Large US engineering Firm used TDG to increase efficiency of proposals and conceptual design by 50%

Transcend Design Generator (TDG) offers a transformative solution for engineering firms in the critical infrastructure design industry. It addresses the growing need for efficient, innovative design while reducing the burden of non-billable engineering hours during new business pursuits. TDG streamlines early project stages by automating monotonous design aspects, enhancing margins, and freeing up engineers for more creative, cost-recoverable work.

TDG enables firms to provide more value to clients, pursue more projects, and grow their business by improving response times and offering more detailed options in the early stages of design.

Here, we introduce a specific use case for TDG for engineering firms looking to streamline proposal and conceptual design processes to grow their business.

A large engineering firm in the US was consistently short-staffed and growth was stagnating as they could not bid on an increasing number of projects due to capacity constraints. The firm wanted to assess the efficiency improvement by using generative design software in the proposal and conceptual design stages. To evaluate the efficiency of TDG, they chose two wastewater treatment plant projects for the analysis. The focus was on a greenfield facility in Kansas and a retrofit project in Missouri, representing distinct project types for comprehensive evaluation.

Project Manager: Coordinated project execution, communication, and final evaluation results.

Wastewater Process Engineer (Greenfield Plant): Specialized in evaluating and designing processes for wastewater treatment facilities, with a focus on BNR applications.

Wastewater Process Engineer (Brownfield Plant): Specialized in evaluating and designing processes for wastewater treatment facilities, including technologies like IFAS.

The engineers aimed to compare the performance of TDG against traditional design methods. This comparison covered:

• Design iteration time

• Capacity for updates and changes

• Efficiency of carrying results through to detailed design

A key focus was on the reduction in time spent by senior engineers on proposals and conceptual designs.

• Wastewater engineer (Greenfield Plant) used TDG to design a new activated sludge treatment plant with 3-stage BNR technology.

• Wastewater engineer (Brownfield Plant) used TDG to generate designs for expanding an existing CAS facility with two different future flow scenarios, and also evaluate the benefits of an IFAS expansion

• Both engineers compared TDG results with traditional methods, focusing on design accuracy, efficiency and innovation in design.

• TDG reduced the time to complete conceptual designs by 50% and enabled a 75% reduction in time required for design iterations, enhancing the scope for alternative evaluation.

• TDG produced comprehensive civil documents including 3D BIM Model, civil bill of quantities, and site layouts, facilitating the transition to detailed design.

• TDG was identified to be particularly useful in alternative delivery projects, offering extensive data for cost and risk decision-making.

The engineering firm successfully demonstrated that TDG can support their growth objectives by streamlining proposals and conceptual design processes using generative design. TDG will reduce the non-billable design hours from the firm engineers, allowing for the firm to bid on more projects. The firm will also be using TDG for alternative delivery projects as it provides more data to make cost and risk decisions in the early design stages.