Guarantee Electrical Company https://geco.com RSS feeds for Guarantee Electrical Company 60 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1014/Quick-Response-Limits-Damage-to-Assisted-Living-Facility#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=1014 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=1014&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Quick Response Limits Damage to Assisted Living Facility https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1014/Quick-Response-Limits-Damage-to-Assisted-Living-Facility For the staff and management of Bethesda Dilworth Assisted Living facility, an incident on the morning of Friday, October 18, 2019 was sudden, highly dramatic and anything but routine.  Sometime around 10:30am there was a violent explosion in their electrical switching system located immediately behind the building and appeared as a fiery jet-like stream of lightning pouring from the substantial bus-duct tying the building’s switching system to Ameren’s utility feed.  The steel casing that surrounded and protected the heavy copper bus bars had, over time, corroded sufficiently causing it to finally and catastrophically give way, allowing a phase to phase short which generated a violent and continuous arc-flash.  In a matter seconds a substantial length of the duct itself had melted oozing molten copper onto the pavement, and cutting all power to the Bethesda facility. Only one of a number of the system’s 1200amp fuses had blown, but it was on the 480 volt side of the transformer connected directly to the utility cutouts on the pole immediately adjacent.  This had the effect of keeping the fire going and assuring that bus duct was thoroughly melted and utterly destroyed.  Within minutes, the facility Director, Mark Jeffries made a call to Guarantee Electrical Company’s CEO, Rick Oertli.  Rick immediately contacted John Bennett, Guarantee’s Director of Production and Quality.  John utilized Guarantee’s GPS dispatch system to assign two technicians who were on the road before 10:55 – less than 30 minutes after the emergency was discovered.  The quick response service team began taking stock of the emergency within minutes.  By this time, Ameren had been contacted and were able to disconnect the feeders connecting the facility, putting a stop to the arc-flash thereby ending the fire. Whereupon Guarantee’s service team assessed the situation while they waited for the equipment to cool sufficiently for them to more closely inspect the equipment and begin framing out a plan to bring power back to the building and then to address a more permanent solution for restoration of the equipment involved. As the facilities backup generator brought limited service back to the facility, the team considered their options.  By isolating the switch that controlled the 3000amp bus, the service team was able to restore many of the critical services to the building while the repairs were being made. Long lead times meant that replacing custom manufactured bus duct was not practical, so there had to be an alternative that could effectively deliver a complete restoration of service.  Since cable was the only realistic way to replace the solid copper bridge connection provided by the duct, given the tight spaces involved, it had to be ultra-high capacity and highly flexible so as to be able to accommodate the space while easily transmitting the loads involved. Upon restoring the building to full power, the Guarantee team investigated the root cause of the incident.  Water had infiltrated the joint of the bus duct, which was installed by others.  The dampness in the bus duct commenced a cascading arc flash event.  Guarantee has ordered new bus duct to replace the damaged equipment and will assure it is properly protected against water infiltration. GECO Admin Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:48:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:1014 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1006/Julie-Parker-Nominated-for-2019-Tradeswoman-of-the-Year#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=1006 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=1006&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Julie Parker Nominated for 2019 Tradeswoman of the Year https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1006/Julie-Parker-Nominated-for-2019-Tradeswoman-of-the-Year Our very own Julie Parker was nominated for the inaugural Missouri Women In Trades (MOWIT) Tradeswoman of the Year Award at the Blue Collar/Black Tie Gala.   This inaugural event celebrated tradeswomen’s achievements as well as the great strides made by local contractors and unions to support women in the trades. You can read the full nomination submission celebrating Julie's achievements below.    Does / did the tradeswoman experience extra hardship or barriers to entering or remaining in the trades? Examples might include physical or health barriers, situational hardships, etc.? If yes, please provide details. As a single mother of 2 young children, in February 2007 Julie enrolled in IBEW local 1’s apprenticeship program. The course-work was challenging, especially making time for it around raising two girls while working her way up to serving as a full time apprentice. She’ll tell you it was well worth the effort and the time; and while it didn’t hurt that she was essentially joining the craft served by three generations of her family, she found that she knew what questions to ask as well as what was going to be expected of her.   