Page 17 - IEC Insights Nov-Dec21_WEB

FIGURE 1

• Quoting a price
• Procuring it
• Staging it
• Prefabricating it
• Delivering it
• Installing it
• Testing it
• Reporting on its installation progress

If it’s not digital, humans are left to
conduct each task manually, and the
automation you aspire to goes by
the wayside.

This is one simple example, but when
STEP 1: The most profound improvement you consider it at the scale of an entire
floor or building, the efficiency gains
electrical contractors can make is to
DIGITIZE THE have their BIM process capture this really change the game.
PREFABRICATION information and pass it along the supply
OF ASSEMBLIES. chain. That is what translates to hard
labor savings. STEP 2: EXPAND
FABRICATION
Assemblies are the core building block The first step to digitizing prefabrications
of electrical construction, and most is to attribute data to an object early in TO INCLUDE
likely you are already prefabricating the process. CONDUIT.
wall assemblies, fixture whips and
the like. But if you want to automate For example, a wall assembly may
more of that work, you can do it look like just a symbol on a CAD Let’s take digital-enabled automation
by digitizing your processes. drawing, but you should demand the next step. Bending conduit can
of your BIM software that the wall constitute about 50 percent of your
It is estimated that people spend assembly incorporates fabrication labor on any given job. And it’s one of
30 percent of their working hours intelligence, brand and part numbers, your biggest areas of risk. In order to
seeking information and context. information about its construction accomplish fast and reliable shop flow,
(“What room and panel is this box sequence, source panel, and more. your BIM fabrication software should
associated with?” “When is the drive fabrication by:
backordered material coming?”) Having this information informs every • Accurately calculating the bend radii of
succeeding activity in the workflow: your various machines and shoes

www.ieci.org | November/December 2021 | Insights Magazine 15