Pete Foster, Head of BASIC (the Business Analytics Systems Information Connectivity department) at Exyte Hargreaves, recently spoke to us about their experience with Stabicad.
About Exyte Hargreaves
Exyte Hargreaves LTD (EHL) is a global leader in design, engineering and delivery of facilities for high-tech industries. The company specializes in delivering innovative solutions on complex engineering projects across a range of sectors from nuclear to transport, which includes HVAC and full mechanical and electrical systems, associated structural steelwork and civil engineering.
The challenge
“A focus aspect for EHL in recent years has been the continued growth of our business through improved digital processes. And during our digital transformation, quality over quantity has been identified as a key factor to its success.
The BASIC department has taken this digital transformation focus to bring in the best solutions as part of our overall solution map. In the past EHL used to have a process for this outcome that was manual, heavily paper-based, and very specialized in terms of personnel the business could use with internal staff, or contractors.
EHL chose to move away from the traditional route used by many in the industry and implement Revit into their Project and Manufacturing design teams. A key need of this change was a solution that would enable the team to work within this 3D environment, without having to resort to manual calcs on spreadsheets, or standalone external solutions.”
Why did you select Stabicad?
“After we defined our needs, we looked at the market for solutions that would help us overcome them. In short, Stabicad was chosen for its integration with Revit, ease of use and digitally produced outputs.”
How do you use Stabicad and where does it fit in your workflow?
“Stabicad is used for our Project Design from the design concept up to the construction/manufacturing - taking the Revit model and developing with its tools and ease of use, before handing over to our process-specific solutions for the next stages.”
Tell us about your experience with Stabicad so far
“Thanks to Stabicad, reporting methods have been digitized by using Ventilation Calculation options from within Revit using their plug-in palette. It enables the graphical and non-graphical data to come from the same source and enables us to work within the 3D environment and produce the calculations and outcomes to suit our key needs.
The digital outcomes from using Stabicad means we are more efficient, and it saves our Principle Engineers hours of work, which means we are able to react and respond to requests without the number of additional staff we would have needed in the past. Instead, we have a core team that can adapt to the growth of our business in a much more manageable and controlled manner.
On one of our current live projects we have taken the move from our previous traditional, manually heavy, calculation and delivery needs, to now training the team on Stabicad to digitize this process. This project has been ongoing for many years and to take this decision at this stage of its lifecycle, and the changes needed, shows the commitment we have to the product and the benefits it will bring.”
How does Stabicad help your engineers on a practical basis?
“After maximum velocity for each type of duct, zeta value and flow rates are inserted as input data, Stabicad is then able to deliver all the calculations of every item such as pressure drop in straights fittings and a continuous duct run.
As part of the Stabicad palette and toolkit are a number of “quality of life” functions, from facilitating designing ductwork, to ensuring the correct objects are used and developing the model to a “pre-fabricated” stage, so it can then be passed on to other solutions seamlessly.
The data is aligned to CIBSE and due to the direct link to the 3D working environment almost no time is spent on manual calculations, this decreases the human error factor, and of course time to completion.
Accuracy is key and Stabicad is making this possible.”
How is Stabicad helping you meet your strategic company goals?
“At EHL we are committed to our apprentices throughout the business, and the engineering / CAD sections are no exception.
Our new generation of Engineers is being taught the new digitized way of working and are all leading the way with the implementation and use of our solutions. Stabicad is one of the focus solutions that the team learns, with continuous training and internal CPD focusing on its use, how it interacts with other solutions, the digital roadmap as a whole and feedback to the BASIC team who are responsible for the digital way forward at EHL.
Stabicad answered all the questions that were needed to simplify the Calculations for Building Services Engineers to be able to model the MEP side. Engineering is more appealing than ever now for the young generation because all manual challenges are being eliminated without losing the knowledge needed to understand the inputs and outputs.
Importantly, our modern world is welcoming skilled engineers not only from young ages but Stabicad is also revolutionizing traditional methods for Senior Principal Engineers as well.”