Please describe how the nominee demonstrates excellence in the area of professional development and provide specific examples. The aim of the craftsperson is always to find ways to improve the execution of a given task while assuring high quality while getting it done safely and quickly. Often this means seeking to learn new skills, new tools and sometimes new technologies. For Julie, this has meant seeking experience in challenging areas of the trade by taking on as many different types of tasks associated with electrical construction as she could. As a woman and as a third generation electrician, Ms. Parker was keen for advancement, and so she volunteered for jobs in different environments to gain valuable experience. This in turn led to her working on complex temperature control systems, and eventually moving on to heavy industrial work. It was this ambition and adaptability that led to her being selected to join the prefabrication shop at Guarantee shortly after the end of her apprenticeship in August 2011.   Please describe how the nominee demonstrates excellence in the area of advocacy for women in the building trades and provide specific examples. For Julie, Guarantee’s 30,000 SF prefab shop has turned out to be a great place for a detail minded problem solver with a gift for communicating and teaching. First and foremost, under her leadership the Prefab shop has become a principal area of excellence in Guarantee’s approach to electrical construction. Indeed, it’s become a touchstone for nearly every project to seek the efficiencies added through prefab to the company’s constant effort to optimize production and wherever possible to reduce costs of construction. Prefabrication, as the word indicates, is focused on pre-building and optimizing all the many sub-assemblies in combinations whose staging and execution is so important to sustaining efficiency in an increasingly complex electrical construction environment. Over the most recent decade Guarantee’s Prefab operation has come to provide near daily support to nearly every one of the 450 union electricians employed by Guarantee.   Please describe the nominee's participation and efforts in their union or in volunteer activities and provide specific examples or events. As Julie advanced with her apprenticeship studies, she happily embraced serving as an officer in Local 1’s Apprentice Club. Within that group Julie took the opportunity to join her fellow apprentices in a variety of pursuits on behalf of organized labor, including fundraising to support candidates sympathetic to working men and women. There were a number of projects as well where their electrical skills were applied, including Rebuild St. Louis and a project installing lighting to support the St. Louis Zoo’s annual Zooadoo fundraiser. In every one of these volunteer projects, Julie took advantage of the chance to do more than simply acquire a skill and move on to the next challenge. These civic opportunities gave her chance to learn about the impact of her trade on the lives of ordinary people and how it can improve the quality of life in our City.   Is there any additional information you would like to share about your nominee? Now that Julie has had a chance put her own mark on the Prefab department, she’s especially gratified to have a regular number of apprentices come through the shop. As she puts it, teaching the values and skills of Prefab gives her a chance to teach every one of them something they take with them on their journey. Because in Prefab, just about every task is deconstructed and simplified for preassembly, whether it’s building temporary services, assembling light poles, prebuilding and wiring headwalls for patient hospital beds; bending conduit of just about every diameter, wire bundling, pre-wiring fixtures. On Julie’s watch, the Prefab shop is always trying to come up with new ideas to help the people out in the field. And because in Prefab innovation is highly valued, it’s a chance to take pride in every reconfigured task. More importantly, the net value gained through this relentless attention to process simplification has led to real efficiencies that enable Guarantee to readily compete with non-union competitors which has led to the fact that today Guarantee is enjoying its largest backlog of their 117-year history.   GECO Admin Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:30:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:1006 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/979/Modeling-the-Muny#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=979 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=979&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Modeling the Muny https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/979/Modeling-the-Muny Architect’s rendering (courtesy H3 Architects) detailing the many Muny Opera stage renovations (our thanks to the St. Louis Post Dispatch). Among the services offered by Guarantee Electrical Company (Guarantee) is preconstruction modeling deploying Building Information Modeling (BIM) and using Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) technologies.  Providing next-level CAD, their three-dimensional renderings of electrical and communications infrastructure are deployed to support close coordination of the implementation of a given (often highly complex) design with those of the mechanical systems and building automation technologies that have become staples in the construction—especially of technically advanced facilities. With its sheer density of overlapping building systems, the $100 million dollar Muny Renovation project celebrates the centennial anniversary of St. Louis’ venerable amphitheater, while taking on a wholesale upgrade of the facility.  Indeed, reconstructing America’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater offered the platform and the challenges of an unprecedented range of innovations.  Among these, include illuminated glass building forms (capable lighting from within or without) that can conceal or project virtually any form of imagery to the stage, plus the stage itself, brand new, with substantially expanded resources, including automated lighting and sound capable of bringing new levels of stage-craft to the Muny.  