July 1st, 2009
From the first days of the company in 1989, HESM&A has strived to serve our clients with the latest technology to create our engineering drawings efficiently and to a high graphic standard. When they first opened the doors, Pete, Stan, Jim and Bart knew that they might need to hold onto those old drafting boards.
However, we quickly hired our first CAD operators in each office. As they slugged their way through the early versions of AutoCAD, it allowed our principals to stay more involved with serving the needs of our clients. We also knew that the use of CAD drafting systems would allow us to standardize our graphics and quickly integrate architectural floor plans into our designs. In the early 90's, HESM&A recognized that we needed the software to perform many more functions than AutoCAD provided natively. Therefore, we worked hard to develop our own menus, using the bulky but beloved Kurta tablet (complete with its many-buttoned mouse). These menus allowed us to perform typical MEP functions more quickly and with a standardized quality presentation across all of our projects. By the late 90's, those tablets had been mothballed, replaced by a virtual tool that replicated the same menu as an on-screen pop-up. By this time, AutoCAD was offering its first pass at an MEP Building Systems product, although without the functionality that we had become accustomed to with our own menus. We continued to utilize our self-developed menus, while supplementing with such programs as DesignMaster. Throughout this time, our CAD team worked hand-in-hand with our IT Department as each bigger and faster version of AutoCAD required a bigger and faster desktop engine to run it. Our IT Department also implemented a first-class redundant backup system to both securely backup and efficiently archive our project data, making this information always at-the-ready for our clients. Further, as we grew our business, as well as our dependence on technology, we added a centralized UPS system for critical data backup. As we moved into the new century, so did the software available to us. We anticipated the BIM revolution, as well as the potential that the software (and delivery system) offered to our clients. With a major investment in software, hardware, and most importantly, training, HESM&A has made the transition to intelligent CAD and Building Information Modeling (BIM). HESM&A currently utilizes AutoCAD MEP 2009/2010 for all new projects; drawing intelligent objects in 3-D for major systems. Our AutoCAD MEP drawings can be coordinated with any number of platforms used for Architectural and/or Structural through the use of Autodesk’s NavisWorks program. NavisWorks will bring files from different software packages into a common model for the purposes of running clash detection. HESM&A can run clash detection on your project prior to issuing our MEP drawings. We have also started using Autodesk's BIM software, Revit MEP. We use Revit models to provide better input into our mechanical load and energy software. Although the MEP content (the intelligent block representations of equipment) is not yet fully realized, HESM&A is working to get the most out of the current software and has completed our first all-Revit MEP project. As we proceed, our use of new technology will continue. This might involve utilizing Revit for initial stages of work, and then completing the construction drawings with 3-D AutoCAD, running the final clash detection in NavisWorks. Whichever combination of software tools is ultimately used, the key is communicating and collaborating with our clients. Looking back, while the technology has changed, one thing remains the same. HESM&A remains committed to serving our clients with the best solutions to accomplish the goals of the project and to make our clients' projects successful.