Newsletter

Design Systems, Inc. is up to "Greener Things"Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - LEED. DSI's Sustainable Initiatives service offering has reached a new milestone with Troy Shinavier achieving LEED accreditation - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. With Mr. Shinaviers's status as a LEED Accredited Professional, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) will add Design Systems, Inc. to a local and national registry with LEED Accredited Professionals on staff.

LEED accreditation through the US Green Building Council allows Mr. Sinavier to consult with clients from all industries looking to understand and implement sustainable practices in their facilities. LEED for existing buildings focuses on the following design disciplines:
- Sustainable Sites
- Water Efficiency
- Energy and Atmosphere
- Material and Resources
- Indoor Environmental Quality
- Innovations in Upgrades

As a full service engineering provider, DSI supports the Sustainable Initiative platform with solid engineering resources to meet the ever-changing needs our clients.

Design Systems offers new service - "Green Initiatives"!In this ever-changing engineering environment, there are new "Green Initiatives" that are driving the facilities and process design. We at DSI have recognized the need to participate in this "Green Movement" and will be aligning ourselves as a firm that can educate, engineer, and certify our client in the implementation of these sustainable practices.

Design Systems has been awarded an engineering contract for a major engine manufacturer in India.Design Systems (USA) is working with Design Systems Engineering Services in Bangalore (India) to engineer the tool and equipment drawings and specifications for their complete installation in India. Drawing and bid package preparation for Engineering will jointly be performed by both offices.

Design Systems is starting a project in Thailand for a major engine and powertrain supplier.Design Systems (USA) is working with Design Systems Engineering Services in Bangalore (India) to engineer the tool and equipment drawings and specifications for their complete installation in India. Drawing and bid package preparation for Engineering will jointly be performed by both offices.

Design Systems Inc has been awarded a Simulation Engineering contract by major steel manufacturer.Design Systems Inc will assist our customer to optimize their BOP (Basic Oxygen Process) by developing a simulation to accurately depict the entire process from the blast furnace through the continuous casting line. The resulting model will comprehend all system variables and predict results from varying process inputs.

"JOB WELL DONE..." Design Systems, Inc. receives congratulations from one of our core customers in the tire manufacturing business. DSI provided Project Management services for a launch at one of their key facilities. Services included: overall program coordination, project scheduling, layout development and coordination, conveyor controls development, coordination and integration support for the project.

Design Systems Completes a New Paint Shop Program. DSI provided Program Management services for this two year assignment. Services included all aspects of a new Paint Shop Project: project management, paint booths, paint ovens, conveyors, work decks/platforms, system controls, simulation of the complete facility, emulation of some key areas, ASRS system, sludge system, paint circulation systems, RTO systems and IT systems.

Design Systems, Inc. Awarded a Major Equipment Installation Engineering and Program Management job. Our customer is a leading manufacturer of Heavy-duty trucks. Working on this greenfield site in Mexico has allowed DSI to tap into our growing engineering resources in that region. Areas of focus include reviewing all mechanical and electrical design drawings, developing and managing a detailed project schedule, preparation of bid packages, assisting in bid award, managing installation and coordinating all open issues, manage start-up activities, conduct final buyoffs and inspections, ensure delivery of all as built drawing packages and manuals.

Design Systems providing on site overseas engineering services to major US Automotive firm. Our customer required assistance for the support of a greenfield automotive paint facility in St. Petersburg, Russia. DSI provided project coordination for the execution of daily site activities, chemical cleaning and filling, spare parts and maintenance manuals, scheduling, start-up and launch activities for major systems within the paint facility. The results of these efforts will produce a world class facility through the efforts of an international team bringing together lessons learned, lean manufacturing concepts, and benchmarking from around the world.

Design Systems providing Japanese Transplant automotive manufacturer energy savings. Our customer required assistance for the support and development of energy saving programs within their existing automotive paint facility. DSI provided the concepts and detailed bid packages for the implementation of air supply house controls and cascading ventilation systems. Working with the customer, Design Systems developed the concepts, provided all energy calculations, provided cost estimates, calculated the return on investment (ROI), developed all necessary drawings, provided written scope of work, attended pre-bid meetings and verified the final return on investment (ROI). Because of the designs, additional cascading ventilation concepts will be investigated throughout the facility.

