Lean thinking in time of crisis.  In a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tweet/Garot Mechanical, Inc. (De Pere, WI), along with the team of HGA, Boldt and Faith Technologies, collaborated to design an acute care solution in under two weeks. The team set out to achieve three major project goals: provide hospital level clinical care via a modular, prefabricated rapid response solution. At Boldt’s facility in Appleton, the manufacturing team utilized pull-plan sessions to streamline the production process.  From start to finish, a module can be completed in less than 10 days.  Modular components were designed to maximize transportation constraints using the “C-Can” mindset. As a result, the modular solution allows for true expandability with little design modifications needed to scale bed capacity.   Tweet/Garot provided HVAC, plumbing and medical gas services for this project.

With most team members working remote, the project kicked off with a “virtual” big room where component teams worked through design constraints and constructability challenges while considering  an “off the shelf” approach – such as a standard HVAC rooftop unit retrofitted to meet isolation room requirements.   Utilizing a one-model approach, component teams were able to start clash detection while the design continued to evolve.