Industrial

By John Haba, principal, Gensler Houston The demands of global economics and trade continue to evolve in the wake of rapid digital transformation. There is an urgent need to build more resilient supply chains and infrastructure as international disruptions impact local economies. With this shift comes a great opportunity for industrial and logistics facilities to become more efficient, responsive and resilient. A key consideration in the evolution of the industrial sector is how a company embraces safety culture. Safety culture focuses on preplanning the processes needed to achieve an end goal while also continuously and purposefully reviewing and optimizing that goal as it relates to safety, quality, cost and constructability. There is demonstrated value in having architecture, engineering and construction consultants understand the significance of safety culture because it allows for “outside the box” thinking to bring value to a solution. This leads to efficiencies in construction and operations, an increased quality of work and a better value proposition. Efficiencies in Construction, Operations Today, site selection is more challenging than ever before, primarily due to the connectivity of infrastructure and systems, including water, electrical, gas, sewage and more recently, data. This is also compounded by the historical issue of community …