Design Systems providing Large International Manufacturing facility energy savings. Design Systems was tasked to identify energy savings opportunities within our customer's facility. The goal of this task was to reduce overall energy consumption in the manufacturing facility by 20%. These energy savings opportunities identified through the reduction of city water, wastewater, natural gas and electricity accounted for an overall annual savings of 40% with a return on investment as low as 18 months. With a team effort from the facility engineer, the optimization of the customer's process and facility with respect to steam boilers, solar energy, lighting equipment and solvent recovery were optimized.

Design Systems providing ventilation and utility designs for major automotive powertrain facilities. Our customer has required assistance for the engineering and project management assistance for multiple greenfield and brownfield powertrain facilities throughout the world. Our scope for this service included indentifying all utility requirements, bid packages for equipment installation, evaluations of existing facilities, accurate sizing of all utility piping, design of the required ventilation and mist collection systems, bid packages for all utility piping and ventilation systems, program management of installation contractors and field assistance. Throughout these programs, we have found further customer benefits to include vendor coordination, scheduling management, electrical load distribution and coordination of field activities.

Design Systems completes automotive powertrain facility technical specification.The bid package was done for a large automotive powertrain manufacturer and included; machining line equipment locations, utility layouts, utility sizing for machining coolant supply and return systems, coolant filter modification requirements, ductwork sizing for mist collection systems, electrical power distribution requirements and communication interface cabling plants.

Design Systems material handling engineering provides significant cost savings. Being selected to engineer a comprehensive material handling plan to rearrange over sixty (60) bridge crane systems for a large automotive manufacturer in an existing engine powertrain manufacturing facility. This material handling engineering will be conducted using cost saving and value engineering principles and will include the reuse of all existing plant assets to be maintained in cooperation with the plant skilled forces performing the work using and opportunity-based schedule. The result will be a significant cost savings for the customer in addition to supporting full utilization of the plant's skilled trades workforce.

Design Systems assists local food manufacturer.Our customer is investigating the potential of building / renovating a manufacturing facility for production purposes. Our scope includes: Feasibility Study, providing our customer accurate sizing and budget cost estimates for this proposed facility. We will provide a macro-level process layout of the facility, determine Utility requirements, and provide an overall evaluation of the building as it relates to supporting our customers' current and future needs.

Continuing this project would potentially include: developing detailed bid packages for equipment and installation, preparing detailed project schedule and finalizing an equipment list. Further in the process we could assist this customer with on-site management and vendor coordination, permit process, ongoing schedule management, on-site system commissioning and training, detailed controls engineering and PLC programming, coordination of all "As-Built" documentation.

Design Systems selected by electric vehicle manufacturer.DSI will develop preliminary planning for a low volume electric vehicle in the United States. Working with the customer we are developing lean manufacturing and assembly processes for vehicle assembly. Our scope includes process scroll, process flow, station layout, station tooling, labor content, material logistics planning utilizing FI/FO and KANBAN concept, conveyor engineering development, and a flexible manufacturing plant layout. Our customer's objective is to minimize capital investment costs and achieve both direct and indirect labor requirements.

Design Systems, Inc. to implement a powered industrial vehicle.Mobile equipment or lift trucks access and tracking control systems will be engineered at a number of our customer's mail processing plants. With experience of assisting a large number of plants, DSI has been able to provide individual plant guidance and assistance in installing, training and starting up the equipment to meet client guidelines. Successful plant activation of the system has provided the mail processing plants with documented OSHA compliance in controlling mobile equipment and their operators, along with providing a source of data for productivity improvements in operations and maintenance activities.

Design Systems Inc. to provide engineering services to leading South Korean company. Our customer has developed conceptual design of a brand new turn-key automotive assembly plant for a major Russian automaker. DSI has provided project coordination, logistics engineering, participate in development of conceptual layouts, capital and operating cost estimates, utilities requirements, overall project schedule, program execution plan, and simulation. The result of the conceptual design is a viable business plan for an energy efficient, environmentally friendly world-class large volume multi-model automotive facility in Russia. Lessons learned from benchmarking of leading automotive manufacturers were employed in developing this "lean" manufacturing facility. The Team will assume Overall Project Responsibility for seamless project execution, from conceptual design to full production and beyond. Next step - detailed engineering.

Design Systems selected to perform cycle time analysis.Our customer has a blow molded automotive gas tank, final assembly operation. Our scope included time study of each station broken down by element. The processes included manual and semi-automatic operations with analysis of the man-machine interface. A process model for production line balancing was developed to indicate where better methods would result in reduced cycle time and labor content. Recommendations for improvement opportunities, lean manufacturing, ergonomics and cost reductions have been implemented. Future concepts for phase two assembly rearrangements with reduced labor were also developed.