the door, but thoroughly tested over and over to ensure they’ll easily stand up to client demands.

Among its many innovations, Ramsey has developed and patented thermal limiting modules and overload limiting indicators for electric winches, which allow customers to maximize the cycle duty time of a product while in operation.

Since electric winches generate a lot of heat, this is essential to their successful operation. By working with thermal technologies, heat is better controlled, with winches cutting off once they reach a certain amperage level or heat level. This allows them to cool down and recycle to become more efficient, critical in applications such as military.

“What was happening before we got in with this patented product is that the winches would burn up, then you’d be stuck out in the theater, so to speak, and at risk,” says Celoni. “So this prevents the motor from overheating and the winch from not being able to operate.

“It takes an operator’s knowledge and reduces the need for it, because technology manages that process for them. It’s a differentiator, and it saves lives.”

With the belief that the business is only as good as its people, Ramsey Winch continues to attract top-notch employees like Chad Martin. Vice President of Operations, Martin is responsible for all three businesses – Ramsey Winch, Auto Crane and Eskridge – and says what drew him to the company was its culture, people, and products (and super duper boss!!)

“It’s a very cool product with a long history of performance, and fantastic name recognition in the industry,” he says. “Everybody knows Ramsey Winch, and there are high expectations for that product. So the challenge I was ready to accept, coming to work for this organization, was to make sure I help continue that legacy of Ramsey Winch, as well as expand its capabilities and breadth across multiple industries.”

In business for 76 years, Ramsey Winch’s past achievements and sustained reputation for quality will ensure its success long into the future.

“We are a mission-critical component on a very critical piece of equipment that’s time-tested, with almost eight decades of experience and reliability that’s been out in the marketplace,” says Celoni. “And it’s all wrapped up in innovation and responsiveness when there’s a need. When you want to work, we’re ready… and the winch will work.”

The post Better Winches Make a Better World<p class="company">Ramsey Winch</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Commonly known as drones, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) were out of public reach for decades. Originally reserved for the military, primitive drones emerged in the 1800s and were essentially explosive-filled balloons directed at the enemy.

During the First World War (1914-18) and World War Two (1939-45), advances in radio controls saw drones used to gather reconnaissance without putting human pilots in jeopardy or subjecting them to unnecessary fatigue. In time, drone use opened up to government agencies such as the United States Coast Guard for search and rescue operations, and utilities for inspecting pipelines in hard-to-access landscapes.

Becoming smaller, faster, and lighter in the 1970s, drones soon gained popularity in commercial sectors. No longer the domain of the military or wealthy hobbyists, drones today are used by television stations, movie-makers, emergency conservation authorities to monitor wildlife, and for many other purposes including construction, where they are proving themselves to be a valuable and cost-effective tool.

Keeping tabs
One of the earliest sectors to embrace drone technology was construction.

Used by superintendents, technology managers, project managers and others, drones are regularly on job sites collecting data, tracking construction progress, and using GPS to precisely map areas and create 3D models. By gathering aerial data in real time, drones prevented potentially expensive mistakes; in fact, some contractors have reported cost and time improvements of 75 percent and greater, thanks to drones.

Drones boast many benefits, one of the greatest being on-board cameras. No longer limited to blurry still images of the past, today’s drones have stabilizers and capture high-resolution photos, video, and data.

While drones keep proving their worth as an investment during all stages of the building process – from initial surveying through construction and completion – they are also making job sites safer. Instead of hauling out ladders or erecting scaffolds and putting themselves at risk while inspecting rooftops, construction crews are using drones to do the job for them, checking for potential issues via cameras.

As an added benefit, drone photos captured from above are also being used to create budget-friendly marketing materials for buildings under construction, such as condominiums.

Buzzing over the building
In the past, mapping massive construction projects such as apartment complexes or multi-acre shopping mall developments was a lengthy and expensive process requiring pilots, a helicopter or small plane flying overhead, and a photographer taking aerial images.

Thanks to drones, massive sites can now be surveyed, documented, and photographed in a short time and at a fraction of the cost of hiring a pilot and plane. And since bird’s-eye views are captured in real time and viewed by workers on the ground, any issues affecting the construction process can be addressed immediately.

Construction companies and their clients benefit. Instead of describing how a project is progressing or just taking just ground-level photos, customers can monitor jobs under construction for themselves through images, videos, and by zooming in on GPS points on detailed maps. This not only reveals how much work has been completed, but the amount that still needs to be done, which is valuable for budgeting and timelines, especially after significant storms and rain which can set projects back by days or even weeks.

A drone for the job
With the myriad available types and price points of drones, the sky’s the limit.

As with all construction equipment investments, it is important to create a checklist of wants and needs before purchasing. While entry-level hobby drones can be had for $100, they are best suited to beginners wanting to get a ‘feel’ for basic controls.

Once in the $1,000 to $2,000 range, drones come with higher resolution cameras, offering sharper images and videos. Entering the $10,000 and up price tag sees quality and features increase significantly, including encrypted data security, automatic dual band switching, superior-quality cameras, GPS modules, and other systems improving accuracy.

However, cost is not the only consideration. Types of construction drones vary, with some better suited for specific purposes than others. Rotary wing drones – the style favoured by hobby enthusiasts – boast four to eight propellers, offering precise controls while in flight, and make take-off easy.

Fixed wing drones, which resemble small airplanes, are known for their long range abilities and endurance, while hybrid drones are a combination of rotary and fixed wing. Depending on the drone and lift capacity, they can be equipped with high-resolution cameras, many sensors, and LiDAR, which uses laser to determine ranges.

Flying by the rules
As with all equipment, drones require training, skill, and abiding by rules and regulations as set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and Transport Canada, where all drones with a take-off weight of 8.8 ounces (250 grams) and over must be registered.

As with any technology, the laws regarding drone use keep changing as their popularity increases. In 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a permit for the first commercial drone. At the time, there was an average of just two permits per year. By 2016, however, the FAA was issuing over three thousand permits to commercial users, and the number keeps growing to this day.

With growing drone popularity use come not only practical considerations, but legal ones governing their proper use.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has a section on its website, Use of Drones on Construction Projects: Legal and Contractual Considerations. The ABA highlights FAA regulations and legal aspects surrounding drone accidents, risk of injuries to persons or property, indemnities, liability, data collection and storage, and privacy.

Other areas must also be considered, such as obtaining written consent from workers and neighbours over privacy, and checking with collective bargaining agreements to see if there are restrictions about photographing and taping employees.

While some feel the construction industry is historically resistant to change, the opposite holds true with the industry’s enthusiastic embrace of drones. In just a few years, technology has seen drones become even more useful, with additional sensors, the ability to carry heavier payloads, longer battery life resulting in extended flight times, improved software, and other features.

From mapping and equipment tracking to safety and security and site inspection, to showing progress to clients and keeping projects on-track and on-budget, drones – despite their diminutive size – are becoming very important pieces of construction equipment.

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