Hilson Moran, A UK-based engineering firm, has redefined its project efficiency and communication with digital workflows.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” simply doesn’t apply to engineers.
As a rule, they always look for better ways to do things. Case in point: the highly skilled employees of U.K. engineering consulting firm Hilson Moran.
This resolve for innovation explains why Hilson Moran has recently undertaken a complete overhaul of its workflows by converting its paper-based processes into digital solutions. “There is no doubt the digital revolution has now arrived in the construction industry,” said Hilson Moran’s Director Vince Ugarow.
Why go digital?
Ugarow credits digital workflows for streamlining the firm’s processes. A popular digital workflow that has significantly improved for Hilson Moran is design review.
“Before, you would get sent the drawing—say from an architect or a client—and you would print it out, make your markup in your sketches on the drawing, and then scan that back onto the system which, depending on the quality of the scan, might not necessarily show all the details that you want,” said Mechanical Design Engineer Stephen Atemie. “Then, if you needed to make changes again, you would print off the scanned version, draw on that, and then scan that back into the system, which would reduce the quality of the drawing. The whole firm now prefers the paperless way. It saves a lot of time and actually maintains the quality.”
Measuring Success
Finance Director Roger Waters-Duke has seen the positive side of using digital solutions for engineering consulting. “When I first joined Hilson Moran ten years ago, there were drawing boards everywhere,” he said. “Everybody still did everything on large printers, and our printers were slow.”
Waters-Duke remains optimistic about how much further digital solutions will take the company. “We are looking to use this technology to allow us to collaborate between our U.K., Abu Dhabi and Qatar offices for much more seamless collaboration.”