Turnbuckle Award – June

Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award - June

The FedEx Distribution Center Project Problem

In February 2019, Architectural Fabrication was awarded a contract on the FedEx Ground Distribution Center in Bethpage, New York. This was the first opportunity that Amanda Rousseau, Account Manager, worked from pre-qual to closed won.

The award of this project was tied to a promise that we made to Marcus Organization (GC) to perform on a deadline. The Project Manager, Lauren Preston, reached out to many subcontractors to perform the install to save our crews a trip to New York. She was able to identify a local subcontractor that met the budget demands of the project. Unfortunately, within hours of the start of install the subcontractor backed out and forced our hand to self perform.

Turnbuckle Award | FedEx Distributor Problem

Our Solution to the Problem

Domingo Gonzales, Foreman, was already onsite to coordinate with the subcontractor to ensure that the project kicked off well. However, he was without tools and necessary equipment to perform work. The subcontractor backing out resulted in our team being in a huge bind and required us to immediately mobilize more installers to perform.

Tiearrow Parrish and Morgan James were completing an install in Nebraska and were asked to make the almost 1,500 mile drive to meet Domingo on the FedEx jobsite in New York. This crew installed 891 ft of rollformed canopies in less than 3 weeks and helped get us back on schedule. The install was particularly challenging because everything had to be through-bolted. Robert Ramos traveled up to the jobsite to relieve Morgan after his grandmother passed away. Our crew spent 3 weeks straight out of town away from their homes and families.

Turnbuckle Award

The Onsite Superintendent, Dan Aragona, for the client gave very positive feedback about the professionalism of our crew and how efficient and safe they were on the jobsite. The dedication of Domingo Gonzales, Morgan James, Tiearrow Parrish, Robert Ramos, and many others resulted in us saving a relationship with a growth account and Architectural Fabrication keeping a meaningful promise.

Turnbuckle Award – May

Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award - May

The Design Pipeline Problem

In 2018, Arch-Fab made a significant investment to upgrade the design documents that we use internally and externally to communicate our scope of work for each project in our pipeline. We directed most of our resources into a new software, SolidWorks 3D Professional, which is a best in class 3D modeling software for the manufacturing industry. All new systems come with challenges.

One of the specific challenges that we encountered was that the Bill of Material (“BOM”) extract from SolidWorks required our Project Planner to spend .5 hour per BOM on average to combine and reorganize line items to effectively communicate to our Purchasing Manager what the material demand was for the project.

Another obstacle that we had to overcome was how to provide easy and efficient access to our standardized fabrication drawings. By establishing a catalog of part numbers, we were able to create a library of fabrication drawings that could be reused as opposed to a designer re-creating every part drawing for each project. This advancement in the design process creating a pinch point for our Production Team because they were having to search for individual part number drawings and print them off one at a time. This process was taking approximately .5 hours per production release.

Our Solution to the Problem

Asim Hasan developed a solution for challenge #1. Through a series of complex formulas in Microsoft Excel, Asim was able to group part numbers together and cumulate the values. This optimization of the BOM automated the summarization of the BOM and saved .5 hour of Curtis Herron’s time per production release. The Design Team was able to incorporate the optimization of the BOM into their process by copying the SolidWorks BOM extract values in to the new Optimizer and saving it on the server.

Jeff Cash, with the help of Sean Scanlan and Asim Hasan, was able to program a solution to streamline access to fabrication drawings for Ben Davis, Mike Hernandez and many others. Through more Excel formula development, Jeff was able to automate the generation of hyperlinks directly to the fabrication drawing file. This allowed Ben and Mike to open all of their drawings from the Production BOM into a single Adobe Acrobat (PDF Viewer) window. Sean Scanlan installed Adobe Acrobat Pro on their computers which allowed Mike and Ben to print all the drawings opened in tabs across the same window with a single print command.

Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award - May
Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award – May
Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award - May
Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award – May

Turnbuckle Award

These innovations saved the company 1 man hour per production release and approximately $20,000 per year.

Turnbuckle Award – April

Arch-Fab Turnbuckle Award - April

The Punch Hole Problem

Louvered sunshades and many of our component level parts require holes to be drilled at specific dimensions. The Arch-Fab method for achieving this, historically, was to use a paper template and mark the hole locations using a center punch. After each hole was marked on the material using the paper template, a stationary drill press was used to drill holes in the marked location 1 at a time. The drilled material would then be used as a template to drill holes in the remaining parts.

This process was very time consuming and regularly inaccurate. Parts could effectively be drilled at a pace of 2 holes per minute. This severely limited our ability to produce sunshades at a competitive price point and our overall capacity in the shop.

