The LEED Green Associate program recognizes knowledge in green design, operations, and construction. To obtain these credentials individuals must take and pass the LEED Green Associate Exam administered by the USGBC.

Mr. Jamison is President of Nutec Facilities and oversees pre-construction, construction management, design-build, and facilities management operations for the firm. With more than 40 years of project experience, he brings to clients the collective knowledge of hundreds of design and construction projects. His background includes design-build, construction management, and traditional bid and negotiated work. Additionally, Jamison has served as project executive, project manager, and construction manager for design and construction projects.

NFC is a diverse company offering clients a single source of responsibility for design, construction, and facilities management. The firm serves clients throughout the eastern United States from its headquarters in York, PA. NFC is part of the Nutec Group of companies.

When Owners look at project design fees, they often compare the design fee to the overall cost of construction. While this comparison may be useful for some general benchmarking, the reality is that the overall operations and maintenance cost for a building dwarfs both the cost to design and build it. Industry metrics show that design accounts for only 2% of the cost of a building, while construction accounts for 34% and operations and maintenance represent the remaining 64% of a building’s cost.

For decades, engineering firms have been trying to focus the Owner’s attention on life cycle costs instead of first costs (the cost of designing and constructing a building). “Value Engineering” can be a useful practice, yet it often results in small reductions in first costs and substantial increases in expenses over a building’s life cycle.

One of the areas most often neglected is Commissioning. ASHRAE defines commissioning as “a quality-oriented process for achieving, verifying, and documenting that the performance of facilities, systems, and assemblies meets defined objectives and criteria.” When Commissioning is utilized, it is typically the energy-consuming systems that are Commissioned, and the process is viewed merely as a post-construction activity to ensure that systems are performing as designed. However, true Commissioning is a more holistic approach that spans the entire design and construction process, connecting the Owner Project Requirements developed during the initial stages of a project to the final stages of start-up and occupancy.

The Whole Building Design Guide outlines the goals for a collaborative Commissioning process:

1. Define and document requirements clearly at the outset of each phase and update throughout the process
2. Verify and document compliance at each completion level
3. Establish and document commissioning process tasks for subsequent phase delivery team members
4. Deliver buildings and construction projects that meet the owner’s needs, at the time of completion
5. Verify that operation and maintenance personnel and occupants are properly trained
6. Maintain facility performance across its life cycle

While it is easy for Professional Engineers to make a case for having their project Commissioned, it is the Owners that must ultimately decide if they perceive that the process has value to them. It may be possible that Design Professionals have failed, in part, to adequately educate building Owners on the commissioning process and its value. Not all building Owners have extensive knowledge or experience with the construction process; therefore, it is reasonable for them to surmise “Aren’t I supposed to be getting that as part of my construction project?” or “Aren’t I supposed to get a building that performs in the manner in which it was intended?” Well, yes, you are, but in today’s competitive construction environment, the general checkout and startup phase of a project has proved insufficient. This is a result of many factors that range from complex systems and controls to fast track construction schedules. A formal and extensive quality control program of commissioning is typically a value-added service. So instead of focusing on the process, we would like to demonstrate the value of Commissioning, which is best made by showcasing projects that were not Commissioned – and what happens when good projects go bad:

The first case study is a biomedical manufacturing company that constructed a new facility. After it had been operational for six months, JDB Engineering was retained to help determine why the new building was not meeting the Owner’s requirements. Because of the medical nature of the product being produced, a highly controlled clean room environment was required. However, the spaces  suffered from a triple whammy of temperature, humidity, and pressure control issues. The building operators were confused as to how the systems should be operated and several control sequences were proving problematic. So why should the Owner care? In this case, the company contended with six months of production delays that impacted their profitability. JDB Engineering ended up essentially going through the Commissioning process a half-year after occupancy. We found several problems, including incorrect control settings that were made worse by the lack of operator training. Furthermore, shortcomings with the original design and installation were uncovered during the process.

