The Electrical Blog

Innovative Trend: Prefabrication

Posted by Tonia Nifong on Wed, Aug 14, 2013

When it comes to completing projects with efficiency and excellence, Berwick Electric Co. is always looking for ways to improve. One cutting-edge industry trend, prefabrication (prefab), aims to improve efficiency and quality on the jobsite by constructing selected building components offsite, ahead of time. We recently spoke with Project Manager Mark Norman about Berwick Electric’s take on prefab, as well as the company’s experience with the trend. Keep reading to learn more.

Prefabrication increases efficiency.
 Prefabrication helps increase efficiency on projects with multiple, repetitive parts.

Berwick Electric (BE): What is prefab?
Mark Norman (MN): In our line of work, prefab is anything that can be pre-planned and preassembled in a controlled warehouse environment in order to increase efficiency. Prefab usually involves repetitive tasks that can be a small component of an installation, or in some cases, multi-trade, (various subcontractors working together) full room efforts.

BE: Why is prefab so beneficial?
MN: In many cases, the construction schedule is very tight. Anything we can prefabricate and preplan to be installed in a more efficient manner helps us as electrical contractors to get our job done and then get out of the way for other trades to perform their work. This helps us maintain the project schedule flow.

BE: Can you describe some of Berwick’s experience with prefab?
MN: We kicked off our prefab operations on the Rolling Pin Barracks project several years ago at Fort Carson; we completed 14 barracks building renovations in 15 months. It was very successful. We are currently looking to integrate prefab into upcoming projects in order to support our projects more efficiently.

BE: Can you tell me a little more about the Rolling Pin Barracks project?
MN: Sure. The Rolling Pin Barracks project had several, identical cookie cutter rooms that were very similar in each building. Because of the “cookie cutter” nature of these rooms, this was a perfect project for the prefabrication concept.

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Berwick Electric Co. enjoys sinking its teeth into a variety of projects, including industrial, military, medical, data communications, and more. To learn more about the company’s areas of expertise, click here.

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