Ensuring quality is of the upmost importance on every project. One of the best approaches the Wise team has found to ensure quality while decreasing risk 34% is through implementing Design Assist. Bringing together the project team along with key subcontractors during the design phase allows everyone involved in the project to start off on the same page. Often times this also provides the project team with the opportunity to visit key vendors or manufacturing sites.
A vendor site visit is advantageous for both the client and the design team for many reasons. On a recent project for Kaliedo Biosciences in Lexington, Mass., both the client and design team were deciding between a DIRTT wall system versus a traditional stick built approach. To make a fully informed decision, the entire project team took a trip to the DIRTT wall manufacturing facility to learn more about the product and its different applications. There the team was able to virtually walk the finished space together to see the different applications in the office, lab and clean room areas of the facility. Wise and the design team were also able to quickly and in person engage all the engineers located at the factory to develop a successful base detail that would make the epoxy install much easier and reducing the installation time by 17%.
Vendor visits can be extremely helpful in mechanical projects as well. While working for a large biotech client in Cambridge, the Wise team knew that replacing a large piece of rooftop HVAC equipment to support the labs would be no easy task. The Wise team, project engineer and client visited the facility in Mexico where the equipment was being manufactured, before it was set to be shipped. Upon arrival the team identified some technical wiring items that would require modifications, something that wouldn’t have been discovered or realized unless this visit had been made. By identifying these items at the manufacturing facility versus onsite in Cambridge the team was able to save valuable days at the end of the project when timing is most critical and more importantly not effecting the startup and inspection schedule. When the equipment arrived in Cambridge it was ready to be installed, tying into the existing building systems seamlessly. By taking this simple step we were able to save tens of thousands of onsite labor costs for the rewiring of the unit having no impact on the prescheduled installation and start up dates.
It is easy to get swept up into the momentum of a project, but at Wise, we have found that by getting the entire team together early and face-to-face with the materials and equipment being used on the project saves time and money while ensuring a higher level of quality.