Our second case study is for a biomedical research facility involved with vaccine production. A newly-built research environment required an extremely low setpoint of 5% relative humidity. However, the system was unable to achieve any level below 30% relative humidity. This meant that critical research space was unusable for a period in excess of nine months. This is the point when JDB Engineering was brought in to find the problem. In analyzing the design, we agreed that the system should be performing as required. But once we got into the systems onsite, we found that a rooftop unit with factory-installed and programmed controls was not operating properly. While the Owner, engineer, and contractor all held a realistic expectation that the packaged system could be set upon the roof, connected, and ready to go, the reality is that the unit was not. We found the small control box on the side of the unit, and as soon as we opened it, the culprit was revealed: the factory-wired control system was not connected – wires were dangling. It took an electrician less than an hour to land the wires on the terminals and shortly thereafter the system began performing as anticipated. Again, had the project been Commissioned, this problem would have been identified and the Owner would not have had to endure almost a year’s worth of downtime caused by the unusable space.

These are but two examples that clearly demonstrate how saving a few dollars on the front end of a project – skipping Commissioning – caused worst-case scenarios for the Owners. Unusable space, production downtime, lost profits, and negative public relations all resulted from removing this critical step from the process.

The reality, unfortunately, is that most Owners simply don’t realize to what extent the lack of Commissioning is impacting them. Their equipment and systems may be operating with no perceived problems; however, they also may be operating ineffectively, leading to system inefficiency and higher energy costs. Often, the real value of Commissioning is that it identifies and negates these hidden costs that add up to huge operations and maintenance expenses over the life of a building.

Questions about the Commissioning process? Issues with your system performance? Contact Timothy A. Warren, PE, LEED AP BD+C at twarren@nutecgroup.com or 410-229-9841.

Keller is responsible for greeting guest, answering phone calls, distributing mail, maintaining various employee and company schedules, and providing additional administrative support.

NuTec Design is a professionally-owned, client-driven, architectural/engineering practice with a long history of excellence in design.  The firm serves clients throughout the eastern United States and beyond from its headquarters in York, PA and regional office in Hunt Valley, MD.  NuTec Design is part of the Nutec Group of companies.

Does it make sense for industrial maintenance departments to outsource maintenance?  And, if so, is it profitable or value-added?  The answer to those questions depends upon whether the intent is to support Facility Services or Process Maintenance Services on hi-tech machine tools.  The answer could be “yes” for both areas, provided that the contract language for services as well as corrective action steps are developed prior to contractor selections.

Maintenance organizations seldom implement training programs to enhance maintenance staff capabilities.  Staff learn on the go, and as they approach retirement age, these senior staff are frequently on their own, without junior staff to learn the skills necessary to work on the equipment and move into the retiree’s position – it is just too expensive for most companies to justify.

Maintenance organizations consistently strive to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the maintenance departments, even going as far as to describe the department as a “cost center.”  However, when you ask the question – what is maintenance? – the reality is that the departments don’t create a product or provide revenue.  They are an expense to the organization.

Maintenance is evaluated by the length of time it takes to perform a duty.  Departments strive to reduce the downtown on equipment by measuring the mean-time between failures (MTBF) and mean-time to repair (MTTR).  Both of these measurements support reduction in downtime stats.  However, these stats often drive a different behavior that prevents achievement of the true 85% or better Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) levels required by operations to produce a product.  Because of this, work orders are seldom entered into the work order system and accurate information is not provided to accounting and manufacturing engineers to evaluate the next criteria equipment for replacement with capital each year.  This drives the wrong behavior as it relates to organizational downtime stats for production / maintenance to use as an accurate tool for improvements and information flow.

Facility Services typically perform work on equipment that has very detailed preventative maintenance instructions.  These instructions should exist to ensure that staff does the same thing the same way every time and without errors.  Maintenance staff that are provided with systemic instructions about the preventative maintenance routine can thus perform their work in a reasonable time with average knowledge.  In these cases, the maintenance organization can save approximately 20% per year, lowering expenses when compared with the normal yearly expense costs when using facility service outsourcing.

