Customer Stories

You can cut 100 pieces at five feet, putting straights and fittings together with extreme accuracy. We knew this would save a tremendous amount of time and rework, and the big payoff would be big savings for our customer." North Mechanical uses SysQue to design fully constructible Revit LOD 400 models based on manufacturing-specific content. Using SysQue in Revit enhances the model of systems with materials and sizes based on actual manufacturer products by name and part number. This means fabricators can produce pipes, fittings and hangers much more quickly and accurately than using conventional methods. Allen explains that with SysQue, the model of systems includes materials and sizes based on actual manufacturer products by name and part number. This includes relevant fields for spool drawings for fabrication and installation, such as: piece number, diameter, nominal size, size, family and type, system classification, system abbreviation, material, count and length. This lab project also helped establish a completely new fabrication workflow for producing piping spools and fabricated skids that can be replicated for other projects. That includes importing raw component data into Excel and Word to easily organize, print and apply labels to each hanger and component. "Having this level of manufacturing detail on our hanger and component labels increased our efficiency and allowed us to cut our workforce in half during the peak of the job," said Allen. "By allowing us to fabricate roughly 90% of components off site, we also reduced our footprint on the job and allowed for increased efficiency among our partners because they had more insight into and they had longer to complete their work," he added. Using SysQue on the lab project, North Mechanical has fabricated 60,000 linear foot of piping and over six dozen skids and preassembled modules. Allen believes that the solution has strengthened the quality of the piping and component design by providing fabricators with access to 3D, information-rich models very early in the pre-fabrication process. This improves collaboration and helps communicate the full design intent of each component, and it allows them to identify any clashes or potential problems immediately. "Our new workflow with SysQue and Revit has helped improve collaboration with fabricators tremendously," said Allen. "They now ask more meaningful questions, which leads to better coordination between us, less rework and higher quality design. This new process eliminated 90% of rework on the lab build, which is huge. We had zero change orders due to clashes or coordination issues or that job, which is outstanding. The intelligent 3D model gives fabricators a better sense spatially of the components and eliminates problems before they happen." Leveraging just-in-time construction North Mechanical is also generating material takeoffs from the schedules developed with SysQue and Revit. Vendors receive a part list with approximately 1,000 line items, organize and accept the spreadsheets, and they place the order directly from North Mechanical's schedules. In most cases, components are delivered in two to three days. This reinforces just-in-time materials and accurate take off for fabrication — enabling fabricators to have the exact materials they need, precisely when they need them. Allen estimates he has ordered 90% of all materials for the lab project from his desk and it has been 100% accurate in terms of the precise number of components, fittings and valves required. This precision allows Allen and his team to be more focused and deliberate with fabrication and management on the job. He estimates it can cost tens of thousands of dollars in restocking fees and labor costs to perform takeoffs using conventional methods.

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