The newsletter of the C&S Companiesspring 2013 www.cscos.com

advances

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Recently, C&S collaborated with JPW Structural Con-tracting on a large conveyor structure replacement in Upstate New York that required an aggressive replacement schedule. The existing corroded structure needed to be completely replaced while mini-mizing the owner’s production down-time. Shop-fabrication of structural steel sections needed to be maximized

to limit time-consuming field fabri-cation. The goal was to fabricate the structure in large sections and ship it to the site for immediate installation.

C&S designed the conveyor structure using a finite element analysis (FEA) structural soft-ware called RAM Elements. Bentley’s Structural Synchronizer software was used to export the RAM Elements model into the BIM structural model, which was modeled using Revit Struc-ture. Once JPW was awarded the structural steel fabrication bid, they were proactive in requesting the structural model. C&S pro-vided JPW with an IFC (Indus-try Foundation Classes) file of the structure that was imported directly into Tekla Structures, a comprehensive detailing software

fication, single model creation

(interoperability between design/analy-sis and modeling soft-ware), and efficient output of drawings. Initially, these models were used exclusively during the design phase, but in the past few years, contractors have adopted the models for use throughout construction.

The engineering and construction industry are rapidly adopting a more high-tech approach to design, construction, and operation of projects. The incredible developments in 3D design, computing power, and building information modeling (BIM) have made even the most complicated projects more efficient and cost-effec-tive.

Over the past decade, C&S invested heavily in 3D and BIM tools, with the goal of improving the quality of our de-signs and the efficiency of our projects throughout their lifecycle. Immediate benefits included rapid conflict identi-

Virtual teamwork boosts efficiencyby Joseph Nadzan, p.e., leed ap, and John Wozniczka III, p.e.

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and erection. Considering this contracting approach, the virtual model became the bridge to seam-less project delivery.

• Proactiveapproach—Collaborationensured the project was completed on time and within budget. This meant less field time and less owner/client disruption.

This virtual collaboration is a vital part of what’s known as the integrated project delivery (IPD) method. The American Institute of Architects notes that IPD “leverages early contributions of knowledge and expertise through the utilization of new technologies, allow-ing all team members to better realize their highest potentials while expand-ing the value they provide through-out the project lifecycle.” We believe strongly that IPD is the future of our industry. Using virtual tools to analyze, model, and build integrates design and construction to provide a higher-level of project experience to our clients.

JPW is an AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction) certified fabrica-tion shop. Their 100,000-square-foot fabrication facility houses an extensive line of advanced CNC machinery. JPW recently added a new burn-ing and drilling center to its fleet of CNC structural steel equipment. This machine can cut, drill up to 3-inch diameter holes, tap holes, face mill, and piece mark a sheet of plate 14 feet by 45 feet long and up to 12 inches thick. This is the first machine of its kind in Central New York and will decrease JPW’s plate processing costs by 40%.

For more information about this proj-ect and the IPD process, contact Joe Nadzan at jnadzan@cscos.com or (315) 455-2000. To learn more about JPW and their capabilities, contact John Wozniczka III at JPW@jpwriggers.com or (315) 432-1111.

used by JPW to create structural steel fabrication models.

The initial file collaboration saved five days on the shop drawing schedule by using a model that already had all of the main members in the correct lay-out. Once the structure was imported into Tekla the only items left were detailing the connections and produc-ing shop/erection drawings. This step took five days and those drawings were electronically submitted back to C&S for a quick two-day review period. Once C&S approved the drawings for construction, the fabrication process began. Tekla produces all the CNC (computer numeric control) files need-ed to cut, drill, and punch the plates, angles, channels, and beams. Tekla also programs the machines in less than one minute—ataskthatwouldtaketwodays to complete manually.

Many benefits of this virtual collabora-tion between the design team and the fabricator were realized.

