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Victaulic Prefab Strategies and Products Help Marelich Mechanical Speed Up Installation, Cut Costs

Efficient prefabrication strategies and Victaulic products made it possible for California-based Marelich Mechanical to overcome a tight timeline and space constraints for a 43,000-square-foot data center project by speeding up the installation process and keeping costs down. Marelich Mechanical constructed all of the project’s mechanical and plumbing systems in just three months.

Tight Schedules, Tight Spaces

The construction schedule included the installation of the chiller plant and a variable-flow split system on the mezzanine level to service bathroom and support areas. The piping systems were also required to have built-in redundancies, and all systems needed to be designed for future expansion. The equipment included five air-cooled chillers as well as 10 interior Data Aire units, with two on the mezzanine level. Other equipment included six cold/hot water pumps with variable frequency drives, 12 relief air fans with variable frequency drives, a split system, an outside condenser, two fan coil units, and two heat recovery pumps.

In addition to the tight timeline, the project’s other largest challenge was the installation of 14-inch piping on the roof that would hang under and on top of the air-cooled chiller platform, which sat a mere five to six feet above the roof. To manage the process on a fast-track schedule, the contractors detailed the project’s mechanical system during the prefabrication process and assembled the piping in spools long enough to lower below the platform. Once fabricated in the shop, Bob Goldsberry, welder and piping superintendent, and the site foreman developed a 2D layout identifying how to sequence the piping onto the truck so that it could be delivered to the field in the right order at the right time.

During the prefabrication process, all pipe spools were uniquely itemized with the 2D layout so that all materials could be easily located. Additionally, Victaulic product was selected and delivered to the fabrication shop or the field based on the spool drawings so that it arrived when and where it was needed. This process of “bagging and tagging,” along with the truck sequencing, provided a seamless transition from fabrication shop to field. Victaulic’s new 3D software helps with trucking layouts, including cribbing and spool placement, to enhance productivity while reducing material handling.

Once on site, the piping was placed on the roof using a crane. The roof setup was quickly configured under the platform using the identification process, and all prefabricated pieces were strung underneath the platform. After the pipe was hung, the contractors secured the connections using Victaulic Advanced Groove System (AGS) couplings. The only grooved piping system to offer two-piece housing segments in all 14–60-inch sizes. The work was completed within three days, and ultimately, Marelich Mechanical completed the job on schedule. Goldsberry credited Victaulic for speeding up the process, saving costs, and reducing the crew size needed to handle and install the piping.

“Victaulic AGS couplings were a fast and simple joining system,” said Goldsberry. “The alternative was to use 14-inch flanges, which would have required much more time and labor than the Victaulic couplings.”

Prefabricated Victaulic pipe spools were loaded onto the truck in sequence so that they could easily be delivered to the jobsite in the right order at the right time, saving Marelich Mechanical time on the job.

Victaulic Demonstrates Lean Strategies

It was a trip to Easton, PA, that radically changed Marelich Mechanical’s piping fabrication strategies, making the data center project possible. Goldsberry toured the Victaulic manufacturing facility to learn how to shop-fabricate and assemble pipe more efficiently.

As part of the visit, Victaulic demonstrated ways to increase efficiencies in the fabrication process, minimize risks, control project schedules, and decrease fatigue of shop workers. The tooling that Victaulic demonstrated uses a minimal footprint to deliver one-man fabrication on 24-inch and down pipe. The lean layout of the shop fabrication tooling maximizes cell throughput and minimizes travel and set-up time between sizes/spools.

“The first time I saw it, I liked it right away. I’ve assembled grooved piping systems enough in the field that I could easily see the advantages of using the lean principles Victaulic was demonstrating and applying them in our prefabrication process,” said Goldsberry.

After witnessing the productivity of Victaulic prefabrication strategies, Marelich Mechanical made the decision to work with Victaulic to implement the same strategies in their own fabrication shop. The new tooling and work cell layout allowed Marelich Mechanical to fabricate and assemble grooved piping systems larger than 10 inches in the shop, something they had previously been unable to do because of the size and weight of the larger components.

Goldsberry said it would have been impossible to get all the pumps connected for the data center within one week without the Victaulic prefabrication strategies.

“There was no way we could complete the project in the scheduled time frame without fabricating in the shop with Victaulic,” said Goldsberry. “For our first large project using the new strategy, the process went extremely well. There is no way our people in the field could have welded the joints fast enough to be successful.”

Another benefit of fabricating in the shop with Victaulic, noted Goldsberry, was the ability to decrease excess material and garbage at the jobsite. Trash remained in the fabrication shop where it was easily managed, rather than getting in the way and wasting precious time in the field.

Prefabrication Is the Future

Because of the success they have had, Marelich Mechanical tries to put Victaulic prefabrication strategies to work on as many jobs as possible, particularly those that have a lot of small offsets or big equipment connections.

Being a welder, Goldsberry anticipated some initial skepticism surrounding the new processes, but he says that everyone on his team likes it. There was a minimal learning curve, and the process was simple and safe for fabricators in the shop. Goldsberry suggests that welders and mechanical contractors just starting to use grooved in their prefabrication processes approach it with an open mind.

“I credit our Victaulic fabrication strategies for getting the data center work,” said Goldsberry. “Prefabrication is the future of where our industry is going, and we plan to take advantage of it.”

For more information, visit www.victaulic.com.

