News
ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD February 14, 2005
Rolling Thunder
Little Trailers Packed with Tech Take CAD to Worksite
David Payne, president of PayneCrest Electric, backed into the trailer world
when his IT director, an Air Force veteran who was accustomed to mobile equipment,
suggested building a high-tech trailer to take their CAD system to jobs.
The trailers have proven so useful that the St. Louis-based PayneCrest already
has five and is planning to start number six this spring. “We used to pick
everything up and put it in a truck, take it out and set it up in the main job
trailer,” he says. “Now, the CAD station travels alone and is designed
to nestle in a parking spot. Most of the places we work real estate is precious.”
The typical unit, which can be powered by a robust 120-Volt dropcord, is an air-conditioned
tech powerhouse. It has a fast, dual processor computer, big hard drives, triple-screen
monitors, large format color plotters, a medium format color printer, copier,
scanner, fax and communications devices and three label printers for tagging
panels and wire.
“We do a tremendous amount of labeling,” Payne says. “Every
time you
terminate a wire you put a label on it-millions and millions of labels.”
PayneCrest, which turns $60 million in revenue annually, has several major clients
with rolling construction programs, including Boeing Corp. and the Anheuser Busch
Inc.’s home brewery, in St. Louis. When the work load is large, Payne says
they simply pull in more trailers. They can stand alone, or be cabled directly
to the main job trailer for integrated communications.
On a $9-million electrical job to set up 5,000 people in a 515,000-sq-ft data
center for CitiMortgage in O’Fallon, Mo., “the CAD trailer truly
became the nerve center for the project,” Payne says. It was very helpful
for coordinating with other subs on the job. “We do get saddled with more
work some of the time, but it lets up became the lead,” he says.
Payne says he has not considered marketing the packages, but says he is happy
to share details with others. He can be contacted at dpayne@paynecrest.com.
Reprinted
from Engineering News-Record, February 14,2005, copyright by the McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. with all rights reserved. This reprint implies no endorsement,
either tacit or expressed, of any company, product, service or investment opportunity.
#1-9782574 Reprinted by Reprint Management Services, 717.399.1900.
|