• Efficiency—Thefabricatordidnotneed to re-model C&S’s structure design from printed drawings and reviews could occur quickly. Time savings would increase even more significantly on much larger fabri-cation projects.

• Coordinationandteamwork—Theengineers and fabricator worked together to identify conflicts and ensure a well-organized installa-tion sequence. This helped remove typical negative aspects of a design-bid-build approach (adversarial, low-bid environment). In this case, C&S and JPW had separate agreements, with C&S perform-ing all design, general construction and project management and JPW performing structural fabrication

Using virtual tools to analyze, model, and build integrates design and construction to provide a higher-level of project experience to our clients.

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C&S received five 2013 Engineering Ex-cellence Awards from the American Council of Engineering Compa-nies (ACEC) New York Chapter and one from ACEC of Michigan.

Platinum Award—Lincoln Supply Build-ing Redevelopment. C&S designed the renovation of the aban-doned Lincoln Supply Building on Syracuse’s Near West Side into a mixed residential and commercial space. The project required a total gut of the build-ing including the roof, interior structure, and floors. The renovated building is 100% elec-tric and uses no on-site fossil fuels. The project was certified LEED Platinum in 2012.

Platinum Award—Wildcat Road over Wildcat Gully Bridge Replacement. Built in 1910, the Wildcat Road bridge, located in Livingston County, was closed in 2004 due to deterioration. C&S replaced the 100-year-old landmark with a 100-foot-long, single-span structure, accommodating two narrow lanes of traffic.

Gold Award—Syracuse Creekwalk. The Syracuse Creekwalk is a 2.2-mile-long urban trail within the City of Syra-cuse, paralleling Onondaga Creek from the city’s core to the shore of Onondaga

C&S projects win six 2013 state ACEC awards

Lake. The Creekwalk links destinations in the city with a safe, dedicated route separated from motorized vehicles.

Silver Award—Onondaga Commu-nity College SRC Arena and Event Center. C&S provided design and construction management services for

a new facility designed to hold 8,000 people. The facility, which is seeking LEED Gold certification, includes a running track, playing surfaces for various sports, and a 4,500-square-foot fit-ness center.

Silver Award—Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor/Administra-tion Building. C&S designed and provided construction man-agement services for a new LEED Silver certified visitor center/administration facility for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 17,000-square-foot building was designed for dual function as an exhibition and education space for the general public and administrative space for staff.

Merit Award—De-troit Metropolitan Wayne County Air-port Ground-Run-Up Facility. C&S designed a ground run-up facility that can accommodate all aircraft up to a Boe-ing 747-8. This facility

allows aircraft to “run-up” their engines for testing after aircraft maintenance while blocking the noise from sur-rounding communities. The three-sid-ed structure has 42-foot-high walls that are lined with 2,000 noise-absorbing acoustical panels.

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Design (LEED) certification, C&S developed a practical and sustainable design, including:

• Materialsthathavehighrecycledcontent or are recyclable, such as carpet and ceiling tiles

• Windowsthatmaximizedaylight,while controlling heat load

• MaterialsmadeinnortheastAri-zona that minimized transportation impacts and reflect the region’s character

• Re-useofgraywaterforlandscapewater needs

• Native,non-invasivelandscapingthat uses minimal water

• Aconstructionrecyclingplanformaterials and debris

• Naturalgasfireplace• Energy-efficientlighting

These design elements were selected because they contributed to the project’s environmental, social, and economic goals. The new facility has a lower impact on the environment, showcases local resources, and will cost the town less to own and operate than a conventionally designed

residents, providing air ambulance service to the Phoenix region hospitals. It is also a seasonal base for the United States Forest Service–Fire Services.

