It's a new decade, and BrandSafway is harnessing new innovations and cutting- edge technology to create smarter ways of working, with highly skilled local labor and expert management teams. BrandSafway's strategic digital approach is driving operational excellence, enhancing the customer experience and delivering data-driven insights that provide real value to customers.
"We can shave days and weeks off project schedules, especially when we can begin working with customers early in the planning process," explained Brad Newton, regional vice president, Energy and Industrial, BrandSafway.
Working smarter
Data-driven worksites help differentiate BrandSafway as a value provider. BrandSafway customers are seeing efficiencies of 5 percent to 20 percent on projects that use tools like BrandNet® for design, estimating, planning and management; building information modeling (BIM); 3-D services such as laser scanning, photogrammetry, LiDAR, thermography and drone technology; and advanced workface planning (AWP).
"Digital initiatives provide real visibility into key and critical functions, offering customers huge opportunities to save time and money," said Rick Dunlap, vice president of Technical Services at BrandSafway. "At one refinery, by using a laser scan model of the reactor design and an access solution from BrandNet, we identified a dimensional clash and prevented a delay of six to eight shifts on an FCC reactor turnaround."
BrandSafway also offers advanced tools like SmartJob⢠for personnel time tracking and management, and SmartTag⢠cloud-based inventory management. Both help capture data and create robust metrics for KPI improvements. Coupled with multisite benchmarking, customers can obtain a clear picture of how their sites perform relative to similar sites, with links to metrics for savings, productivity, safety and project duration.
"We help customers identify inefficiencies," explained Newton. "For example, scaffold modifications on a turnaround or a large project can be as much as 40 percent of the hours. By using smart digital tools, we can cut that by half or more. This allows us to deliver greater output per hour, a high priority for projects trying to provide a flat budget."
"AWP, BrandNet and Navisworks allow us to plan the work and then work a plan, helping us improve safety and greatly reduce modifications," agreed Robb Headrick, a BrandSafway area manager. "We can do more with less equipment and materials and a smaller crew."
And the numbers can add up quickly. "By integrating the 3-D model into BrandNet, we drastically reduced alteration costs on a 1,000-foot-long walkway with multilevel dance floors, saving our customer more than $600,000," said Kyle MacDonald, an AlumaSafway area manager. "On another project, a turnaround, we were able to cut two days off the schedule by flying a scaffold in through the top of a cat cracker for more than $250,000 in cost savings."
Innovative products and services
In addition to digital tools and technology, BrandSafway's innovative products and services -- from freestanding hoists and rope access to patented products like BrandTech® Precision Welding and the QuikDeck® Suspended Access System -- provide customers with significant savings and improved safety. For example, BrandSafway was able to slash 12 days off a boiler repair and inspection by using a combination of QuikDeck suspended platforms and Spider® swing stages. "Using swing stages instead of scaffold for boiler tube inspection and repair can save hundreds of thousands of dollars," explained Jeff Shannon, Alliance manager, BrandSafway.
Innovations in refractory are also having a significant impact. "When a planned turnaround project at a refinery turned into an unexpected reline requiring a total of 244,000 anchors (welds), BrandTech enabled us to complete the turnaround in six weeks, reducing the schedule by eight days," said Eduardo Al meida, director of Innovation, BrandSafway.
A computer-driven stud welding technology, BrandTech allows for the installation of 1,000-1,500 anchors in a 12-hour period, increasing productivity by up to eight times and with an error rate of just 0.5 percent. Quik-X, which was designed specifically for FCC units, takes just 15 anchors as opposed to 27 for a conventional system, so they install almost twice as fast.
Bottom line: The industry is advancing rapidly, and the pace will keep accelerating. BrandSafway is uniquely positioned to help customers digitize and optimize their worksites with new, smarter tools and innovative resources.
"When customers present us with a situation where a solution doesn't exist, our depth of expertise, proprietary products and digital resources enable us to respond to the challenge with new and innovative solutions," said Dave Witsken, president, Energy and Industrial, BrandSafway. "We have more tools and options than anyone else in the business, and as a multiservices provider, we consolidate site overhead for greater savings and the efficiency of a single point of contact.
For more information, visit www.brandsafway.com or call (800) 558-4772.
