The first company I visited when I arrived to Industry Day was Permatile, a company that specializes in precast concrete and concrete pipe systems. Permatile's representative was Bill Canter, who designs and sells precast concrete wall systems. While concrete wall systems aren't the main aspect of Permatile's business, he was excited to show a sample of their unique wall design. What makes Permatile's wall systems different from others is the styrofoam and metal studs built into the precast walls. The wall was only a few inches thick, with concrete "studs" two ft on center. The styrofoam and metal studs are placed vertically at the ends of these concrete "studs." The sample piece of wall is pictured below. You can see the white styrofoam with the metal studs facing outward, as well as the space where the insulation is placed.
Kiewit brought a 70-ton crane and allowed the students to operate it right outside of the library. I got lucky, because while I was talking to the company's crane and equipment superintendent, there were no other people around, so I got the opportunity to operate the crane longer than most other people that I saw before and after me. This was probably the most interesting aspect of my time at Industry Day. I learned not only how to operate the crane from the inside, but also how the boom and block worked, along with how the lifting cables work. The more cables their are, the more load that can be supported and precision is improved when placing pieces that are lifted. Below is a picture of the crane brought by Kiewit and a picture of me sitting in the crane learning to operate it.
The next company I visited was Virtexco, a general contracting company out of Norfolk, Virginia. I talked to one of their Project Engineers, Mike. He told me that he is currently working on a project that is so large that the Project Manager and he have to stay on-site at all times. His primary job is to ensure that all of the work runs smoothly throughout the day (which is similar to the Superintendent's job), as well as filling out RFI's and many other day to day tasks that the Project Manager assigns him.
Mike and another former Tech graduate had built a sample wall assembly to demonstrate some of the work that general contracting companies have to deal with. The assembly was framed out of metal studs, with ductwork running above the ceiling grid. Also above the ceiling grid were the copper supply and return water lines, cast iron waste pipes that turned and run down the metal studs. Hanging from the ceiling grid was a vent for the air conditioning to flow through as well as a light fixture. It was really exciting to see the wall assembly, especially considering that it was built just for Industry Day and that I spent all of last summer working with a mechanical contractor, so I had just recently dealt with that sort of construction. An outside and an inside view of the assembly are pictured below.
The final company I visited today was Spectra Integrated Systems, which sells robotic total stations. These total stations electronically do surveying for new construction sites as well as existing ones. Spectra specializes in selling Trimble total stations. Andy Donovan represented Spectra during Industry Day. His job involves selling the total stations as well as training clients or buyers on how to use them. These robotic total stations have many applications, such as transferring information gathered automatically to computers or the internet as needed. Trimble also creates products that can be connected to excavators or bulldozers for the purpose of grading out land to a certain level. The images below are of one of the Trimble robotic total stations that Spectra brought with them to demonstrate.
While visiting Industry Day, there were several things that stood out more than others. The first of these was getting the opportunity to operate a 70-ton crane. Even though it was just for a few minutes, getting the chance to control such a powerful piece of equipment was a rush. Since I'm already in Building Construction, I feel like this wasn't so much geared towards getting my attention so much as grabbing the attention of non engineering or construction oriented students. I think it was a really good way of trying to get those students to be open to changing their major to something involving construction. Another thing I really liked was learning about the robotic total station. Since I hope to be a project manager some day, I enjoyed having the opportunity to learn about the new developments to a technology that I will definitely be working with. Overall, I feel like Industry Day was a really good idea, grabbing the attention of not only Building Construction students, but a very diverse group of students that otherwise would never have been introduced to this in their careers.
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