Victaulic Helps Rado Enterprises Maximize Efficiency

Grooved Piping, Project Management Yield ‘Drastic Increase in Productivity and Throughput’

To maximize the benefits of using building information modeling (BIM), and to keep the Penn State Hershey Medical Center expansion project on schedule, Rado Enterprises of Bloomsburg, PA, turned to Victaulic. With proven experience installing grooved products in various HVAC systems since they began fabrication shop operations more than 15 years ago, Rado Enterprises knew that Victaulic grooved products provided a number of benefits over welding, such as ease of installation and maintenance, ability to meet demanding schedules, and decreased liability. What they learned with this project was the benefit of Victaulic’s project management services.

With its new, ultra-modern, 252,000- square-foot, five-story Children’s Hospital, Penn State Hershey Medical Center is part of a growing movement toward green health care facilities that relies on advanced 3D modeling to guide the building process. Dave Zeitler, president of Rado Enterprises, knows that, in order to remain competitive, his company must adapt to new construction techniques and continue to find the most efficient ways to do business. The firm has been in the mechanical contracting business for more than 75 years, serving commercial, institutional, and industrial customers.

“Victaulic couplings have the highest quality of grooved products and services in the market,” said Zeitler. “Their offering is very innovative and, as a leader, they stand by their offerings to make sure everyone is satisfied.”

Those offerings go beyond grooved mechanical couplings to the expertise of the Victaulic Construction Piping Services division, which provides project management services ranging from pre-planning to efficient piping layout drawings and project implementation.

“We trust Victaulic grooved couplings, so we knew we could trust their project coordination services to help find new efficiencies in the Hershey Children’s Hospital project,” said Zeitler.

Increasing Shop Throughput

By working closely with Rado Enterprises’ 3D models and Victaulic product models, the team was able to provide drawings and isometrics that could be broken down into manageable sections so that employing lean principles in the fabrication shop was even more efficient. This breakdown of the isometrics made it possible to schedule pipe and product delivery to the fabrication shop as needed. Through these coordinated shipments, all pipework and components from Victaulic were labeled with dimensional data for ease of identification. In addition, the pieces were uniquely itemized so that all materials could be allocated exactly where they fit within the mechanical system installation.

Rado Enterprises used both Victaulic’s highquality grooved mechanical products and their project management services to help maximize efficiency and increase productivity in the construction of a new Children’s Hospital at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

To achieve even greater levels of efficiency, Rado Enterprises incorporated additional lean concepts into its fabrication shop by implementing Victaulic fabrication principles, which consist of a layout plan for tooling, assembly tables, and lifts in the shop that maximize the throughput of the shop.“Grooved has changed the prefabrication strategy in our shop,” said Zeitler. “Victaulic changed our building strategy on the Hershey project. They provided us with the loading strategies to successfully implement lean principles while increasing jobsite safety.”

As a result, Rado Enterprises was able to facilitate faster assemblies more accurately than ever before. This systematic approach also helped to reduce waste and material handling. Moreover, Victaulic made it easy for Rado Enterprises’ fabricators to provide the prefabricated pieces and for installers on the jobsite to complete the installation.

“The installation was quite easy once we got into the field because of the accuracy of the detail in the isometrics,” said Richard Karns, Rado Enterprises project manager, who was responsible for the Hershey Medical Center project. “In fact, we saw a drastic increase in productivity and throughput using Victaulic grooved systems because it’s just so much easier and it far exceeds the production that we’d get in welded piping systems.”

Karns went on to say that the 3D isometric drawing and fabrication work also helped on-site workers navigate challenging radius structures and meet the necessary angles of swing joints—something that would have been much more challenging had such efficient prefabrication strategies not been in place.

Improved Control Over Project Schedules

According to Zeitler, the drawings implemented from the BIM process made piping fabrication in the shop more widely accepted and allowed fitters to meet schedules on the jobsite more easily. Rado Enterprises enhanced its ability to improve control over logistics and scheduling installations at the Hershey Children’s Hospital. Zeitler said that it is even possible to have piping fabricated prior to building foundations.

Additionally, the organization of building materials and the timely delivery coordinated with Victaulic made a significant impact on compressing the project schedule because of the cleanliness of the jobsite. Once on the jobsite, the additional grooved products and accessories were provided “bagged and tagged” with location and date information for maximum coordination. Without the extra materials laying around waiting to be used, installers and other contractors were able to move around the jobsite easily without handling the product multiple times.

Decreased Project Risks

Another significant benefit, noted Karns, was a decrease in liabilities on the project. There are risks with any installation, but welding involves the risk of arc flash and fire hazards. For Hershey Children’s Hospital, the project specifications called for three firewatchers whenever welding took place. By using grooved mechanical piping systems, Rado Enterprises minimized the risk and eliminated the need for firewatchers, thus gaining additional control over the installation schedules. There was no need to take precautions typically associated with welding.

Rado Enterprises plans to engage the Victaulic Construction Piping Services team in assisting with future mechanical systems layouts and material shipments, as the benefits have been exceptional.

“When it comes to maximizing efficiencies and increasing productivity, enlisting the help of experts at Victaulic is a good place to start—and to end,” said Zeitler. “We utilized Victaulic products and services, beginning with their couplings all the way to the end with their project management services.”

Victaulic delivered a smooth transition, he said, that helped Rado Enterprises achieve lean building requirements that reduced material handling costs and sped up the process. By working with Victaulic on the Hershey Children’s Hospital project, Rado Enterprises was able to increase shop throughput, have more control over the installation, and increase jobsite safety.

“In our eyes, Victaulic started as a trusted manufacturer of grooved mechanical couplings,” said Zeitler. “Their Construction Piping Services team proved they are so much more.”

Victaulic grooved mechanical piping systems coupled with Victaulic fabrication principles helped Rado Enterprises work more efficiently by improving control over project schedules, increasing shop throughput, and decreasing risks.