The airport has undergone a significant transformation since 2006 and is now considered the gem of the White Mountains for general aviation. This transformation began with the vision of town leadership and airport stakeholders. Recognizing the airport’s importance to serving the community and national public airspace system, the town first focused on making sure the facility met Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety standards and then identified how it could effectively generate revenue. The town decided to take over the operation of

The Town of Springerville is located in an area known as Round Valley, in the foothills of northeastern Arizona’s White Mountains. The town, which sits on the picturesque banks of the Little Colorado River, started out as an original 1897 Wild West trading post. Today, Springerville is a quaint mountain town known as the gateway to the White Mountains.

Springerville Municipal Airport sits at 7,055 feet above sea level, making it one of the highest elevation airports in Arizona. In addition to serving as a convenient stop for private pilots visiting the area for recreational skiing, hunting, and back country exploring, the airport serves as an emergency transportation hub for Round Valley

the airport from a private operator. To regain control of operations and develop a feasible financial plan, the town worked with C&S to develop updated rules and regulations, minimum standards for businesses operating at the airfield, and overall airport branding strategy. Under the town’s management, the airport quickly became more profitable and the town was able to fund crucial safety and maintenance projects. Within one year of regaining control of airport operations, the town executed a master lease agreement for hangar development. C&S assisted with lease negotiations and the development of aircraft storage site concepts, which led to construction of five conventional hangars in 2008.

In addition to aircraft storage, the town needed to address several fixed objects within the runway visibility zone that had been flagged by the FAA. The town worked with the FAA, Arizona Department of Transportation–Aeronautics and C&S to design a phased plan for obstruction removals.

Using Airport Improvement Program grants over a three-year period, the town removed a weather station, T-hangar, fencing, wind cone, overhead utility lines, an electrical vault building, and, most critically, the existing terminal building. C&S provided planning, architectural, mechanical/electrical/plumbing, site-civil, and landscape design, and a constructability review for a new 4,300-square-foot general aviation terminal/fixed base operator building. The design team had to work within several constraints, including FAA height restrictions, prevention of wildlife hazards, and sustainability goals. Although funds were not available to formally pursue Leadership in Energy & Environmental

Gem of the White MountainsAirport transformation a major asset to Town of Springervilleby Cory Hazlewood

facility. The terminal building complements architecture found in the region, maintaining the character of the town and surrounding environment. The interior features a wooden open-beam ceiling and elements that reflect a Northern White Mountain style. The design for this public-use facility also creates an inviting entrance and outdoor gathering space for public aviation airport users and the local flying community.

To establish a plan for the airport’s future, C&S worked

with the town to update the airport layout plan (ALP). This study reviewed existing facilities and projected needs of the airport to establish a development plan over short-, intermediate- and long-term horizons, with an emphasis on the next 10 years. The ALP update identifies projects that represent reasonable, fiscally responsible solutions to achieving the goals of the Town of Springerville. C&S also recently completed a pavement preservation project for all of Taxiway A.

Over the past seven years the town has invested heavily in enhancing the airport and creating a safe and effi-cient aircraft operating environment. The town has also shown its com-mitment to maintaining a financially stable and successful airport by taking over management and operations and undertaking necessary development projects. The ALP update will guide the airport into the future and ensure that its doors remain open to all White Mountain visitors.

To learn more about this project, contact Cory Hazlewood at (619) 296-9373 or chazlewood@cscos.com.

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pre-bill, preparing the final bill, and mailing the final bill. The goal is to complete these tasks in 15 calendar days. Two of the tasks (preparing the pre-bill and prepar-ing the final bill) are completed by the ac-counting department

while the other two are completed by the construction services department. Each step is tracked with dates so we know where any delays happen. Varia-tion from the value stream is tracked to measure success and results of process audits are made available to the entire team to know and learn from.

Problems in a process most likely did not develop overnight, so trying to solve them overnight is often unre-alistic. Lean principles help analyze the process as it pertains to value and creates a system that is constantly being measured and scored.

For more information about lean principles and efficiency, contact Greg Fehrman at gfehrman@cscos.com or (315) 455-2000.

system, because the task is completed when it is needed for the next task. This is called value streaming.