These included powering two automated (and motorized) turntables along with five lifts capable of moving people and props from backstage to front or up from below stage, all fostering new levels of special effects in the theater. Not only does the renovation improve the Muny’s theater production resources to levels not seen outside of Chicago and New York, but most of its technical enhancements are embedded in the design which called for unprecedented levels of interdisciplinary preconstruction coordination which made it far easier for the construction teams carry out their mission.  Hence, the importance of having Guarantee’s state-of-the-art modeling together with Guarantee’s prefabrication resources made available to support the installers of minority contractor, TD4 Electric, and in support of the construction teams led by Tarlton Corporation, general contractors. Among the features designed in by H3 Architects, theatrical design specialists out of New York City, includes a full basement housing the facility’s new electrical and mechanical systems, with an array of elevators, dressing-rooms with every contemporary convenience, as well as modular storage space for stage properties and other equipment. An important element in the Muny’s design is a state-of-theater-technology, 180 foot overhead light bridge constructed in seven modular sections that arches over the stage, that includes an integrated walkway designed to supply infinite capabilities for managing stage configurations. In all, the bridge and its adjacent, shell-shaped towers frame the stage and conceal an array of electronics and sound equipment. Together, their construction necessitated extensive coordination of the theater’s electrical and communications systems combined with the complex mechanical and sound systems.  In all, the bridge and its technologies and incorporated some 5,000 feet of electrical conduit—much of it subject to prefabrication at Guarantee’s Prefab Center on its campus between Bent and Morganford. What’s more, the Muny’s lighting systems feature high-intensity, low-heat and energy-saving LED fixtures throughout, who’s automated controls are fully integrated with additional LED screens for digital projections that will offer virtually unlimited color variations on, above and around the stage. Moreover, air ducts concealed in the new towers gently pump out cooling breezes across the seating areas throughout the theater. Among the numerous advanced improvements is an entirely new, enlarged orchestra pit that cantilevers out beneath the Muny’s stage-front, designed to accommodate orchestras of almost any size whose members will now enjoy a climate controlled environment vastly more performance-friendly than its cramped, century-old predecessor. GECO Admin Wed, 08 May 2019 13:58:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:979 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/977/Testing-the-Power-of-Preconstruction-Coordination-Modeling#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=977 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=977&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Testing the Power of Preconstruction Coordination Modeling https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/977/Testing-the-Power-of-Preconstruction-Coordination-Modeling Handsome as they sometimes are, the colorful 3-dimensional models created for Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) support coordination of construction processes between disciplines, especially in facilities that are dense with technology applied to complex production process, like industrial manufacturing. As part of a current assignment on behalf of Nike IHM Inc. doing business as Air Manufacturing Innovation, Guarantee Electrical Company (Guarantee) has been tasked to supply power to a new chiller system scaled to address the company’s massive need for chilled water serving the growth of their manufacturing effort in St. Louis.  Just as importantly, the Chiller expansion supplies the HVAC serving a 75,000 square-foot expansion of its factory in St. Charles, MO. The 222,575-square-foot facility is one of Nike’s two operations nationwide responsible for manufacturing more than 3.5 billion units of the variegated, in-sole materials whose precisely engineered layers of cushioning deliver the Air™ performance unique to Nike’s lines of athletic shoes. But more than just feeding its athletic shoe manufacturing supply chain, the Air Manufacturing Innovation unit takes aim at the design, development and manufacturing of custom performance plastic solutions across a range of industries, beyond action sports, to medicine, electronics and even the automotive industry.  As a consequence, the expansion design was conceived around assuring flexibility and speed in the testing and production of advanced plastics. As part of Alberici’s Constructors design-build team in collaboration with McClure Engineering, Guarantee began with Phase A of a four phase project. The Chiller Building assignment focuses on a key issue facing manufacturing expansion at Nike’s St. Charles campus.  Given an enormous demand for chilled water in plastics manufacturing, the new building called for enabling variable levels of power at a higher efficiency, whereby Guarantee installed four new 3000 kVA transformers, replacing three 2,500 kVA & one 750 kVA transformers to make way for the expansion. Also important to the implementation were number variable feed drives (VFDs) essential to maximizing energy savings in a modular manufacturing environment. Seen in the plan-view to the right, it’s clear that managing water supply in and out of the system of chillers meant that the distribution of electrical power to this equipment would be optimally placed in the slab.  