Testimonials

"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

	NAPL's Leadership Excellence
	On-Site CAD Protects Your Business Investment
	By Hal Ettinger

 

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Lets You:

• Involve all key players
• Experiment with design alternatives
• See layouts immediately
• Build consensus

These days computer-aided design isn't just for the architect or engineer planning your building upgrade, expansion or new plant construction. Now you can choose a designer who'll bring CAD right to your location for a hands-on session. In an on-site one-day meeting with a CAD team, you and your staff can have your questions answered, experiment with layout design alternatives, and see layout results immediately.

In the printing industry, just as in other fields, CAD is transforming the design process for new construction or building expansion. And a designer who can offer you on-site CAD gives you the advantage of involving everyone from the beginning and eliminating revision delays or second-guessing after construction is underway. 'What-If' Scenarios Played Out In Seconds

Gone are drafting tables. These days they're only layoff tables for drawings. Now architects and engineers use drawing software, like AutoCad by Autodesk, to input project requirements into a personal computer and output drawings.

Most important, today's CAD technology is portable. The architect can bring design capabilities to your office and complete "what-if" scenarios in seconds, based on your input. You can have layout drawings in hand immediately, rather than having to wait while the designer returns to the drafting table again and again to recreate drawings.

Printing plant layout design specialists have extensive libraries of prepress, press, and bindery equipment readily accessible on the computer. As your layout process begins, these equipment dolls help establish initial space requirements.

Everyone Gives Input

In an on-site session, a two-person CAD team arrives with a laptop computer and a projector for exhibiting the computer images on a wall or screen. Prior to the meeting, the CAD operator inputs on the computer site, building, and equipment information you provided and develops the first draft of layout alternatives to be presented at the CAD session.

On-site, management, office, production, shipping/receiving and maintenance personnel all are involved in the process at some point during the session. Occasionally a developer or building contractor (if already selected by the owner) will attend the session to learn more about the project requirements or building scope.

"The more people involved, the better the results. This allows for dynamic interaction and opportunities to offset one idea against another," says mechanical engineer Christopher Wieczorek, who with Hal Ettinger forms RBE Company's on-site CAD team.

The team meets with each department supervisor at intervals. Using exact equipment cuts, they shape the layout of each department, based on the input of the supervisor and plant personnel. Together they play out various what-if scenarios to test layouts against earlier perceptions and ideas.

All along, the CAD operator inputs layout changes and projects the computer image onto the screen for all to see and react to. Using laser pointers, the team and supervisor zero in on specific areas and potential problems.

During the process, supervisors usually return to their departments to measure as-build conditions, adjacencies, and/or existing clearances that either work or require changing. At the end of their sessions, they receive a draft of the layout of their areas to discuss with department personnel and get feedback.

"People often have some idea of what they want. But in the session they may see that the idea doesn't work, or the opposite --that it's dimensionally correct. The session lets them see multiple alternatives to view side by side. Our CAD team are guides. We offer suggestions," explains Wieczorek.

The secret of an effective planning session is for everyone to understand the actual sizes or scale of areas. To facilitate this understanding, the team posts a tape in foot increments to show the meeting room's size. When discussing how large an office should be, for example, people can mentally compare the room they're in with the proposed area.

"This is too much space for an office," someone may comment. Or, "If we had a couple of feet more, it would be great," someone else may say.

The meetings with individual supervisors lead to an overall plan everyone can discuss together. At this point, the layout is still fluid and evolves as the group considers everyone's comments. The staff reach a consensus on the preferred layout and, after minor tweaks and refinement, the CAD design team produces a final overall layout draft. When the day's session ends, the team has a very solid concept and layout to leave with the owner.

The on-site CAD session completes a major part of the layout work and speeds up the entire process.

On-site CAD Eliminates Surprises

An important benefit of an on-site CAD session is that it eliminates surprises. Without it, a designer can develop final construction drawings or, worse yet, construction can be underway only to have an owner or supervisor say, "We forgot something." Usually such afterthought-changes impact the overall layout, subtly or not so subtly. With on-site CAD, these comments and ideas are brought forward in the session.

To review some of its many benefits, on-site CAD:

• Eliminates guesswork by having designers work with actual equipment to- scale with the existing site or building.
• Gives your staff a better appreciation of space by projecting images and displaying a tape showing meeting room footage.
• Lets you anticipate and plan for future expandability.
• Encourages participation when reviewing layout images projected on a screen.
• Gives your staff opportunities for multitasking during the layout session. Supervisors can study their needs and discuss ideas with their departments, as well as participate in the design session.
• Promotes the necessary dialogue between departments. Without the CAD session, departments often fail to communicate requirements.
• Gives you immediate benefit of viewing cause and effect resulting from a comment or opinion.
• Provides instantaneous layout output during the session and at the end of the day.
• Moves your project ahead by allowing the layout designer to transfer information easily to the next phase of design development.
• Creates consensus and design ownership by encouraging everyone to participate in the process.

Insuring Your Investments

A plant construction project is a huge financial commitment you don't make every day. By choosing a designer who can provide on-site CAD, you get immediate results never before possible, and you protect your investment.

 

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