Examples of these types of jobs include:

• Maintaining plant lighting
• Preventative maintenance on HVAC equipment
• Hoist preventative maintenance to meet OSHA Standards
• Building painting
• New and relocated equipment installations
• ARC Flash and Lockout/Tagout equipment tagging
• Various utility drops to equipment
• Toolroom services
• Parts distribution including maintenance and production
• Vehicle repair
• Cleaning services

Process maintenance services on equipment varies when using outsourced maintenance services.  The key question to ask is whether or not the repairs and/or preventative actions required are 80% of the work orders created for maintenance staff.  If so, then a structured method should be developed.  In many cases, the Work Order system creates a history of how the equipment was previously repaired, what was repaired, and which parts were used for the repair.  If this information is provided by the maintenance staff at the end of each work order, many instructions and/or methods can be developed for future repairs.

The most effective process maintenance organizations are run similar to industrial quality control departments.  The emphasis is to repair the equipment with very high standards and, when a repair does not work – failing within a short period (MFBF) – finding the root-cause, developing a corrective action, and communicating with every maintenance person on the every shift.  This “root cause analysis” report should be the talking point among staff every day, immediately after safety discussions.  This will create an automatic continuous training program that improves the abilities for each employee and involves everyone in the solution – even if a solution is wrong.  If the maintenance staff does it the same way across every shift, corrections to the “root cause” can be implemented across all shifts, preventing the “leave it for the day shift” mentality and positively impacting production.

When developing contracts for outsourcing maintenance, the area most overlooked by purchasing departments is material costs.  The general rule is that 50-60% of the cost of a repair is related to materials.  This number may actually triple when outsourcing maintenance during the first year because of staff education about the type of equipment.  Outsourcing contracts should include a provision to lock in the maximum amount of material costs per year, with the contractor, as well as required employee training for a designated amount of hours annually.  The contract should also include root cause analysis reports for every item over a certain dollar amount or hours of labor to repair.

Going back to our initial questions: does it make sense for industrial maintenance departments to outsource maintenance?  And, if so, is it profitable or value-added?  Companies should maintain 25% of the internal staffing level for hi-tech repairs and history development.  The remaining staffing can be outsourced to meet OEE levels and production variations.  Outsourced contractors should be required to provide monthly matrix reports encompassing how and what they are doing to improve OEE and root cause analysis reports to the internal maintenance manager.

Outsourcing is a key tool for reducing enterprise expenses – typically by 20%.  Companies need an internal manager to oversee the results provided by the contractor(s), not manage the maintenance staff.  This allows the maintenance manager to oversee other areas like the Toolroom, Parts Storage, and areas the contractors provide, thus spreading the strategy across every indirect department.  Yes, outsourcing is profitable and will improve the overall every-day service if properly management by a maintenance supervisor.

There are several options for creating high-performance work systems and reducing waste, as well as a few tools that anyone can use to support change.

Achieving high-performance labor can come about in several ways: streamlining the current operation, analyzing work tasks and simplifying the process, providing more space to reduce congestion, implementing Lean strategies and, when the ROI supports it, incorporating automation technologies (both data capture and product handling).

Elimination of Waste using Timestudy and Work Sampling

Timestudy and Work Sampling are analysis tools that can unearth problems in the process.  When successfully performed, these tools often result in 30-35% increases in productivity.  Sometimes this gain comes without any capital expenditures, meaning that it is essentially a “free” gain.

Timestudy and Work Sampling are very simple analysis tools that haven’t changed much except for how the data is captured.  Application tools are available for PDA devices such as the iPhone, making the time-stamped data easily transportable into Excel for quick analysis.  Before starting a study, list the labor tasks or functions and activities that will be observed, also being careful to ensure that the listing is based upon frequency of the tasks performed (each cycle, per day, per week). The list should include items that are non-value added, such as “walk” time.  “Wait on process”, “walk with part”, “walk without part”, and “paused due to aisle congestion” provide and highlight data for re-balancing an operation and/or highlight the need for additional floor space.

Elimination of Waste using Lean-thinking

Six Sigma, 5S, Kaizen, Cycle Time Management, Quality Function Deployment, Process Re-engineering, Supply Chain Management – these are all tools that promote Lean facilities.  These myriad techniques help create a layout that supports labor utilization and product flow, and captures data that supports accounting and decision-making.  With a Lean approach, wasted time is eliminated, wasted movements are re-evaluated, and wasted activities are eliminated.  Flow of high-quality parts and goods is an important component of a Lean program.

