prefabrication – TP Mechanical Blog

Why Fabrication is Key to Providing Comprehensive Mechanical Solutions

Posted on February 20, 2018February 16, 2018 by TP Mechanical

The TP Mechanical advantage is innovation, pure and simple. We’ve taken the mechanical fabrication concept, expanded on its capabilities and used it in ground-breaking applications that have transformed the role of mechanical systems in the commercial construction industry.

TP Mechanical is different from other contractors out there because we house a team of experienced, creative engineers and state-of-the-art software, technology and equipment all under one roof – a 45,000 square-foot, ISO-certified fabrication facility built in 2009.

In this controlled environment, we build every component with unparalleled precision. Combine that with our three distribution centers in Cincinnati, Columbus and Lexington, and we can deliver quality, accurate orders of mechanical systems ready for installation. That means your project timeline is accelerated and your jobsite is cleaner, which gets your doors open faster.

“Our fabrication operations play a role in 90% of our projects,” said Steve Blust, TP Mechanical’s Vice President of Internal Operations. “Through fabrication, we are improving project efficiency by shortening timelines, reducing waste and pre-testing systems in our ISO-certified facilities before delivery.”

Our unique mechanical fabrication capabilities will revolutionize your project by:

Accelerating production and installation times
Shortening construction timelines
Eliminating delays due to inclement weather and schedule conflicts
Reducing material waste
Improving safety of workers and the jobsite
Ensuring pricing accuracy to help you stay within budget
Enhancing quality and consistency with specialized work groups
Ensuring local code compliance with pre-tested systems before delivery
Bundling materials and units to enable easier transport – saving time in the field
Customizing solutions to every project challenge

At TP Mechanical, we know the challenges of large-scale construction projects, and we’ve solved them with our market-leading, quality-driven fabrication process.

To learn more about our innovative fabrication process and capabilities, visit http://www.tpmechanical.com/fabrication/.

People Behind TP Mechanical Introduces Stanley Garber

Posted on December 18, 2017December 21, 2017 by TP Mechanical

Stanley started with TP Mechanical in November 2016 as the Project Manager of Government Projects in our Dayton region. Stanley brings 44 years of governmental and industrial experience to TP Mechanical.

Stanley’s primary goal when working with general contractors and owners is to save them money. Starting as a bookkeeper at a plumbing company in 1973, Stanley possesses a wealth of accounting experience he combines with industry knowledge to evaluate equipment, applications, system efficiencies, and installation time when putting together project quotes and compiling alternative ideas for saving clients’ money. This concept has been key to establishing long-term working relationships over the years.

“It is important to look at all angles to not compromise the integrity of our work or the systems being installed in a building,” says Stanley.

Stanley believes TP Mechanical’s fabrication capabilities really set us apart from other mechanical contractors, especially because our facility is ISO certified and our program offers in-depth CAD capabilities.

Stanley believes TP Mechanical can offer huge advantages to government and industrial projects by providing cost savings through pre-fabrication, value engineering and shorter install times.

Contact Stanley either by email stanley.garber@tpmechanical.com or phone 937-985-9133.

TP Mechanical Earns Recertification to ISO 9001:2015 Standards

Posted on February 21, 2017 by TP Mechanical

TP Mechanical, with our strong commitment to monitor and continuously improve our services and products, recently received recertification as conforming to ISO 9001:2015 standards.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) experts from 95 countries spent three years working on revisions to ISO 9001:2008, bringing the standard up to date with current needs. The organization states that ISO 9001:2015 focuses more on performance and helps companies satisfy their customers, while providing a foundation for growth and sustained success.

What is ISO 9001:2015?

TP Mechanical’s Quality Management System was certified as conforming to ISO 9001:2015 standards. The scope of the registration is for the “prefabrication of components for the purpose of fast-track construction in the piping and mechanical plumbing fields.”

TP Mechanical uses prefabrication to reduce construction costs and shorten schedules while decreasing waste and scrap. By doing more work in the controlled environment of our shop, we enhance safety and achieve higher quality for the projects completed on the job site.

“We previously conformed to the ISO 9001:2008 standard, and we’re proud to earn our recertification,” said TP Mechanical President and CEO Bill Riddle. “This highlights how our entire team focuses on quality and discipline in our prefabrication efforts.”

What does ISO 9001:2015 mean to you?

By having a Quality Management System that conforms to ISO 9001:2015 standards, TP Mechanical demonstrates our commitment to the continuous improvement of our products and services. This dedication translates into both dependable quality and noteworthy cost savings for our customers.

