Engineering Seismic Analysis
Company Size
200-1,000
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Fulcrum
Tech Stack
- Mobile Data Collection
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Facility Management
Use Cases
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- Data Science Services
About The Customer
Degenkolb Engineers is the oldest and largest earthquake engineering firm in the United States, specializing in earthquake mitigation, structural design, and planning for seismic performance. The firm is responsible for ensuring that hospitals in California comply with the state's Seismic Compliance Program, which requires hospitals to provide documentation that all their equipment and interior components are sufficiently braced to withstand a major earthquake. There are thousands of these types of components in a typical hospital, making this a significant and complex task.
The Challenge
Degenkolb Engineers, a leading earthquake engineering firm, was tasked with ensuring that hospitals in California complied with the state's Seismic Compliance Program. This program required hospitals to provide documentation that all their equipment and interior components were sufficiently braced to withstand a major earthquake. The firm was initially using a paper, pen, and camera method of data collection, which was time-consuming and inefficient. Photos required a numbering system on a small whiteboard to identify the shot, and significant time was required to organize the data and link pictures to individual entries.
The Solution
In 2013, Degenkolb Engineers began exploring digital options for data collection to replace their paper-based process. They discovered Fulcrum, a mobile data collection platform, and deployed it in the summer of that year. Using Fulcrum, the engineers were able to conduct field inspections with custom-designed surveys, significantly speeding up the data collection process and minimizing disruption to sensitive hospital departments. The platform also allowed for more consistent results, as classification sets tailored to the specifics of building layout minimized typing on mobile devices. Post-processing data time was also reduced, as photos were easily linked to the database. In some cases, equipment information was available from original construction drawings, meaning this information could be preloaded into the apps for verification in the field, eliminating the need for re-collection.
Operational Impact
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