This provided two advantages: first, by locating the conduit in-ground, wiring and permanent power could be in place and serving the facility and construction shortly after pouring concrete for the slab. Second and just as importantly, in-slab distribution provides an abundance of space for managing placement of the mechanical systems and complex plumbing so important to realizing the cooling systems design. Hence the value of the kind of modeling resources that Guarantee brings to complex technical construction assignments.  In addition to the electrical design of Chiller Building with its impact on central manufacturing, Guarantee is also providing lighting systems and controls for both interior and exterior site lighting throughout the campus. The company has also been tasked with supplying power and light to a 30,000 SF employee community center serving some 1,300 employees working three shifts at the plant.  There’s more to come from GECO at Nike’s Air Manufacturing Innovations center. Stay tuned.   GECO Admin Tue, 30 Apr 2019 13:43:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:977 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/968/Leading-the-Charge--Guarantee-Electrical-Is-Building-the-Future-With-Women-in-Construction#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=968 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=968&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Leading the Charge - Guarantee Electrical Is Building the Future With Women in Construction https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/968/Leading-the-Charge--Guarantee-Electrical-Is-Building-the-Future-With-Women-in-Construction Long standing barriers to women participating in certain traditional “male” occupations have been slowly breaking down for decades.  In many cases change is most extensive where technology dominates the means and methods used by nearly everyone in that industry.  Few areas of the economy have been more resistant to the integration of women into the workforce than in construction.  And as with any broader industrial framework, portions of the industry have advanced far more quickly than others.  In general, the skilled technical trades involved with electrical and IT infrastructure has advanced more quickly than have iron-work and masonry.  Some differences can be accounted for by the growth of Building Information Modeling (BIM) which has become indispensable to progressive construction methods, especially electrical and mechanical systems design and construction.  The knowledge and competencies associated with BIM are closely related to those of Computer Assisted Design (CAD) central to AEC for almost two generations.  In the US and Europe, women make up nearly 40 percent of the rosters of architectural and engineering firms.  The generation of women who did front-line battle in the 70s and 80s for their place in the AEC workforce paved the way for subsequent generations to take their places with little noise or fanfare. Progress for women has been slower among construction companies than among the architects and engineers; but skilled women who bring knowledge of BIM and 3-D modeling to electrical construction are finding work and making places for themselves on the design teams of electrical contractors.  Indeed, demand for the modeling skill set is such that enterprising women have turned to BIM for a second, more lucrative career. The career path of Linda Chisholm is especially illustrative.  Relatively new to Guarantee, which boasts an average tenure of 17 years, she is a veteran design professional who began her career with Sverdrup Corporation (now Jacobs Engineering Group) in the 1980s.  The daughter of an electrical engineer, Chisholm pursued certification in mechanical drawing and became among the earliest adopters of computer-assisted design, serving as both practitioner and as a skills trainer on Autocad starting in 1986. As a CAD professional, she was able to run her own design practice, freelancing for a number of years on behalf of a diversity of engineering and industrial clients.  Her sole proprietorship enabled her to maintain a home office and raise five children, even as she gradually migrated entirely over to the construction industry working for prominent general and specialty subcontractors placing her focus on electrical design from 1999 onward. Coming to Guarantee Electrical Company was an opportunity for Linda to focus in depth on electrical design and advanced 3-D BIM modeling in particular. “I’ve always had a preference for working on construction and seeing projects through building, rather than just focusing on the design per-se.  I wanted to come to Guarantee,” she says, “for the experience of working at the cutting edge of what modeling can do.  And there’s nothing in design is as satisfying as to see your work standing as-built and perfectly realizing your model.” Asked about the changes she’s seen in the treatment of women in Engineering and in construction, Chisholm observed that when she started very few women had any role in either discipline.  However, her expertise with CAD was also rare for men or women involved in drafting and design, so there wasn’t the resistance.  “I got my start in part because of my Dad’s encouragement.  But I also just really liked doing it.  Training others on the computer, only happened because there simply weren’t enough of us, and the work was very productive.    Now with 3-D, it’s fun, it’s interesting, and it helps us help our guys build smarter and faster.” The presence of women is still uncommon in electrical construction, however, Guarantee Electrical Company is changing that, especially where traditional trades culture is deep and runs in families.  However, if you ask Julie Parker how she came to be involved in construction, she’ll tell you that it was an easy choice for her to become a third generation electrician.  