Putting It All on the Line: Automating for Speed and Agility

Most manufacturers these days understand that their shop capabilities will go as far as technology takes them. When you consider the versatility and sheer productive power that come with constant technical advances, it just makes sense.

At Deluxe, we get this – big time. After all, we’ve experienced it firsthand. Finding that technological edge has turbocharged our manufacturing performance.

At the heart of all this is the automation we’ve applied to our wall and floor manufacturing lines. It pays off in a revolutionary new ability to respond to production demands. Automation means that we’re very responsive and accurate.

Our million-dollar production equipment from Triad/Ruvo has been key. To be specific, the 32 automated screw guns in the new screw bed do their work in the time it took to put in one screw manually. They’re faster than old manual welding methods they replaced for some operations, too. And we waste zero time in picking things up manually and lugging them around. Every product on the line is picked up by hoist and moved by conveyor now.

Quality has also ramped up. Automation means every operation is performed the same way every time, for superior process continuity and product consistency.

So overall our manufacturing lines are faster, more accurate, and at least 25 percent more productive. We’ve tallied savings in overhead, and our customers’ investment is tied up for a shorter length of time. Just as important, we can now handle a wider variety of projects. It’s a better way of doing things – faster off the line and more agile at every stage of production.

Automated methods have improved our performance on every product line we make. Factory construction for apartments, hotels, condos, senior living facilities, student housing, townhouses, and housing developments is now finished with unprecedented speed.

Deluxe is capable of outputting millions of square feet of modular walls and floors each year through our two highly efficient quarter-mile-long assembly lines.

It boils down to engineering our process specifically to accomplish the twin goals of greater agility and responsiveness. The Triad equipment pays off in greater productivity on the line, not to mention new speed and versatility. What we send to the site is better and easier to assemble than ever.

As far as technology is concerned, what we’ve seen would make a believer out of anybody.

Floored: The benefits of cement panels over poured concrete floors

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. At Deluxe, we found out how true that is when we had to make our modular construction system work in a 12 story dormitory project.

Old-style poured concrete floors just weren’t going to work on this project. We knew we couldn’t go that high because the dead weight was just too much. After some research and consultation with our vendors, we found a new product that provided an innovative solution. It’s a lightweight, noncombustible, structural cement panel.

These new cement panels help solve some major issues in modular noncombustible midrise construction. They’re strong, very light in weight, and fast to install. They literally have replaced our old-style poured concrete floor altogether.

The cement panels provide DeLuxe with some significant benefits. As I mentioned, they’re lightweight, so going up to 12 stories now is no problem for us. In addition, with less weight at every level, structural steel can be reduced as well. Not only did we increase our construction capabilities in a significant way, we saved money and time too. Likewise, no concrete means no curing time, which means the new cement panels are significantly reducing the time it takes to build the modules in our factory.

Our production staff installs the cement panels using conventional tools, so it’s just as easy as installing plywood or OSB decking. We now are able to install the floor finishes – carpet, tile, vinyl – in the shop, which we couldn’t do with green concrete. It all adds up to a building module that gets done sooner, and it’s more complete. Plus, with less to do at the jobsite, additional savings can be realized there as well.

Besides all this, the new cement panel floors are noncombustible. We’ve had an entire noncombustible floor system assembly fully tested by an independent lab; it has a two-hour fire rating and meets all national codes. This makes it the perfect choice in any situation where noncombustible construction is required.

There are plenty of other benefits in using cement panels, and I’ll be looking at some of those in future posts. The panels do a good job acoustically, and they’re dimensionally stable, even if they’re exposed to moisture. They won’t warp, mold or rot, and bugs leave them alone.

But for now, take a minute to think about the advantages these cement panels provide and how they compare to the old-style poured concrete floors. Like me, I think you’ll be floored.

Introducing the DeLuxe Building Systems Blog

Technology - today it’s the central driver in growth and innovation at every level. If we want a better way of doing something – anything, really – it will involve technology. And as I proudly introduce this new Deluxe Building Systems Blog, I realize that we’re right at the intersection of two potent contemporary technologies.

One of them is the Internet. It’s so familiar now that we forget how incredible it is. With dazzling speed and reach, web communications empower us to share all kinds of critical information – quickly, accurately, and in almost any volume we choose. There’s never been anything like it in human history.

The second big technology I mentioned is even closer to home. It’s the always-evolving systems skills that support our manufacture of multi-family housing.

This is amazing in its own right. The explosive power of technology in our business can make standard methods and accepted understanding obsolete in a short time. When things happen so fast, it’s tough to stay current.

I see this all the time. To squeeze more time out of a hectic day, I often eat lunch in my office and field sales calls, talking to lots of people around our business. These are very smart, well-informed folks. Yet the phrase I hear constantly is, "You can do that?"

They might be learning for the first time that we can build up to 12 stories high with our remarkable cement flooring. Or they might be startled to discover how fast we can respond on their latest job. I swear, sometimes our buildings go up so fast I think of mushrooms popping up on the lawn overnight – only these are solid, multi-family structures that will stand for generations.

Our systems technology makes it possible. And all those exciting new capabilities create an absolute need to keep the most current information at our fingertips. It’s decisive: those who succeed today must have access to the best knowledge tools at all times.

That brings us back to the other tech biggie I mentioned before – the Internet.

Blogs deliver a fast, accessible, two-way means to share essential data. And essential data is what the Deluxe Building Systems blog is all about. From the crossroads of building systems manufacturing and information technology, we’ll be talking to you twice a month. Look for information you can use on methods, capabilities, new installations, ordering, finance, design, the legal scene, and much more.

We also want to exploit the feedback that comes with a blog. What you know, what you see, what you believe, is of great value to everyone who reads this. We solicit your responses. Please follow through whenever the blog sparks a thought.

I guess it isn’t surprising that I’ve decided to apply this technology. I've always been a computer geek. Given my longstanding penchant for the written word, it was probably inevitable that blogging would appeal to me. So I’ll be tapping out all manner of information in the weeks ahead. I know we can all benefit from this contact. And maybe we’ll even have some fun.

-Jeff Myers