Vancouver, BC
Glass & Cladding
Galvanized back pans, aluminum brake shapes in multiple finishes, high-volume release scheduling, ISO 9001 order confirmation with confirmed pricing and delivery dates
Four to six weeks from drawing release to production start, with each release covering three to four floors and thousands of sheet metal parts
A three- to four-week turnaround on every release, planned with GMP ahead of each wave of orders
Sheet metal arrived ahead of assembly, and unitized production in Kamloops stayed on schedule
OVERVIEW
Aluminum Curtain Wall Systems (ACS) manufactures unitized curtain wall in Kamloops, BC, for its sister company Inland Glass, a contract glazier, and for outside customers. A unitized wall is assembled from aluminum extrusions, gaskets, glass and sheet metal, and although the sheet metal is a small line on the bill of materials, the rest of the assembly cannot proceed without it.
For 2 Burrard Place, a 36-storey mixed-use tower in Vancouver with three floors of office space and residential above, GMP supplied the galvanized back pans and the aluminum brake shapes in a range of finishes.
CHALLENGE
ACS’s drafting department issues material requisitions in releases, and production has four to six weeks from each requisition to the start of assembly to get every component into the shop.
A single release can cover three or four floors of the tower, which for sheet metal means thousands of parts, and four weeks is tight for that volume. Because the shop cannot build a unit until the sheet metal for it has arrived, a late release would hold up the whole production line.
SOLUTION
GMP held a three- to four-week turnaround on purchased parts across the project, which fit inside the window ACS had to work with.
This was set up before orders were placed. GMP prices the job at the estimating stage, so the scope is already known, and ACS purchaser Vincent Li meets with Sean or Todd at GMP ahead of each wave of releases to go over what is coming and what turnaround will be needed.
The orders then run as discussed.
Once an order is placed, GMP’s ISO 9001 process returns an order confirmation with confirmed pricing and an estimated delivery date, whereas smaller shops often take the purchase order and leave the buyer to phone for status.
The confirmation removes the daily follow-up, and the confirmed price lets ACS cost the order before the parts ship, which its accounting team usually cannot do until a supplier closes out its own work order.
Galvanized back pans and aluminum brake shapes: Supplied in a range of finishes across the full height of a 35-storey tower
High-volume release scheduling: A three- to four-week turnaround held on releases covering three to four floors and thousands of parts
ISO 9001 order confirmation: Confirmed pricing and delivery dates issued on order, so nobody chases status and accounting can cost the job before shipment
Outcome
The sheet metal arrived ahead of assembly, and the Kamloops shop kept producing units to schedule on a 35-storey build.
ACS is required to take three bids on sheet metal and does so, judging them on total cost of ownership rather than unit price alone, which includes delivery, quality and service. The automation in GMP’s shop keeps its pricing competitive, and the predictability of its deliveries is what ACS values most.