She says she followed the usual path through high school to college, but found that she got restless working at a desk, and much preferred having a “hands-on” occupation like her father and grandfather before her. Asked about the challenges of working in construction as a woman she reports that after eight years at Guarantee, she has no complaints about her life as a female electrician.  “It’s still a man’s world,” she readily admits, “but I think Guarantee is leading the change in the electrical field.  It’s still rare to have more than one or two women on the crew of any particular job.  But I’ve seen it more at Guarantee and have never had a problem with my male co-workers.  At Guarantee, it’s always been about asking questions when you don’t know something.  And they answer my questions, whenever I have them.” In fact, she says, it wasn’t until she joined an IBEW Facebook Group, and had a chance hear through social media how different conditions can be in other places that “I discovered, just how good we have it at Guarantee.” Parker will tell you it also helps to have the advantage of being specialists in prefabrication, which has created a lot of demand for Guarantee’s capabilities, especially in healthcare construction. Additionally women are being promoted into leadership roles.  As a newly promoted Foreman in GECO’s prefabrication department, she’s proud of the specialty.  “Our prefab know-how keeps us in demand.”  It’s also proved to be an advantage for delivering consistently high productivity with safety in fast-track hospital construction.  “All the trades come in to our prefab facility to do their thing,” says Parker. “Every trade takes their turn.  Fitters provide the med gas plumbing.  Carpenters assemble the frames.  And we supply both the power and the low voltage wiring.”  The end product is perfectly uniform hospital headwalls, pre-staged and precision pre-assembled in a controlled factory environment for just-in-time delivery to the jobsite as the project schedule requires. As President – Missouri Branch, David Gralike attributes the growing presence of women at Guarantee Electrical to taking an industry leadership role by focusing on diversity and inclusion as well as the fact that new methods and technologies require a diverse workforce. “Female electricians and technicians have proven that they have what it takes to succeed in this business,” says Gralike.  “The women of Guarantee possess great intelligence combined with the ability to stay focused on details.  Our female supervisors excel at listening, nurturing, and, most importantly, persuading crews to perform at peak efficiency.  As leaders, they possess the unique ability to assemble the facts, discover the patterns, solve problems and make connections – literally and figuratively.  We’re glad to have them in our company; they’ve made us smarter and more flexible, and they contribute every day to our success as a company.” GECO Admin Thu, 07 Mar 2019 19:09:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:968 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/967/Modeling-and-Fabricating-the-New-SSM-Health-St-Louis-University-Hospital#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=967 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=967&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Modeling and Fabricating the New SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/967/Modeling-and-Fabricating-the-New-SSM-Health-St-Louis-University-Hospital Sometimes it just pays to be have a skillful team applying their resources to a mission they’ve accomplished dozens of times and that they utterly embrace.  Customers in turn realize the benefit of developments in what has been for years the fast moving practice of intelligent design.  Lately in fact, hospital construction has seemed to be advancing more rapidly than other sectors in commercial construction. At Guarantee Electrical Company, performing the dual role as electrical and communications systems contractor while providing the electrical design in this environment of what seems like particularly rapid changes for the better, has proved to be especially fortunate.  Because, it’s clear that something new is afoot as progress on construction of SSM Health® St. Louis University Hospital has advanced faster and with fewer changes than could have been expected any time prior to this particular moment in construction history. No question, much of this has resulted from Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) and their impact on how hospitals in particular are constructed these days.  Equally important—and absolutely related—is the ability to visualize in 3-D, the pathways of information concerning every kind of constituent material and componentry has brought new ways of staging the processes of construction.  In the current environment, craftsmen are able to coordinate in new ways with other specialists as well as with architects and engineers. It used to be that trades like mechanical, electrical, and plumbing kept to their own silos, pursuing their specialties happy to stay out of one-another’s way.  And in some ways, they still do.  Only now because modeling enables the trades to visualize their work in 3-D over time, leading to new approaches to collaborating and not just avoiding conflicts and clashes. For example, building out-patient rooms used to involve painstaking custom processes which involved installing by turns a range of components and services, many essential or even life-saving.  Now with BIM coupled with rapidly evolving practices of prefabrication, two and even three trades can achieve highly repeatable levels of quality with precise installations.  Now electrical outlets, data drops, medical gas piping, and a host of sensors, can all be “custom” installed to meet specific treatment requirements for rooms whose headwalls are predesigned then prebuilt offsite, in Guarantee Electrical Company's 15,000sf prefabrication center, for just-in-time delivery, and fitted exactly into place much more quickly and efficiently.  