Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

By using 4D BIM with Synchro Professional, Hensel Phelps was able to visualize and identify key scheduling issues early. Synchro has been used on the entire, exterior skin. Synchro was used to sequence the complete plaster system showing the studs followed by the yellow DensGlass, black paper, scratch coat, brown coat and finishing with the final color coat. This was easily accomplished with a single model element and Synchro's ability to temporarily assign this element to multiple schedule activities and at the same time change that element's color.

Hensel Phelps has used Synchro in buyout meetings and in the next case, they moved up their caisson drilling sub-contractor 8 months. During the meeting, they discussed the start date and there were no objections. After showing the 4D model with the "Focused Time" slider moved to the exact start date, the issues were extremely clear. The sub-contractor advised that the drilling process for the piles would create a major disruption at the worksite and it was not ideal for him to come into the project so late. After the meeting, Hensel Phelps moved the driller up 8 months in the schedule to avoid the issue they saw in 4D.

The Client

Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente is the nation's largest not-for-profit health plan, serving more than 8.6 million members, with headquarters in Oakland, CA. Kaiser Permanente's creation resulted from the challenge of providing Americans medical care during the Great Depression and World War II, when most people could not afford to go to a doctor. The Health Plan has 3.3 million members in Southern California. Nationwide, it has 35 medical centers, 431 medical offices, 14,600 physicians and 167,000 employees with operating revenues of $40.3 billion.

The Contractor

Hensel Phelps Construction Co. was founded in Greeley, Colorado in 1937. Hensel Phelps is consistently rated as among the top general contractors and Construction Managers at Risk in the nation and the 3rd largest in Airport Construction by Engineering News Record (ENR). The corporation is employee-owned with primary shareholders in management positions within each of the eight district offices.

Engineering News Record 2009 construction industry rankings for Hensel Phelps are:

#19 - Top 400 Contractors

#9 - General Building

#1 - Government Offices

#14 - Education

#3 - Correctional

#6 - Hotels, Convention Centers

#15 - Multi-Unit Residential

#24 - Healthcare

#3 - Airports

#3 - Top 100 Green Contractors

What Synchro Ltd Provided

· Training for the scheduling and VDC team

· Construction 3D modelling support

· Responsive client service

The Outcome

· Hensel Phelps used Synchro to re-schedule the caisson driller by eight months earlier.

· The contractor will now drill with less risk on the worksite as no one will be onsite at the earlier scheduled task.

· Hensel Phelps is using 4D BIM with Synchro in its meetings with their staff, the sub contractors, Kaiser onsite staff, Kaiser executives and even OSHPD!

· Hensel Phelps communicates with the owners on the progress on the construction with 4D BIM.

· On this project Hensel Phelps is planning to use Synchro on the entire central utility plant building and the Hospital's exterior skin. Some upcoming pre-planning sequences include the slab pours for a communication tool during sub meetings.

· They are examining its value, as well, in managing their construction with underground utilities.

· The 4D BIM visualization of Synchro uncovered potential problems very early which enabled Hensel Phelps to make changes to optimize the construction delivery schedule.

"We get lots of compliments with contractors when they see the building being built on-screen," said Rich DeLacy of Hensel Phelps Construction Co. "You don't see inside, while you're building outside. With 4D BIM you can see right away what the issues are."

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