Several months ago, an employee at the Grunau Youngstown fire protection office received a change order for some Ohio contract work. He spent a better part of the morning going from person to person. He asked each person how to get this change order recognized by our accounting system. Eventually it was revealed that he needed to make a […]
Grunau Company was selected by the general contractor team of Gilbane | C.G. Schmidt Inc. to provide mechanical contracting services for The Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons being built in downtown Milwaukee. Grunau is providing HVAC and plumbing as well as specialty metal fabrication services for the facilities, which will include a 32-story office tower […]
Creative thinking and developing a better way to perform our tasks are basic principles of Lean construction. Grunau encourages employees daily to think of Lean innovations. When the HVAC team started talking about how to lift air handling units on to each of the over 30 floors of a new skyscraper being built, their minds went […]
In August, we had some issues with extra pipe/weld shop material being sent to a large jobsite. It was fabricated for installation, but was not ordered for delivery yet by the foreman. This resulted in extra handling on the jobsite (WASTE) since it was needed for other floors that weren’t ready for deliveries. Some creative thinking […]
The Pipe Fabrication Shop Need In anticipation of the high demand for prefabricated, grooved, and partially assembled piping for our large downtown skyscraper project, Grunau’s Oak Creek pipe fabrication shop needed to be reconfigured. A new Plasma Cutter and Victaulic Groover were also on order to be installed in the current space. The Goal Create […]
IPD has helped the Akron Children’s Hospital (ACH), Critical Care Tower project to save time and money not only for the owner but for all of the contractors and other parties involved in the new 7-story tower. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a Lean process that is dependent on collaboration between project team members. The project […]
Lean is simple. It is all about eliminating waste to provide better value to our customers. We recently cleaned an area that helped our employees be more efficient so they, in turn, can be more productive for our customers. When there is excess material in a space, it takes more time to rummage through things […]
Grunau Metals fabricated and delivered a new metal centrifuge deck and compaction deck for Dakota Gasification Company in North Dakota. This plant uses a coal gasification process that produces synthetic natural gas. In turn, that gas is used for heating and making energy. They also produce fertilizers like ammonium sulfate and anhydrous ammonia, plus other industrial chemicals, but with far fewer […]
When employees are thinking of a better way to do something, developing written instructions, or standardizing work processes, they are contributing to our Lean culture. Lean is not “something extra” to do but rather an integral part of our everyday work at Grunau. Grunau Service Plumber Helps MillerCoors These Lean Construction principles and were encompassed in simple […]
There is no “I” in Team. That was certainly the case for The RiverCenter entrance project at Schlitz Park. Having previously solved problems for green initiatives on the Schlitz Park grounds, Grunau Metals came together with a dream team of local experts to translate an artist’s rendering for a glass and metal canopy into a reality. […]