Over time, a facility can become a mishmash in the square-footage consumed as well as the processes people follow.  Quick tools for helping to improve flow and productivity are 5S and Kaizen.  5S works well within specific work areas and individual work cells.  This Lean tool can be implemented by any employee that is provided a label maker and pack of multi-colored adhesive tapes.

The results are immediate.  Employees will no longer waste minutes (sometimes hours) looking for the appropriate tools.

Elimination of Waste using Automation

Opportunities to use automation are limitless.  Identifying where, when, and which automation makes sense can be overwhelming.  There are so many automated suppliers world-wide that the options to implement automation can seem limitless.  However, depending upon the business needs, these high-tech options can be sifted rather quickly.

The chart below provides an example of Case Picking Technologies for Warehousing and Distribution.  The color bands highlight three segments of Case Picking: person moves throughout the warehouse to pick an order, goods are brought to the person for order selection, and automated technologies.  Within each color band are technology boxes, and each represents a unique technology.  The length of the box depicts throughput potential as compared to other technologies.  As an example, the first box is “Pick from List (by Order)”.  The picking rates are very low, especially relative to “Tugger, Batch Pick.”

Again, with data analysis (throughput demands, current and future year sales projections, inventory levels, product size information, and order complexity data) the potential options are reduced.

Clues that Opportunities Exist:

• Are unit loads and pallets stored in aisle ways?
• Have you observed movement of product that didn’t add value?
• Is the business experiencing too much overtime and still not keeping up with Takt time or with workload?
• Is the receiving dock packed full?
• Do you observe labor that is waiting on product or information, or generally underutilized?

For additional information, contact Carol Park, industrial engineer, at cpark@nutecgroup.com

The dog days of summer have ended, children are back in school, and before you know it, snow will be falling, but who really wants to think about snow after recently dealing with an earthquake and two tropical systems here in the northeast!

Have you previously observed unusual deflections in the roof structure of your building during a snowstorm?  Or has a new piece of rooftop equipment been recently installed?  If you answered yes, snow loads, particular drifted snow loads, may be an issue.  This is a potential warning of a serious structural problem that requires a structural engineer.

Owners need to be aware of the conditions of their buildings, not only to protect their property, but more importantly, to protect the safety of their employees.

During the design process, a structural engineer will determine the anticipated loads on the structure.  This will include dead loads, or permanent items, such as lights, ductwork, utilities, and the structure weight itself.  In addition, live loads must also be considered, and are required per the building codes and dependent upon the use of the building.  Each roof structure must support any suspended item while maintaining a minimum uniform roof load.   For most buildings, snow loads replace this minimum design load requirement.  Interestingly, building codes have not always required the design professional to consider roof snow loads.   The codes in place prior to the 1960s did not reference snow loads on structures.  The design standards of that time suggested a minimum uniform distributed load acting on the roof during the structural analysis.  In my opinion, the design professionals at that time considered snow loads based on experience and limited historical data without documented guidelines.  This experience, as well as additional research and official collections of snowfall data, helped develop the design concepts used today for snow loads, especially drifted snow calculations.

It was not until the building codes of the 1980s that design considerations for roof snow loads and drifted snow criteria were officially outlined.  In 1988, national building codes referenced structural guidelines established by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).   This required the design professional to consider the terrain around the building site, roof slopes, adjacent structure heights, roof equipment greater than 15′-0” in width, roof projections, parapet heights, sliding snow effects, and even the thermal conditions inside the building.  Depending on the situation, calculated drifted snow loads could exceed 100 psf.  This was quite a change from the design requirements in the 1960s.

This does not mean that all buildings constructed prior to drifted snow load code requirements will fail.  Realistically, multiple snow events and drifted snow, if the situation exists, has occurred many times during the life cycle of older buildings.  If the older structure has not indicated signs of unusual deflections or other failures during past snow events, than the roof most likely has adequate structural capacity.  These buildings may have been designed with an increased live load to support suspended equipment or utilities.  Another possibility is that the interior space may generate high temperatures, keeping the roof surface warm and allowing the snow to melt.  This keeps the snow from approaching critical depths that may cause failures.  There are several methods used by structural engineers to review the actual loading and operating conditions of a building that could suggest why a failure has not occurred.