Our Solution to the Problem

After months of research, Ben Davis found a used Iron Worker that would effectively punch single holes into our materials. With a $1,500 investment and some redneck ingenuity, Ben was able to bring the Iron Worker online and used it immediately to punch holes in a large quantity of brackets on the University North Park project in Norman, Oklahoma. The machine paid for itself on this one job by speeding up the number of holes being punched per minute to 20. After gaining efficiency and increasing capacity in the shop using this machine, Ben was able to make the ROI case for a larger investment in a bigger piece of equipment.

Within a year of purchasing the Iron Worker, Ben located a 90-ton press that would be capable of punching multiple holes at once and reliably sheering material. With the help of Mike and Paul Hernandez, Ben was able to get the 90-ton press online. This entailed finding the correct tooling dies and jigs to allow our shop to setup a variation of templates. Our 90-ton press is now the primary source for hole punching for tee brackets, embeds, slip brackets, outriggers, and other parts.

Turnbuckle Award

This innovation increased the efficiency of hole punching to 75-150 holes per minute. It has saved Arch-Fab $50,000 in efficiency performing this work and reducing work that would have otherwise been outsourced to vendors like SDMI.

Project Manager Spotlight

Project Manager Spotlight | Arch-Fab
From left to right : Peter Bixby, Sean Scanlan, Ann Nace, Teresa Coffman, Austin Holub

Happy summer from the leader in shade solutions! The arrival of summer brings an increased need for shade, and this month we are highlighting an Arch-Fab team that is working hard behind the scenes to make sure we are delivering neatly finished aluminum canopies, awnings, and sunshade products to our clients. Our project managers wear multiple hats on any given day, working alongside our designers, fabricators, installers, outside vendors, purchasers, sales team, and accounting. Additionally, they are the key point of contact for an on-site superintendent once we are awarded a project, receiving updates from the jobsite and communicating that critical information to all areas of our fabrication and install teams.

With over 100 active exterior sun control projects currently under contract at all different stages of progress, their role is critical to the overall success of our operation and communication is an integral part of their responsibility.

Every project we partner on is unique, custom fabricated and coated per the design and specification of the job. Our project management team is led by Peter Bixby, our VP of Construction, and together they have more than 25 years of project management experience. Whether you are working on a design-build, retail, multi-family, national chain, or industrial site, our project managers bring experience that is unique and valuable to our general contractors.

Turnbuckle Award Winner - Teresa Coffman

Turnbuckle Award

If you’ve read any of our previous blogs, you know that each month we have a “Turnbuckle Award” winner.

This past month it went to a deserving member of our project management team. Teresa Coffman was celebrated for her outstanding contribution to Arch-Fab and is often commended by our clients for her pro-active communication throughout a project.

Employee Spotlight on Brooke

Brooke Weinzierl - Our Turnbuckle Award Winner!

Our spotlight is focused on Brooke Weinzierl, a member of our design department. We can’t think of a better person to be the subject of one of our first blog post! Brooke joined the Architecutral Fabrication team in May of 2016, after graduating from TCU with a BS in Biology & Psychology. You might be wondering how someone with a degree in Biology & Psychology would end up working for a shade solution company. Keep reading…

Brooke found our job posting on a site called FrogJobs at TCU (site for Career & Professional Development). She didn’t have any drafting experience or knowledge of our products, but was eager to learn all that she could to begin contributing to the team. Our hiring committee was less concerned about her background in drafting and more focused on finding the right type person to join our family. We definitely made a great choice!

Before we brag on Brooke, we should tell you about our “Turnbuckle Award”. In our business, overhead canopy supports, called “turnbuckles” are an integral part of our product design. Not only do they add texture and aesthetic appeal to a building, they also add valuable support. Each month, our company nominates an employee of the month to receive the “Turnbuckle Award”. The winner receives a shiny red mini-turnbuckle, recognition at our monthly company meting, a cash bonus, and a highly coveted front row parking spot.

Brooke was awarded the “Turnbuckle Award” in December of 2016 for her outstanding contribution to the design team, her eagerness to assist other departments with a “can do” attitude, and her pro-active help in getting the office set up after moving to our beautiful new facility. She was also a major contributor to the content on this website!

We asked Brooke what the favorite part of her job was, and here’s what she had to say, “I really enjoy looking at architectural plans and viewing what the client wants and helping them achieve their design intent, because we actually cater to each individual project. It’s fun to put that design into a model and see the finished product installed.” Take a look at one of her favorite projects, The Brickyard

When Brooke isn’t creating submittal packages for our projects, she’s an avid runner, loves boot camp style work outs, she likes attending concerts with her friends.

Congratulations, Brooke! We are thankful for your contribution to our team!