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"Our plans to develop a major plant expansion were greatly enhanced by the all-day CAD planning session that we had with RBE. It was a dynamic and powerful tool that accomplished much more in the time than I had expected. It provided us with the clear ability to put our needs together with a workable layout and course of action."

John Berthelsen

President, Suttle-Straus
Waunakee, Wisconsin

Articles

High Volume Printer

Plant Engineering Architecture: Translating Plans Into a Building For The Graphic Arts

By Hal Ettinger

 

The most important step in developing a new or expanded printing plant is determining how much floor area is needed for each department (i.e., prepress, press bindery, shipping, receiving and paper storage). Eventually, this total, in addition to the space for traffic aisles and support systems, becomes the final size of the printing facility. Architectural documentation is the set of drawings put together by a design firm that can help each department head visualize and plan the development of his production area.

By providing the working drawings, the architect actually translates general ideas into specific details of construction.

Most often, the management of a printing company is only concerned with those spaces specifically required for production of a finished, printed piece. Overlooked are the systems necessary to operate and support printing production. Areas for electrical gear, mechanical equipment, centralized compressor systems and ink supplies need to be planned from the beginning, and have appropriate amounts of space allotted to them.

One way to look at the planning process of designing an expansion or new plant, is to think of going from two dimensions - the floor space for working--into three dimensions--or the total area required to support the production activities in a particular department.

Sometimes the element of "dimension" enters the picture because the facility is planned for location with uneven topography. Preliminary layouts may have proposed a bindery on one level, while the slope of the land, site utilities, rail line access or other factors might necessitate a tiered approach. State, county and municipal codes also can influence the plant design when it bridges the gap from raw square footage to the details of construction.

Quite obviously, costs and budgets determine to a large extent the physical properties of a proposed expansion. The success of any building in the graphic arts is weighed against its balance between design and cost of construction. As a basic principle, however, facility planning should never be compromised to the extent that it results in poor product and material flow within the plant, just because of tight construction design budgets.

The selection of building materials, their inherent limitations and their availability have a bearing on the basic floor plan. Multidimensional architectural and engineering considerations encountered in translating basic plans into details of construction will sometimes change the direction in which a building is designed. Even factors such as time of year in which ground is broken, construction time constraints, and availability of construction labor may affect the initial plant design.

Printers are notorious for going into a new construction and changing it according to equipment added or personnel brought in after occupancy begins. Since this is a given in the industry, it makes sense to produce detailed engineering documentation during construction, so that there are good references in planning changes. Documentation provides the information needed on where support systems--plumbing electrical, air lines, ink lines, mechanical, etc.—are located. This makes it easier to plan for changes. Specifications in the documentation also give clues to the maintenance staff for proper care of finishes and materials in the new facility.

Documentation provides the contractor with a set of drawings and specifications for the purpose of competitive bidding. All contractors, general or subcontractors, have the same information base to determine a price for their materials and labor for the proposed facility. The purpose of this is two-fold: it fixes costs prior to construction, and it makes it easier to shop among builders.

When a printer first looks for a location within the plant for a future press, he usually looks strictly at the product flow of that press, and is not really concerned about the engineering functions necessary for the running of the press.

The engineer looks at the same installation from a different point of view. Will the slab support all that weight? Is there enough head room? Power supply, air supply and electrical panel location are other areas that will influence the press location. The foundation elements, the support of the press, is priority one to the engineer when determining location.

The engineer sees the installation of the press as a contractor would, by determining the priorities according to the operation, whereas the printer looks at production coming off the press. The coordination of these two views will eventually locate the press, while minimizing the compromises of either perspective.

The engineer first determines the requirements for the future press: power, chilling, air and gas requirements. Then the location of these sources within the plant is plotted. If another power panel needs to be added, which the press manufacturer does not include (the order time can vary from 8-10 weeks), the engineer needs to plan for this so as not to disrupt the projected startup of the press.

Ancillary equipment has to be ordered also, and planned for even prior to contacting a contractor.

Coordinating the utility systems to support the press' operation such as electrical, plumbing and mechanical is a very important function and will in the final analysis determine future expandability of that press. The planning surrounding this coordination facilitates scheduling during erection, and cost savings from the time saved on installation.

One of the benefits of having documentation is for the pricing of the various disciplines for the installation, and also documenting additional requirements related to the operation of the press, such as task lighting.

A typical installation without documents would require that an electrical or mechanical contractor would have 10-15 drawings from both press and ancillaries manufacturers. The plant engineer would then have to combine and coordinate everything, envisioning the layers of support systems and resolving conflicting requirements (for instance, electrical conduit and compressor lines).

The drawings will help the printer in maintenance by showing him where all the press and/or related elements are: the wiring, cabling, valves, and the sizes of existing mechanical and air lines. It's not only that systems could go down, but also that these systems need periodic maintenance.

If the printer has to add or take out certain press elements, the plant engineer will know exactly what has to be done. Furthermore, the supervisor does not have to be there at the press when changes need to occur. The explanation to either the maintenance staff or contractor can be reduced considerably by using the documentation as reference. It takes some of the burden off the plant manager or plant engineer.

The value of engineering documentation is the information it carries to the contractors in the various trades when they participate jointly in a press installation. Also many elements which may delay the press start- up can be pre-ordered by the printer from this documentation, to avoid waiting during the installation. Besides having the savings in time which is very important in the initial stages, one has the advantage of more time to spend during the installation. From the drawings, you know the scope of the work.

 

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