Additionally, by utilizing BIM, Guarantee Electrical Company has the ability to pre-bend conduit of all sizes in the prefabrication center and ship on trucks rather than using benders on the jobsite, thereby reducing jobsite clutter and hazards.  Add to this, new types of templates and wall covering materials and construction of patient rooms/treatment spaces moves faster and more efficiently than ever, frequently at lower cost. Now, as SSM Health® St. Louis University Hospital is building out diverse floors of highly specialized services (from Level 1 trauma care to advanced cancer therapies) together with floors dedicated to SLU’s highly prized standards of patient-centered care, the ability to design-build healthcare spaces dense with technology can’t be over-valued. For electrical and communications services, the ability to deliver forms of customization utilizing highly repeatable process management techniques, plays very favorably, as administrators and treatment specialists seek “best-of” solutions to accelerate construction and perfect their new facility.  Indeed, because medical technology advances as rapidly as it does, designing-in extra capacity for future adaptability will be invaluable to administrators and practitioners who need to manage change ever more rapidly and more effectively. In detail, SSM Health® SLU Hospital’s Ameren 5KV feeds run from an adjacent manhole up into two basement level electrical rooms, where five unit substations step the power down to 480V.  Two additional substations, fed from two parallel 2000KW generators, supply emergency power. Four bus-duct risers distribute power up the patient tower.  Each floor is outfitted with sets of satellite panels, providing the 120V normal and critical power, and a dedicated UPS panel in each tele/data room. Each of the hospital’s 17 operating rooms are supplied with two separate power panels, respectively for normal and critical power.  Distribution continues by way of risers feeding the first floor emergency department, exam and physician rooms, and on to and through a second level devoted primarily to the mechanical systems supplying all important sanitary and temperature controlled air and supported by networked building systems automation.  Note that modeling branch distribution, as well as the data conduit supplying electrical and systems infrastructure, involved mapping and optimizing distribution across the hospital’s multiple levels, including two wings of a patient tower running from floors three to eight, capped by a penthouse housing additional mechanical systems.  In addition, conduit had to be labeled to identify four forms of segregated power (serving life safety, critical, equipment and normal requirements) as well together with data cabling. Together, these supply some 35 plus imaging rooms mapped by floor and treatment/diagnostic requirements, that spanned the range of imaging technologies for MRI, radiology, PET and CT scanning, ultrasound and fluoroscopy, etc. Bottom line, expanding on St. Louis University’s century-plus tradition as a center of academic medicine, with its new $550 million, 316-bed, 802,000-square-foot SSM Health® St. Louis University Hospital will deepen its reputation as an American College of Surgeons (ACS) certified Level 1 Trauma Center. More importantly, as it combines advanced academic medicine with leading-edge treatment and research focused on patient centered care, the new combined facility will fully integrate with the adjacent Saint Louis University School of Medicine along with the world-class pediatric center at nearby SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.  GECO Admin Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:33:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:967 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/963/Taking-Project-Management-Accounting-to-the-Cloud-Deploying-Viewpoint-with-Keystyle#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=963 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=963&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Taking Project Management Accounting to the Cloud; Deploying Viewpoint with Keystyle https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/963/Taking-Project-Management-Accounting-to-the-Cloud-Deploying-Viewpoint-with-Keystyle Few things are less sexy than accounting in the scheme of things.  And yet, as we’re building it in the construction industry, accounting keeps demanding greater precision and speed applied to construction management.  Hence, the adoption of varieties of automation in accounting software that has moved the industry well beyond traditional office environment, as increasingly robust applications have found their way onto smaller and smaller devices. Now, for example, Viewpoint, the construction industry’s leading provider of accounting software, has put real-time tracking of labor and production indicators, purchasing, equipment and material costing, and a host of dailyoperations indicators into the hands of first-line field supervision through a simple web browser that runs on virtually any smart mobile phone or tablet. The impact of this “migration” of accounting to the field, gives contractors the ability to identify the real-time cost of work for any project, with the added advantage of establishing and perfecting accurate performance indicators for future estimates.  In essence, contractors have a tool for knowing real-time productivity.  Meanwhile, project managers, foremen and superintendents are able to track expenses and manage receivables using software that’s specifically designed for easy touch-screen posting and monitoring of the unique indicators of value and performance in commercial construction.  