Clark Pacific – Staying On Schedule With The Vita Load Navigator
ne thing that seafront areas have in common, besides evoking distant vacation memories, is their exposure to high winds. And Oyster Point in San Francisco is no exception.
Add in a congested construction site with multiple active projects, and you have the perfect recipe for delays, overtime, and unexpected costs. Except, this time, it wasn’t. Tasked with erecting a 10-story, 665k SF parking structure, in the center of a new development, Clark Pacific was able to stay on schedule and hit each of the marks that they had planned months in advance.
Founded as Tecon Pacific in 1963, Clark Pacific started in West Sacramento on a four-acre site with 15 employees. In 1966, James Clark joined the then small firm as its general manager. Today Clark Pacific is an industry leader and full-service manufacturer dedicated to advancing industrialized construction innovations, and products for a safer, more sustainable, and predictable building environment.
When Bob Roumiguire, Associate Director of Field Operations, Structures encountered our Vita Load Navigator, he instantly knew it would revolutionize construction and afford his team the possibility to be safer and more efficient.
In this article, discover how implementing our Vita Load Navigator (VLN) gave Bob's team the confidence to navigate unpredictable elements, like persistent wind, common on such exposed construction sites.
Bob first encountered the VLN through an email introduction. What convinced him to collaborate with Vita Industrial and integrate the VLN, was a video showcasing another project in Oyster Point. This project faced daily high winds between noon and 2 and panels were spinning at an incredible speed, leading to site shutdowns, long delays, and runaway costs. Bob understood that the VLN, by turning unpredictable challenges into controllable ones, would enable him and his team to avoid these issues. This fueled Bob's determination to advocate for its application with the project executives, and, in the end, his persistence paid off.
“We were the only consistent subcontractor on a site with 50 different subcontractors. When everybody else had to shut down due to wind-outs, we kept working. Additionally, we had to deal with at least 15 changes to the erection sequence, but we knew that thanks to the VLN, no matter what we were faced with, the timing was always going to be the same. Whenever you have consistency with the schedule, you have reduced costs." -Lawrence Ansel, On-Site VLN Operator
In addition to enabling consistency in planning, the VLN improved the general safety of the construction team and the surrounding environment.
“We had no panels spin on us whatsoever. This kept the ground crews and crews on the building incredibly safe. There were no safety incidents or injuries on the precast crew on this project and zero recordables." -Bob Roumiguiere, Associate Director of Field Operations
The crane operator felt safer lifting panels from a narrow alley, confident that they wouldn’t start spinning out of control into nearby buildings or structures.
“When we had to pick our long panels off the truck we’d be in a narrow alley. If they spun, they could hit a building or come close. The VLN helped us keep the panels steady and my guys didn’t have to have a tug-of-war with the tagline as they usually do.” -Mike Harper, Field Foreman
The crew member guiding panels to their correct roof placement did so while indirect communication with the crane operator, permitting fine-tuned descent control, ultimately reducing instances of damaged panels and the associated delays and repair costs.
Another safety hazard is operating a tagline in windy conditions. Not only is it very difficult, but it is also extremely dangerous. Fortunately, the active use of taglines by the crew during construction was made unnecessary, thanks to the Vita Load Navigator.
“The crane operator was consistently getting winds into the 20s (mph) and then every once in a while, he’d get gusts into the 30s. The VLN helped a lot when we’d get an unexpected gust of wind.” -Mike Harper, Field Foreman
Measuring over 1,000 data points per second, the system detects load movement in real-time and adjusts the load with high-powered fans to eliminate spinning, rotations, and other problems that cause site damage or injuries. This might sound complex but it is quite simple to execute. The VLN’s ease of use was merely the cherry on top of all the positive feedback that Bob received from his crew, not to mention the company executives and owner of the project.
It's never easy to change the way things are done and persuade decision-makers to try new products, but Bob was determined to make a difference with our technology. We are grateful to Bob for believing in us and advocating for the VLN to help push the industry to be safer and more efficient. We are extremely proud of this partnership with Clark Pacific and we look forward to future collaboration.