How Our Commitment to Quality Benefits You

Improves quality and service

Reduces the amount of on-site work

Provides on-time delivery

Fosters a get-it-right-the-first-time attitude

Reduces mistakes, change orders and defects

For more information

To learn more about what our TP Mechanical team can accomplish on your next project, click here.

TP MECHANICAL REDUCES JOB SITE WASTE WITH PREFABRICATION

Posted on January 7, 2016 by TP Mechanical

The TP Mechanical Fabrication team is helping our customers gain significant benefits for their construction projects through prefabrication. With the aid of our innovative shop fabrication processes, we are able to substantially reduce job site waste.

It’s common to see the amount of unused material and scrap increase throughout a project during traditional construction and on-site fabrication. By moving as much of the construction process indoors into our 45,000 square-foot, ISO-certified fabrication facility, we remove a lot of that waste from the actual job site.

With the aid of highly trained employees at each assembly station and our investment in automated equipment, we can ensure consistency and quality in every cut and weld. Additionally, with state-of-the-art BIM and CAD technologies, 2D and 3D highly customized designs are used to optimize waste reduction.

With these congruent factors, along with our fabrication process occurring in a controlled manufacturing environment, TP Mechanical produces higher quality units with fewer rejected assemblies while ensuring productivity is maximized and material waste is kept at a minimum.

At TP Mechanical, our recycling programs are designed to keep as much of the packaging and scrap raw material out of the landfill as possible – reusing what we can and properly recycling what we can’t.

According to a recent SmartMarket report released by McGraw-Hill Construction, more than 800 architecture, engineering and contracting professionals were surveyed and 77% said that construction site waste is decreased by utilizing new prefabrication construction techniques. More than 60% of the same professionals reported that prefabrication shortened project schedules and reduced budgets.

“These reported productivity benefits of prefabrication and modularization are particularly exciting in today’s economy, given the benefits of creating superior buildings while saving cost, time and waste,” said Harvey Bernstein, Vice President of Industry Insights and Alliances at McGraw-Hill Construction.

For project leaders looking to save cost, improve their schedule and reduce the impact to the environment, fabrication is a critical component to consider in any construction process, and TP Mechanical has invested in the resources and expertise to provide superior fabrication services for our customers.

More Information

Learn more about TP Mechanical’s Fabrication process on our website.

Trade Conflict Avoidance Using BIM

Posted on June 10, 2015 by TP Mechanical

It’s not hard to find information in the construction industry touting the benefits of Building Information Modeling or BIM. It’s become a critical, model-based process of planning, designing, constructing, and managing buildings.

This tool has revolutionized the way that builders construct and coordinate trades to work on a project. It enhances organization and helps see a project through to completion with minimal conflicts.

The Purpose

The general purpose of BIM is to reduce the need for regathering and reforming information. Everyone on the project knows where they fit into the overall completion of the project and should lead to very little confusion.

TP Mechanical uses BIM to create a simpler process as we collaborate on a variety of projects and reducing costs at every stage. This software brings together all of the elements in the planning stage of the design and is evolving rapidly.

Advantages

Cost-effective
Minimal project risk
Pre-fabrication and pre-assembly of parts
Reduce waste
Reducing long term building operation costs

Designs that deliver

Our design teams collaborate with owners, architects and construction managers to design mechanical systems that help meet objectives. We handle design, fabrication, and pre-fabrication in-house.

Download our BIM Information Sheet to learn more.

The 3 S’s of Prefabrication Efficiency in Mechanical Skids

Posted on September 5, 2014 by TP Mechanical

Prefabrication of engine rooms, boilers, and other mechanical equipment results in the three S’s – Scheduling benefits, Safety for workers and Smaller numbers on-site.

Our ISO-certified Fabrication Shop can prepare and prefabricate mechanical skids to make any construction project run more smoothly. Our team connects the appropriate attachments, piping and mechanical services in the shop to improve efficiency on the job site.

At the same time, the work moved to shop floor helps you reduce waste. The shop environment is ideal for utilizing raw materials efficiently, reducing overall scrap. It also removes the waste and scrap from your job site.

Scheduling Benefits

Prefabrication involves preplanning and developing the entire system in the shop. This includes all of the hookup and finishing touches of the product. This allows for maximum efficiency in scheduling. While your on-site crew is working on site preparation and construction, our team is simultaneously preparing the mechanical skids to be delivered to your site at the exact moment you need them.

When they arrive, the prefabrication work completed in the shop shaves days or weeks off of the installation process. Your busy construction schedule can save valuable time by prefabricating your systems. All of that leads to a quicker speed to occupancy, saving you time and money.

