As an intelligent design leader, RCM has 2,000 employees worldwide and over 400 employees specifically dedicated to serving the utility and industrial markets. We have been delivering high-quality engineering, design, and business solutions for over 49 years. Over the past 13 years, we have led our industry by using intelligent design, building ever-evolving modern design tool implementations, and building information modeling (BIM) tools within our engineering workflows. Moreover, we have been recognized as leaders in implementing and using intelligent design solutions for substation projects. We pride ourselves on creating partnerships with our customers to deliver improved efficiency, quality, and value.

Worldwide Footprint

Our offices in the United States, Canada, and Serbia have uniquely positioned us to leverage our diverse expertise. Our processes and experience allow us to engineer greenfield and brownfield solutions within an intelligently linked design environment, starting from engineering, construction, testing, and finally through operation and maintenance. The workflows and deliverables made available through intelligent design can save thousands of engineering hours, mitigate significant project site risks, and increase project site safety awareness.

Intelligent Modeling Benefits

Multiple peer-reviewed studies from major universities have investigated the benefits of using intelligent design models. Stanford Universityi performed a study of 32 major intelligent design modeling projects. According to their study, they found the following benefits from using intelligent modeling solutions:

· Up to 40% elimination of unbudgeted changes

· Cost estimation within 3%

· Up to 80% reduction in time to generate a cost estimate

· Savings of up to 10% of the contract value

· Up to 7% reduction in project time

Partnership Building

In recent years, the industry has shifted away from using traditional methods and focusing on intelligent design tools. Despite the positive results from intelligent design models, stakeholders must be aware of their challenges and associated risks. We can help mitigate the risks. We have extensive experience using and implementing intelligent tools within engineering and project management workflows. Our team can provide robust intelligent design and BIM solutions. Moreover, our teams can provide intelligent design solutions for substation design, along with protection and control. Our complete solutions interconnect the station and protection and control tools for increased benefits based on the customer’s requirements. Our customized solutions allow for greenfield and brownfield projects to be designed within an intelligent workspace and benefit from the efficiency and quality. We work with our customer’s teams to develop a tool modernization plan that best addresses their needs, reducing implementation time and costs.

Our Unique Approach

By using Autodesk Inventor and the Spatial Business Substation Design Suite, our station design team can configure and develop robust station engineering within a three-dimensional environment, greatly increasing the value of engineering deliverables. Intelligently linked 3D engineering models form the basis of the station engineering deliverable. This is used to generate detailed 2D drawings and documents for engineering, procurement, project management, manufacturing, and construction. The 3D model allows for unique insights into the design during all stages of any project life cycle. To supplement the 3D design process, 3D scanning and modeling procedures can be developed based on the customer’s requirements. This will allow for accurate data import for project sites with limited or inaccurate documentation. These workflows and processes will allow for brownfield project sites to be digitized. This approach improves the decision-making process during engineering and construction planning by identifying design conflicts that are typically not found until construction has already started.

Similar to the station design solution, protection and control is using the Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical and the Spatial Business Substation Design Suite. The same standard stations selected for the station design scope will have their respective protection and control documentation converted to an intelligent toolset. Schematic diagrams and layout drawings are developed to follow the customer’s CAD standards and include intelligent links within the drawings to improve engineering workflows. The information linked within the schematics and layouts is used to generate supplementary documents (e.g., wiring diagrams and cable schedules).

The intelligent design tools are configured to generate reports based on projects’ contents and provide project management and engineering teams with additional information without the need to devote engineering resources to creating the documents. BOMs are intelligently linked to equipment costs, lead times, and structural and civil takeoffs. This approach helps customers to accurately estimate project costs and project management teams to plan the work’s procurement and construction phases.

Proven Results

We work with our customers and quantify the benefits of using intelligent design solutions and 3D scanning and modeling processes within substation projects. During one complex project, the intelligent design deliverables and the increased visibility for stakeholders allowed for approximately 40 different risk mitigations to risks in project cost, schedule, and safety. During the engineering phase, these findings allowed the design to be modified to benefit the construction phase and improve maintenance planning. The cost-saving to the project’s construction and maintenance has been estimated to be over $1.7 million.

Customized Approaches

The transition to a new design tool requires staff to be accustomed to the newly available features. We are committed to providing training and mentorship throughout the intelligent design package development. As standard substations are completed, our engineers and subject matter experts will provide in-person and/or remote training sessions. This gradual approach allows for engineering and project management teams to have an opportunity to see the progress of the tools and ask questions or make requests about the future development of the toolset. In addition to training sessions, our team will develop digital training material and user manuals to allow future employees to be effectively onboarded to the new processes.

We have also developed in-house tools for project construction tracking and execution. Our Horreum project application allows construction and commissioning teams to have unique access to project information and collaboration tools with an intuitive, visual user interface. This tool increases site safety and quality of the work while reducing the time required to respond to RFIs.

Being an industry leader in the implementation and configuration of intelligent design solutions, we are passionate about driving improvements through a partnership with our utility customers. We have extensive and diverse experience with international customer requirements and standards. We are well-positioned to navigate large-scale program and change management challenges.

Please contact us for more details about our Engineering Design Modernization process and how we can transform your organization from traditional to modernized digital solutions.

Predrag Stojkovic

Director of International Operations

Mississauga, Canada predrag.stojkovic@rcmt.com

+1 (416) 844-2622

Ostap Dzikh

Business Development Manager, International

Mississauga, Canada ostap.dzikh@rcmt.com

+1 (416) 807-4336

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