The article looks at a new Hyatt Place Hotel project our team is delivering in Waco, TX. The 110-room hotels require 140 stackable units that will be fabricated in the ModularDesign+ plant near Dallas and then shipped over the course of just three to four weeks to the final destination.
At our plant, our team uses the principles of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA), an engineering methodology that simplifies both the design of a product, as well as the assembly of the component parts. DFMA allows a manufacturer – whether they be producing TVs or multi-story buildings – to find the most efficient process to assemble that product. The result is significantly greater control and less waste, among other benefits.
“We’re a manufacturer, we’re not contractors. Our 100,000 sf facility that we have here in Dallas area is actually an assembly line,” Josh Mensinger, explains, “That’s where we drive the costs – not just the schedule – down because we’re actually taking it from the approach of a manufactured good but using contractor trades.”
The full story is available online. Below are additional excerpts:
On empowering modular design to allow for customization
According to Mensinger, a kit of parts approach can’t thrive in construction and design. That is why each project is unique, absorbing the desires and needs of the client and using the manufacturing facility to fabricate an end product that meets those specs as efficiently as possible.
“If you go to a kit of parts, you don’t give the client much freedom to build the designs and the buildings that they want to,” said Mensinger. “What we designed in our manufacturing facility is a unique hybrid assembly line that allows us to adjust to the client’s needs.”
This assembly line approach requires smaller construction teams, a real benefit during times of labor shortage. Additionally, job site safety is increased with fewer bodies moving around. Installing one modular unit may require only six to eight construction workers, far fewer than the 30 to 40 that would be needed on a similar project being erected using traditional methods.