Better Numbers Faster In detail, contract cost reporting, change order management, tracking and evaluating labor and material costs are all made vastly easier for project managers and their direct reports.   All gain what amounts to instant analysis of the impact of any of these factors on the original contract, and, as needed, on the direction of a managed revision process.  Fiscally, management can track and age billing at the speed of work, maintaining the closest possible watch on contract performance over time, project by project for a better, more current view of company performance overall. The quality of operations data improves on two levels.  First, information concerning tasks and results travels faster with greater accuracy. Second, better data provides a better understanding of changing conditions, which gives leadership better choices sooner than has ever been the case before.  The upshot can be seen, for example, as contractors enjoy more accurate anticipation of needs for labor and materials, as progress is monitored at near real time.  Another benefit is improved coordination with partners whose own work depends on having a clear picture of the timelines involved for tasks and fulfillment of deliverables, especially as these factors become better understood. Perfecting Project Life-Cycles Increased granularity of the information driving the construction life-cycle yields better results for the company as well as a more timely assessment of methods applied within their processes.  In essence, the people directly responsible for the craftsmen performing the work of a project can know, recognize and report to their superiors in very close to real time virtually any changing conditions as they happen on site or address constraints affecting planned stages of the project. What’s more, is that this kind of optimization of construction work-flow at the micro-level supports better assured coordination and teamwork between the contractor and their partners resulting in overall net improvement of schedule performance.  Convenience, Flexibility with Speed, Yielding Greater Responsiveness Ultimately, the convenience and flexibility of Viewpoint applications accelerate responsiveness across the organization, which can ultimately mean that contractors can operate more efficiently within more aggressive schedules.  The reason is simple.  As the flow of information affecting efficiency and change becomes easier to transmit and utilize at lower levels of responsibility, teams get better at evaluating and scaling their work loads.  In essence, the company becomes more balanced in its ability to handle assignments, to either take on more business or manage their existing backlog more effectively at lower cost.  Improved access to project information also allows management at the lowest levels to address exceptions themselves more proactively.  Additionally, it’s much easier for more senior managers to monitor vital information about progress without having to needlessly interrupt staff or break into work flows to get the timely answers they need.  Having fully migrated this year to the cloud, Viewpoint’s Vista™ accounting platform which has been augmented by the acquisition in June, 2018 of Keystyle™ which supplies the company’s advanced mobile toolset.  Now construction accounting can be managed with touch-screen point and click data entry and note-taking by foremen and superintendents on their mobile devices: smart phones and tablets.  This extension of the Vista application to users in the field supports real-time data entry of assignments, including current weather conditions and other constraints for fast-track reporting of changes and opportunities. With these tools, contractors become more nimble, as vertical organizations grow increasingly horizontal, gaining speed and flexibility that enable them to press advantages with confidence as soon as they arise.  Firms also benefit from the opportunity to develop talent internally, as the kind of informational firepower these applications provide, reinforces the confidence of users as they successfully exercise greater authority in handling daily operations.  GECO Admin Tue, 20 Nov 2018 14:21:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:963 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/927/The-Strength-of-Trust#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=927 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=927&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 The Strength of Trust https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/927/The-Strength-of-Trust The strength of trust is earned through promises made and kept—meaningful promises in which the keeping delivers fair value to everyone concerned.  But...the thing about trust is that the need for earning is never finished.  Customers and competition dictate that trust follows from perseverance and discipline, and an unflappable willingness to provide the service that’s expected.  Trust thrives on expectations.  Fail to meet them and trust evaporates. Among the reasons why a few companies that have lasted a century is that they take their own history very seriously and understand the value of keeping their reputations fresh (the diligence that earning trust requires). Yes, building a lasting reputation for quality is about pride; but they have also been able to encourage internal culture of trust among the people who form the leadership and the teams who deliver the work and achieve its results.  Companies whose business involve technology were established to accommodate innovation and end up being sustained over decades by family involvement with the dictates of craft where skills take years to develop—especially in disciplines where change is nearly constant. Guarantee Electrical Company takes its name from their original “guarantee”, which was to provide power and light to the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904.  