Safety for Workers

When working in our shop, we are able to fully maximize the safety of the workers. The controlled environment in the shop allows for bench-height work. Our shop is designed to make it safer for skilled craftsmen to work on mechanical equipment.

Contrast that to on-site work, and you find tight fits, with numerous pinch injury opportunities, and overhead work with the inherent danger in working on ladders. By utilizing prefabricated mechanical skids for your project, you’re able to reduce the number of workers in tight, confined spaces. At the same time, that reduces your on-site liability and makes for a safer worksite overall.

Smaller Numbers On-Site

Prefabrication of mechanical skids also allows us to reduce the number of workers needed on-site. This will lower costs associated with the site and reduce the potential for scheduling conflicts. By moving some of the work into our fabrication facility, you can operate with a smaller focused team, especially in the last phases of construction, when the time being spent is mission critical. A strategy for a smaller number of workers onsite is not simply a way to make things easier; it’s a way to get an advantage over traditional construction.

For more information about our mechanical skid fabrication, visit www.tpfabricationshop.com.

Fabricating for the Future

Posted on July 30, 2014 by TP Mechanical

Presented by TP Mechanical | Provided by Dan Holland

Over the years, I have been blessed to be a part of a growing trend within our industry and I am very passionate about it. I’m talking about Fabrication.

Fabrication was around long before my time. TP Mechanical has done fabrication of sorts for many years, and I remember my first experience with it when I was working in the field. In 1998, I was working on a school with a lot of plumbing piping located in masonry walls. I was still learning about different material types and installations at the time, but we fabricated all of the piping on the job-site before installing it in the block walls.

There were different masonry crews scattered across the job site, and they were laying up different wall sections every day. We had to work hard to stay right with them to make sure all of our piping made it within the walls.

Our job superintendent devised a plan to make it easier for us to stay ahead. He worked late every day and made hand sketches of the piping that was located within the walls and provided the drawings and material necessary to make it happen. He split our job site into two crews: one crew was in charge of fabricating the piping sections and the other was in charge of installing them. I was selected for the fabrication team. We set up our shop within a material trailer located on site. By doing this we could work rain or shine to stay ahead of the install team and the masonry contractor.

We continued this process throughout the job and the project was very successful. That was 16 years ago this June. That project has always been part of me throughout my career. I have been fortunate enough to be on many job-sites and facilities across the country and even traveled to Europe to evaluate and learn fabrication techniques. I can honestly say that no one does it better than TP Mechanical.

TP Mechanical’s leadership saw the growing need for fabrication in our industry early on. They went full steam ahead to make the investment in a state-of-the-art fabrication facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. Out of this facility, TP Mechanical provides all fabrication needed for its job-sites as well as for outside customers. We build Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection and Medical Gas systems of all sorts. We have even established remote fabrication facilities near construction sites to improve speed and efficiency.

The culture at TP Mechanical has grown to welcome fabrication at all levels because our teams see the benefits for the projects, our customers and the industry alike.

With fabrication TP Mechanical can provide products just-in-time to the projects. We utilize a safe work environment and shave days, weeks or even months off of construction schedules. Everyone benefits from Fabrication. Properly planned fabrication can reduce safety hazard exposure on the job-site, keep unwanted materials off of the job-site, reduce waste from construction landfills, improve construction logistics and reduce installation time, therefore enhancing construction schedules.

I am proud to be a part of the Fabrication workforce at TP Mechanical because we care about our customers and we are making a difference in our industry. Fabrication has been around for a while, but it is quickly evolving into a bright future. What are you fabricating?

Complete Mechanical Equipment Skids.

Posted on July 15, 2014July 15, 2014 by TP Mechanical

Our Fabrication Shop realizes that you have specific needs for specific jobs. We don’t design our prefabricated mechanical skids to be the same. At TP Mechanical, we have specifically designed skids with each skid serving a unique and specific purpose. This gives our customers limitless possibilities.

We also offer a mechanical room package – building all of your mechanical equipment in the Fabrication Shop with the layout of the completed room in mind. We can supply the connections at the same time, delivering it all to your job site to shorten the construction schedule.

Check out this interesting fabrication project – an entire mechanical room completed in just weeks – and more of our designs at http://www.tpfabshop.com.

Value of Prefabrication featured in Construction Exectutive

Posted on June 6, 2014 by TP Mechanical

TP Mechanical Contractors along with Shapiro and Duncan, Inc. are featured in Construction Executive this month. The article written by Joanna Masterson speaks about the value prefabrication is bringing to the construction industry. We are honored to be apart of such a great article.

Read article Mechanical Contractors Enhance Efficiency With Prefabrication