Prefabrication and Modular Construction Are Redefining How Facilities and Structures Get Built

Understanding the Benefits

Prefabrication is a tried-and-true method of manipulating and assembling metal structures for large-scale projects in a climate-controlled and now highly automated environment. This approach is ideal for tanks and vessels, secondary steel and platforms, as well as projects with repeatable aspects, such as modular units and substations, or even solar energy arrays requiring manufacture and assembly of thousands of identical components.

No matter the structure created, prefabrication and modular construction of metal components and equipment offer key advantages.

• Safety: Prefabrication reduces on-site worker-hours by shifting work to an indoor, controllable environment. The well-lit, climate-controlled environment provides an obvious advantage over conventional construction methods that may call for hundreds of components and materials to be assembled on-site, often at great heights or in potentially hazardous outdoor conditions.
• Speed: Highly efficient processes of welding, cutting, bending, assembling, sandblasting and painting elements of steel structures in a controlled shop environment can greatly compress overall project schedules. This speed is partly attributable to advanced equipment and technology that automates labor-intensive aspects of the process.
• Quality: With specialized workers concentrating on linear, highly defined production processes, variability of any components can be eliminated, assuring that each piece meets stringent specifications.

Prefabrication and Modular Construction Take the Industry Full Circle

Prefabrication has historically been a method in which production and assembly of certain components or materials were outsourced to subcontractors or original equipment manufacturers, who would fabricate specified components and preassemble them in modules or skids. These materials would be safely secured off-site until needed at the project location.

Though the construction industry has in recent times opted for highly skilled trades to install components on-site, the industry is now moving back toward having more components prefabricated and often preassembled in controlled environments. The cost, precision, quality and safety of prefabrication is making this decision an easy choice for owners and general contractors.

Expanding and Improving to Maximize Value

AZCO is among the leaders in the movement toward prefabrication and modular construction. With 90,000 square feet of available pipe, metal and electrial prefabrication shop space and highly skilled teams of sheet metal workers, pipefitters, welders, electricians and other skilled trades working together on complex assemblies, AZCO is helping lead this concept toward even greater relevance.

The metal prefabrication and modular construction shop at AZCO, part of the Burns & McDonnell family of companies, offers streamlined processes and consistent quality for projects across a wide array of industries. The shop space features two 10-ton cranes serving two bays with 20-foot hook-to-floor clearance. Each bay focuses on a specialty, from plate and structure processing to prefabrication structural steel assembly. A third bay is used for blasting and painting and final assembly of skids and components. The shop includes additional flex space to accommodate oversized structures without disrupting other processes. With three large-scale overhead doors at both the front and back of the shop, materials and finished products can now flow seamlessly in and out of the facility on semitrailers.

Focused on continuous improvement to meet client needs, AZCO has invested in state-of-the-art equipment to accelerate prefabriction and modular construction speeds. An advanced robotic structural steel plasma cutter cuts, copes, notches and splits beams and more — while reducing traditional manual labor timelines by more than 75%. Two plasma cutting stations, one with a bevel-cutting feature, are also on the shop floor to streamline metal plate processing.

Technology platforms are also integrated with shop processes to further build out efficiencies. AZCO has invested in software to automate the design process for shop-built tanks and code vessels. Tekla PowerFab is used throughout the shop to provide material control and real-time status updates for users. From drafting to scheduling to pricing, PowerFab serves as a convenient platform, allowing users to track the movement, progress and specific details of each project’s progression throughout the prefabrication process.

Backed by broad capabilities and a safety-focused culture, the prefabrication and modular construction shop at AZCO can meet client needs quickly and safely.