As an example, consider baking a cake. It takes 5 minutes for the oven to preheat and 15 minutes to mix the batter. Using CCM, the baker would start 10 minutes into making the batter so that the oven is pre-heated at the exact time the batter is completed. This saves energy because the oven isn’t on any longer than necessary (idle time). It also allows the baker to place the cake directly in the oven when she has completed mixing without waiting for the oven to preheat.

To begin the lean journey, most or-ganizations use the Kaizen approach, a Japanese management concept that means continuous improvement. Traditionally, new initiatives introduce radical change that spikes efficiency at first, but then fades out over time; Kaizen principles are slower moving, but continuous.

The Kaizen approach is not easy; it takes discipline, teamwork, objectiv-ity, and, most importantly, persistence. Often, quality improvement initiatives tend to be “flavor of the month” invest-ments. After a big change or innova-tion fades out, things usually return to their previous state. To overcome this pattern of rapid improvement and decline, we must change the mental-ity of an organization so that workers understand that change and improve-ment is a continuous process that is not going away.

An organization needs to understand that, ultimately, the consumer de-termines the quality of a product or service and how much they are willing to pay for it. Once you know the con-sumer’s perspective, you can determine which parts of the manufacturing pro-

Manufacturing processes face constant demand to be more efficient, safe, and quality-driven. For as long as industry has existed, companies have sought new and better ways to improve. When a problem or inefficiency is found, management is faced with the choice to find a quick fix workaround or take time and energy to find the source of the problem and identify a long-term solution.

Lean principles are a proven way to analyze processes and eliminate the waste and its cause. In this concept, thegoalisaperfectsystem—knowingthat perfection can never actually be reached. Instead, improvements are consistently made along the journey.

Lean principles are not new. In the early 1900s, Henry Ford developed flow production in his automobile factory, a system that was later labeled the moving assembly line. Toyota took these principles to a higher level in the 1930s. Through the years, these systems were called Total Quality Man-agement (TQM) or the very popular Six Sigma. Lean principles not only im-prove processes in manufacturing, but can improve the process of delivering almost any service a company offers.

Lean manufacturing identifies seven areas where waste is prevalent: over-production, idle time, transporting, inappropriate process, excess motion, unnecessary inventory, and defects.

Threeoftheseareas—idletime,inap-propriateprocess,anddefects—canbelooked at more deeply.

Idle time causes waste because of the time and energy required to re-start the process after an interruption. Often, idling is caused by the wait for infor-mation, some of which may actually be unnecessary. When idle time is com-bined with inappropriate processes, it causes re-work and defects. Identifying a true standard process is essential to eliminate waste and improve quality. For example, studies show that when a task is started before having all of the necessary information or when tasks are performed out of sequence, 50 percent of the task needs to be re-worked later.

In many industries, an accepted sched-uling technique called critical path method (CPM) is used. Each required task’s start and finish dates are calculat-ed and a sequence of tasks that cannot be delayed is determined. All other non-critical tasks have a cushion, called float. These tasks have additional time to be finished without impacting the final completion date. Lean principles introduce a similar technique, called critical chain method (CCM), where the start of a task is determined by what is called a “pull method.” Here, the starting points of tasks are dictated by the start of the next required task. This eliminates idle time on non-crit-ical tasks without affecting the entire

cess bring value and which do not. For example, a consumer may be willing to pay for a higher grade of leather car upholstery, but they may not be willing to pay more for decorative stitching on that leather. By removing the extra stitching from the process, costs are lowered, but perceived quality is not.

The overarching goal of lean principles is perfection. An optimized value stream is the baseline for measuring performance and improvement. Con-tinuous auditing of the process and strict management of the value stream will automatically introduce improve-ments to the system.

