Increased pressures in construction and manufacturing are changing how structural engineers work. Building owners need to accelerate design and construction cycles to open facilities sooner, giving them more time to recoup substantial investments. At the same time, the pace in which manufacturers have to bring new products to market is dizzying, reflecting changing consumer tastes and more competition. For structural engineers, this means finding better ways to collaborate to streamline traditionally lengthy design review cycles.

Large retailers, for instance, are looking to open more stores this year than last year, while lowering construction costs per square foot. "We can achieve this by increasing our productivity," says John Moebes, director of construction at Crate & Barrel, one of the nation’s leading retailers. "We expect our design and construction partners to do the same. Partners that rely on manual, paper-based processes can be an obstacle to keeping projects on schedule and costs in check."

It’s a strong statement, but understandable given the realities facing retailers. The fact is that the sooner a store opens, the faster a retailer can move a facility from a cost item to a source of revenue. At Crate & Barrel, the commitment to streamlining processes has delivered real returns. Stores that previously took eight months to design and as long as 20 months to build are now being designed and built in half the time.

New efficiencies in design and construction
Improving collaboration between structural engineers, architects, and other project team members is essential to accelerating design cycles. Structural engineers play a vital and frequently complicated role in facility design. HVAC, plumbing, and other core systems all rely on and impact a building’s structure. Also, last-minute aesthetic or functional changes to a facility require additional reviews and sign-offs. As a result, paper-based design, review, and redlining cycles between structural engineers, architects, and others can take months—which does little to help building owners meet their project completion milestones and financial targets.

To further complicate the process, structural engineers can be more conservative than other types of engineers when it comes to adopting new technologies. "Some risk is inherent in change," says Moebes. "With building safety and integrity top priorities for structural engineers, it is understandable why they can be reluctant to quickly adopt new ways of working." Fortunately, technology advances have proven that they can accelerate design review and lower collaboration costs, as well as improve the quality and clarity of feedback shared across design teams.

A cycle of delays
For Moebes and other construction managers, some of the biggest inefficiencies have come from using paper. Traditionally, reviewing designs has been a paper-driven process, requiring project team members to plot, collate, and distribute drawings that are marked up by hand and then returned to the various authors for coordination.

In some cases, larger projects require structural engineers and architects to participate in weekly, face-to-face meetings, where drawings are reviewed together as building adjustments and recalculations are made. Since all parties have to be clear about the location of beams, columns, or other elements in question, structural engineering input can be difficult to relay by phone. As a result, project costs and delays can rise, as collaborators wait to address issues in person. If changes are communicated on paper, reviewers have to wait as documents are sent across design teams.

"With manual workflows, it’s not uncommon to get 10 different drawing sets, each having comments from multiple reviewers," explains Moebes. This causes several problems. Days can be wasted as conflicting comments are reconciled and input is transferred from several pages to a master drawing. In addition, handwritten comments can be difficult to read, forcing architects to again follow up with engineers. "Each step increases costs and delays," says Moebes. "When you’re working on many facilities at once, the cumulative impact of delays quickly turns into weeks and tens of thousands of dollars per project. Plus, there is the lost revenue opportunity from not having a store open on time."

Tools of the trade
By adopting more automated workflows using Adobe Acrobat Professional software and Portable Document Format (PDF), Moebes and his design partners have accelerated design cycles and decreased project costs. In many ways, the Adobe technology acts as a "force multiplier," enabling one person to do a job that previously required several people.

For example, with the simple click of a button, an architect can immediately distribute designs in PDF to dozens of reviewers. Engineering drawings and specifications, project budgets, site plans, and other documents—all created in different software applications—can be packaged into a single, compact file that can be enabled for mark-up and digital signatures for recipients with the ubiquitous, free Adobe Reader software. "Adopting new technologies should simplify processes, not add to complexity," says Moebes. "Our goal is to free engineers and designers to focus on their specialties, without requiring everyone to purchase new software or learn complicated tools."

In contrast to designs distributed on paper or in native application files, project content in PDF files can be shared easily in real-time online or reviewed individually by each manager. In either case, reviewers can add electronic notes, redlines, and other feedback directly to the digital documents, with each comment having a reviewer’s name, date, and time stamp associated with it. For more complex projects that require additional real-time interaction, Adobe Acrobat Connect software can be used to facilitate web conferences and screen sharing between project team members worldwide.

The electronic review processes bring much-needed simplicity to design review. Accompanying project sketches, web pages, and other content can be included in a PDF file or electronically linked to it. "Assembling and distributing documents in PDF is much simpler than taping or stapling exhibits to engineering designs on paper," says Moebes. "The electronic documents also make reviewing designs and incorporating feedback easier than ever."

As comments are received, input can be aggregated into a single file, eliminating time-consuming administrative tasks and reducing transcribing errors. "The workflow improvements are dramatic," says Moebes. "We can now collect input from review teams in hours, instead of days."

Meeting partner needs
A faster design cycle is only one of the many advantages of moving from paper-based processes to more automated, digital-document workflows. The ability to password-protect PDF files and lock content helps safeguard the integrity of underlying information. From the perspective of building owners and designers needing to safeguard sensitive ideas, these capabilities are vital as they distribute materials to collaborating engineers.

Equally important, the ability to lock document content prevents reviewers from making intentional or inadvertent design changes that could bring construction or manufacturing projects to a halt. "Gaining better control over design documents helps us catch errors and inconsistencies before construction begins," says Moebes. "This is exactly when we want to work through problems—not after building starts."

Once designs are finalized, protected digital files can be easily archived for rapid retrieval in the future. With construction and manufacturing professionals facing increased scrutiny by government regulators and the public, quick, reliable access to searchable building plans in PDF is essential.

Costs down, productivity up
Managing and distributing documents in platform- and application-independent PDF files is already common practice among many design and engineering professionals, with firms seeing the benefits of their efforts. At Good Fulton & Farrell (GFF), an award-winning architecture firm in Dallas that counts Crate & Barrel among its clients, project documents in PDF are shared to improve the quality and timeliness of input from as many as 50 collaborators on a project.

By automating document delivery, review, and archiving, GFF managers estimate that the firm is reducing document printing and handling costs per project by as much as 85 percent, from $45,000 to $5,000. Equally important is that in-house staff and authorized outside partners can now access project information instantly, instead of waiting for materials to be printed and delivered.

Anytime, anyplace collaboration
Even with the proven savings and efficiencies delivered by digital workflows, some designers and engineers may still shy away from embracing new ways of working—largely because some organizations only change when absolutely required. The reality in today’s market is that even professionals who have avoided automating processes are going to have to look more closely at the options—if for no other reason than to differentiate themselves in an environment where project teams are no longer just spread out across a city but around the globe.

Technology advances have made it possible for builders and manufacturers to select from a broader base of consultants. This new way of working places priority on timely and clear communications, not necessarily the ability to regularly meet in person. "The good news is that we can collaborate with our partners at any time and from any place," says Moebes. "When you’re dealing with tight schedules, complicated projects, and progressive corporate goals, it doesn’t make sense to work any other way."

Patrick M. Aragon is a senior product marketing manager in the Knowledge Worker Solutions Business Unit of Adobe Systems, Inc. He is responsible for driving all aspects of product marketing for the Adobe Acrobat product line and the Portable Document Format (PDF) in the AEC and manufacturing industries. Aragon has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of the Pacific, and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, Walter Haas School of Business. He can be reached at paragon@adobe.com.