That assurance of trust was realized then, and has been continued in hundreds of iterations over the succeeding 116 years. Recently these traditional structures have evolved into robust models of employee ownership coupled with management techniques that feature collaboration and teamwork internally and between the company and its partners.  Trust is the first requirement of craftsmanship and in many respects constitutes the first best practice anywhere that expertise is essential to performance: whether in professions like medicine, law and engineering, or wherever technical know-how drives the work being done.  Trust is at the heart of safety in the construction industry, and especially in electrical work, where trust has to be earned every working day.  Among the ingredients that breed such trust is internal cohesion—formed from trust created between workers and their supervisors, and between contractors and their subs.  The first happens in an environment characterized by fair dealing and clear communications.  Challenges are easier to meet when directions are clear, and where workers are free both to ask questions and to make suggestions about means and methods.  Interdisciplinary trust is in many ways more complicated.  Traditional silos of the trades can interfere or not, depending on the openness of the team members to sharing ideas. Among recent improvements in construction technology has been the role modeling software has had in improving the quality of field operations.  Through shared access to a well-executed 3-dimensional model, collaboration becomes the norm as the trades can better anticipate and respond to potential clashes without losing time, money.  Having and sharing access the model fosters trust.  Without that cohesion, doubt and suspicion replace teamwork that’s based on the sense of promises made and kept between partners.  Every project that goes well demonstrates layers of cohesion.  The jobs that don’t aren’t just unlucky.  They’re undermined by mistrust that often takes the form of silos of special interest and knowledge Trust is integral to life and work, and serves at the heart of what makes great teams successful over time.  Because in the end, customers expect to obtain the best value for the best work.  And when they can regularly trust in outcomes that bring these two superlatives together, they’ll stay with that team and prefer them to the competition. GECO Admin Tue, 08 May 2018 13:10:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:927 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/894/The-Strength-of-Safety#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=894 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=894&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 The Strength of Safety https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/894/The-Strength-of-Safety Among the indicators of quality in the construction industry and among its leading best practices is the presence of and consistent adherence to a strong safety program. Understanding that hazards exist everywhere, on and off the job, it is a responsibility of everyone in the organization to sustain a culture of safety competence, going beyond mere compliance with corporate rules, policies and supervisory controls.  True competence involves internalizing and embodying complete command of a given set of skills and best practices.  The watchword for safety competence is care: for one’s self and everyone around us—co-workers, partners and customer personnel.  In this culture, the strength of safety involves: Maintaining a safety-mindset for everyone in the company, from the CEO down to the youngest apprentice.  This means zero tolerance of risk-inducing behaviors, hazards and other conditions that could affect the health and safety of ourselves and employees; both on and off the job.  Contractors who regard safety as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) bring safety into the culture of the company. Being proactive. This means that demanding that each member of the team is alert to and is responsible for the safety of everyone immediately around them.  This goes beyond awareness of hazards and includes empowering all to take action to eliminate them.  Ultimately, this can mean that any worker can call for a work stoppage if they perceive that conditions have created or might result in risks to the safety or health of anyone in that environment. Encouraging behaviors that see the environment clearly—including the people working in it—to identify hazards and avoid risks amid the continuous changes that naturally happen as work progresses on the job site. Understanding that safety fosters trust between workers and their supervisory leadership, trust that in the end can yield significant improvements in collaboration, efficiency, customer value and even ultimately financial performance. It should be no surprise that an effective safety program creates assurance and peace of  mind for every member of the construction team, as well as everyone involved with construction projects including partners and customer personnel.  The long-term outcome of pursuing safety as a powerful best practice is that it becomes the hallmark of the well-run enterprise whose characteristics should also include enhanced morale and successful financial performance, as well as a reputation for consistency and quality, and genuine care for employees. It’s also well to remember that the ultimate goal of following safe construction practices is for everyone in the organization to get home safely every day without injury or work induced illness and to feel valued for their contribution and that they cared for as a person. GECO Admin Tue, 06 Mar 2018 15:07:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:894