An example of this is how C&S’s con-struction services department processes payments.Therearefoursteps—pre-paring the pre-bill, reviewing the

Achieving high-level performance is a slow, continuous processby Greg Fehrman, p.e., leed ap

AdvancementsAccomplishments

C&S was selected by the New York State Department of Transportation as part of the Parsons Transportation Group team to provide lead bridge design services, traffic and utilities en-gineering, and public involvement for the preliminary design of replacement alternatives for the elevated section of highway that carries Interstate 81 through downtown Syracuse, New York.

As part of a team led by VHB, C&S will conduct a greenhouse gas inven-tory and a waste audit, and provide consulting services related to airport sustainability initiatives for Salt Lake City International Airport’s sustain-ability management plan.

C&S was selected by the Greater Or-lando Aviation Authority to provide structural design services for the $114 million Airside 4 renovation at Or-lando International Airport. C&S will provide all of the structural de-sign for the renovation that is expand-ing 4 gates, increasing the existing federal inspection station area, and building a new central energy plant.

AwardsC&S was ranked #137 on Engineer-ing News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms list for 2013. The list ranks the 500 largest U.S.-based design firms, both publicly and privately held, based on design-specific revenue.

Lake Havasu City Municipal Air-port was given the Airport of the Year Award from the Arizona Department of Transportation during the Arizona Airports Association conference in April. C&S has been the airport’s on-call consultant for nearly 10 years.

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C&S Companies499 Colonel Eileen Collins Blvd.Syracuse, New York 13212p: (315) 455-2000f: (315) 455-9667toll free: (877) CS-SOLVEwww.cscos.comemail: advances@cscos.com

Engage, explore, excel—to advance quality of life in a changing world

We still rely on human ingenuity and teamwork to get the job done.

This issue of Advances truly lives up to its name. Each article is about finding new and better ways to deliver projects toourclients—inotherwords,advanc-es. As the engineering and construction industries evolve and change, new tech-nologies, techniques, and processes are flourishing. C&S has welcomed and invested in developments that enable us to help our clients be more efficient and cost-effective. One area where we have become an industry leader is with building information model-ing, or BIM. With one of the nation’s foremost BIM experts, Eric Wing, in house, we not only create sophisticated models, our staff actually train clients and other consultants on how to maxi-mize this technology’s potential.

As you can see from our lead article, BIM and 3D design are revolutionizing complicated design and construction projects. Time and time again, we have seen the incredible payoff that BIM delivers. In the case of the conveyor re-placement project highlighted on page 1, we were able to reduce the timeframe

Improving project deliveryby Ron Peckham, p.e., President and CEO

of the project, minimize downtime for the client, and ensure that the end product was incredibly high quality. In this project, the key to success was not the technology itself, but the collaboration between the engineers and the contractor and the team’s abil-ity to leverage the technology for the benefit of the overall project.

For the new terminal building we recently completed at Springerville Municipal Airport in Arizona, we pro-duced 3D renderings of the proposed facility so that the client could better visualize the space. Realistic visual models help owners and engineers work hand-in-hand to finalize the final design, identify issues early, and ensure that each team member is working toward the same goal.

At the same time that new technology is improving quality and efficiency, older, proven techniques continue to show their value. Lean principles

have been around since the early 20th Century, but their effectiveness hasn’t diminished. Using the Japanese principle of Kaizen, businesses ranging from manufacturing to engineering to retail can steadily improve performance over the long term.

What all of these projects and processes have in common is that they still rely on human ingenuity and

teamwork to get the job done. Technol-ogy can enhance and improve the world around us, but it can never replace the human factor that is integral in every project. Using technology as a tool to facilitate and enhance collaboration is crucial. The integrated project delivery (IPD) method, which you’ve heard about in many issues of Advances, is where we see the future of our industry. With IPD, design teams, owners, build-ers, and other stakeholders work togeth-er from the outset of a project, ensuring a more well-rounded, cost-effective, and streamlined end product. We encourage all of our clients to embrace this new model of design and project delivery.

Contact Ron at rpeckham@cscos.com or (315) 455-2000.