11-Dec-2024
In this article, David Clark, MD of metal rainscreen specialists Spanwall Façades, looks at their award-winning approach to digital technology and how it has transformed efficiency and customer collaboration.
Digital construction is not new and programmes such as AutoCAD and BIM systems have been widely used for a number of years in all aspects of architecture and construction.
Since it was established in the 1960s, Spanwall has developed an enviable reputation for producing bespoke sheet metal products for more challenging façade projects – from the Titanic Building in Belfast to iconic architecture in London and around the world.
With demand now increasing for its standardised metal rainscreen systems, particularly for re-clad and refurbishment projects, it needed to find an effective solution to applying the same credentials to every type of façade project going through its factory. This is where digital construction tools really come to the fore.
By using Smart Manufacturing technology from the initial design stage, you can drive standardisation into every aspect of the production process – reducing lead times and improving cost efficiency to the benefit of customers and whether that is for standard rainscreen systems or bespoke metal façade solutions.
Fostering Closer Collaborations with Customers
The most important area of focus for Spanwall has been how it can foster even closer collaboration with its customers – façade specialists, and, through that, to integrate their digital work into Spanwall’s technical design and manufacturing systems.
Almost every façade contractor, architect or designer involved in a project will have their own BIM processes to draw buildings and components. However, as manufacturers, Spanwall needed to create streamlined workflows from its customers to harness production efficiencies.
It found there was a considerable amount of duplicated effort and by changing that, it could generate greater efficiencies and increased learnings through collaboration.
Why Smart Manufacturing?
The Spanwall business was founded in 1967 and in that time, it has changed enormously with periods of expansion and contraction that have been accommodated by reactive changes in the factory. When I rejoined the business in 2021, I could see the need for a complete reorganisation of the factory and workflows to bring the operations in line with the latest digital technology and very best manufacturing practice.
Machinery had been added over the years, but we needed to explore ways of improving the flow of products and processes through the factory to maximise efficiency – regardless of whether those products are bespoke or standard metal façade solutions.
It was a priority to fully digitise manufacturing documentation. A single project can have 50 different components moving around every area in our factory. Full traceability of each component through production was critical to maximising efficiencies.
We have now completed the restructuring in the factory, which involved significant investment in state-of-the-art sheet metal manufacturing machinery. As well as practical layout changes and new robotic technology, we have implemented a comprehensive digital information system, and the first phase has completely transformed the manufacturing operations.
A Strong Digital Backbone for Manufacturing
There has been a complete move away from paper-based to digital information.
Spanwall’s Smart Manufacturing system now delivers much deeper insight into production and that continually drives process improvements.
There is now a real-time view of operations, KPI measures, sustainability performance, and the system facilitates the exchange of information and customer communication. This has created a very strong digital backbone for the manufacturing operations.
The system can now identify any quality irregularities or bottlenecks, analyse cycle times, improve forecasting and provide accurate, achievable lead times to customers. All these operations are transparent, consistent, precise and even more efficient.
How Digital Twinning Facilitates Prototyping
Spanwall’s use of digital technology to streamline processes and workflows, has leveraged the power of digital twinning for rapid prototyping of its sheet metal façade components before going into full production.
The new technology also allows the live tracking of every component part through each stage of design and manufacturing, delivering real-time reporting for improved efficiency and a completely new level of customer communication, transparency and traceability.
We now know where each component part is in the factory, what stage of the process it is at, when it will move to the next stage, and when the process will be completed.
The result is shorter lead times and cost reductions of around 80 per cent for digital prototyping of sheet metal components. Machine set-up times for production runs have been reduced by up to 50 per cent.
The Importance of Information-driven Workflows
The new digital system has integrated multi-disciplinary data to create a truly information-driven product workflow. This allows Spanwall to create and test new metal rainscreen cladding designs for its customers and specifiers more efficiently, whilst optimising manufacturing resources and significantly increasing overall capacity.
The Smart Manufacturing project represents a significant investment for Spanwall, particularly in the level of testing and validation that was required to implement seamless workflows.
As Spanwall is often involved in producing highly complex metal façade solutions for large-scale construction projects, identifying potential issues at the earliest design stage is critical for a ‘right first time’ approach. The new digital technology provides increased certainty of project delivery on time and on budget, and to consistently high quality standards.
Award Recognition for Digital Excellence
At this year’s Engineering & Manufacturing Awards, Spanwall was presented with the Digital Innovation Award for its Smart Manufacturing initiative. These awards celebrate the trailblazers of UK engineering and manufacturing – not just in construction – and the companies that are shaping the future of British industry.
The judges praised Spanwall as ‘a great example of the way in which digital technologies can be used to drive manufacturing efficiency’.
The Digital Innovation Award was a huge accolade for Spanwall. The business is committed to digital transformation and believe it is fundamental to delivering its core values of innovation, safety and quality to its customers, specifiers, and to building owners and occupiers.
The next phase of Spanwall’s digital transformation will apply the new technology to integrate quality control, preventative maintenance of machinery, health and safety in the factory, and estimating into digital workflows.
If you are façade specialist or consultant and are interested in collaborating with Spanwall, you can email info@spanwall.com.