Shaping the world of construction by reimagining modular - Part one

Since creating this article and video series, MODLOGIQ has acquired the equipment, rehired the employees, and completed a new lease for the facility formerly occupied by ToVee. To visit their new website, click here or read the press release here.

With Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) pushing the boundaries, many industry experts predict modular will soon inevitably overtake traditional construction.

But how exactly is modular reimagining the way we build, and why do those in the know consider it to be the future?

To answer these questions and more, we invited Dave Cooper to visit ToVee, a modular offsite construction company we first interviewed back in 2020, in Seville, Ohio, USA. Dave follows a modular project through from concept to completion, to see how ToVee is reducing costs, compressing schedules, and improving quality by integrating different technologies.

In part one of this six-part Plant Tour series, Dave finds out how ToVee seamlessly takes panelized wall systems from concepts into fabrication within the factory, using Howick roll-forming machines, using digital technology to give customers greater control over their project.

When compared with traditional steel building, where “dummy” studs turn up onsite and are cut to size with chop saws, there is a “night and day” difference in efficiency, safety and quality control using a panelized system, according to Russ Wills, the Director of Manufacturing at ToVee.

In their design-to-fabrication workflow, ToVee first turn architectural drawings into 3D BIM models using Autodesk’s Revit software, before building a live mock-up and using augmented reality to do client walkthroughs, clash detection, MEP coordination and more. All issues are solved upfront with the client and then the design data is fed into their Howick FRAMA^TM 5600 and FRAMA^TM 7800 machines using ONYX software, by StructSoft Solutions.

“The machines are calibrated at one 256th of an inch (0.1mm). It does all of our stud knockouts, our MEP coordination, dimpling, track cut-outs. Everything we need for that panel to be built is all done within the Howick machines,” Russ explains.

In part two, Russ and Dave take a closer look at how augmented reality is transforming quality control and client approvals at ToVee.