Guarantee Electrical Company https://geco.com RSS feeds for Guarantee Electrical Company 60 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/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 https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/892/Integrated-Project-Delivery#Comments 0 https://geco.com/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=2867&ModuleID=5335&ArticleID=892 https://geco.com:443/DesktopModules/CM.NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=892&PortalID=45&TabID=2867 Integrated Project Delivery https://geco.com/Newsroom/Watts-Up-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/892/Integrated-Project-Delivery Integrated Project Delivery And the Role of the Specialty Subcontractor As a concept of progressive, collaborative means and methods” in today’s construction industry, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) has, along with “Lean Construction Principles,” acquired increasing relevance to virtually every significant “player” involved with large construction projects,  especially those associated with the building of complex facilities such as hospitals, research facilities and data centers, etc.  According to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the “inspiring vision of IPD is one of a seamless project team” driven by mutual respect and trust and a shared objective of achieving genuine owner value, rather than the traditional pursuit of self-interested silos of contractual responsibility and economic self-interest.   Request the Full White Paper   Tue, 14 Apr 2015 15:19:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:892