Owners need to be aware of the conditions of their buildings, not only to protect their property, but more importantly, to protect the safety of their employees.  A structural engineer should evaluate projects that increase the potential for drifted snow on the roof or reduce the available live load capacity of the structure.  This analysis may either conclude that the structural system should be reinforced or that the existing structure is adequate based on the current codes.  Either way, this will avoid the panic-stricken phone calls that the “roof is falling” during the next snow event.  Instead, everyone can enjoy their hot chocolate, sit back, and watch the snowfall.

Mr. Cotich holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University and has an MBA from the University of Delaware.

He is a manufacturing professional specializing in possessing operations, engineering, and financial management experience at multiple levels.  Mr. Cotich is skilled in the development and implementation of strategic and tactical plans for profitable growth through optimization of production, procurement, and customer service.

NFC is a diverse company offering clients a single source of responsibility for design, construction, and facilities management.  The firm serves clients throughout the eastern United States from its headquarters in York, PA. NFC is part of the Nutec Group of companies.

Wittmaier holds a Bachelor of Architecture from The Pennsylvania State University. He is proficient in building information modeling (BIM) software, a design program that allows for intelligent, parametric, and 3D object based design.

As an architect, his responsibilities include schematic design and construction documentation for industrial, commercial, institutional, and governmental buildings.

NuTec Design is a professionally-owned, client-driven, architectural/engineering practice with a long history of excellence in design. The firm serves clients throughout the eastern United States and beyond from its headquarters in York, PA and regional office in Hunt Valley, MD. NuTec Design is part of the Nutec Group of companies.

Square footage has a cost, and getting the most value out of that square footage is key to a project’s success. Can you achieve world-class operation and high-performance within an existing building? What size building addition will be required? What are the specifications of new space and will it meet both current and future needs of operations? Looking into operations may help to reduce or remove waste, streamline flow, and keep obstructions to a minimum. It can also help with identification of facility requirements necessary to support the installation of specific manufacturing equipment, selection of the proper material handling devices, and support flexibility and growth of operations.

So what are the Three Degrees of Design? Facility. Function. Flow.

Here are ten example benefits of using the Three Degrees of Design:

1. Identifying the need to increase the concrete slab thickness on a mezzanine to support the material handling vehicle weight and dynamic load requirements.
2. Identifying the need for foundations and specific floor conditions required for installation of manufacturing equipment, including flatness, levelness, and smoothness.
3. Identifying the necessary clear-height for the installation of the desired storage and equipment systems, allowing early determination for which available buildings for lease should be considered.
4. Assisting in the choice and placement of facility support equipment, such as HVAC handling units to fit optimally (with operations in mind); designing into the racking profile and layout, so that fork truck aisleways remained unobstructed.
5. Analyzing historical data and anticipated growth rates to determine the size for a new warehouse or building addition that properly meets the requirements needed for all aspects of the operations, such as raw materials and finished goods storage, order fulfillment systems and the associated material flow.
6. Suggesting alternatives in building design to provide optimal flow, like an angular wall versus a conventional “L” shaped design.
7. Discussing the impact of fire protection design choices, with regard to code requirements as well as storage options, cost comparison, impact of growth or SKU proliferation, and reduction in flexibility to adjust load beam spacing or move pallet racking.
8. Identifying and planning for the means/methods for new equipment delivery and installation in the design of the building, such as new door sizing and placement, delivery with partial assembly options, building panel removal options, or impacts to any existing operations.
9. Move/renovation planning/phasing to minimize the impact to ongoing manufacturing or distribution operations keeping the focus on the importance of uninterrupted operation.
10. Focusing on equipment placement to ensure space for raw materials, operator access and ergonomics, fork truck or other material handling flow, access to equipment for cleaning and maintenance, and any other aspects important to the operations.