Engineering Design Flaw Blamed For Brewery Construction Complications

Case Overview

This case involves the design and construction of a microbrewery in Massachusetts. The microbrewery project director hired a construction company who claimed to have extensive experience designing and constructing this type of facility. The construction company also claimed to be the industry leader in designing custom microbrewery equipment. The microbrewery project director elected to have both the facility and its equipment designed and engineered by the construction company. Once construction of the facility began, the project was delayed for several months due to an alleged design deficiency. The construction contractor claimed a few design issues needed to be resolved in order for all the equipment to fit comfortably inside the facility. During the subsequent equipment installation, it was discovered that the facility had not been designed with adequate space for the equipment to be installed. An expert with experience designing, building, and engineering brewery plants was sought to review the evolution of the project and opine on the adequacy of the contractor’s work.

Questions to the Mechanical Engineering expert and their responses

Please briefly describe your engineering, design, and construction experience as it relates to manufacturing facilities?

I have experience at a top multidisciplinary engineering consulting and technical services company. I have served as an automation equipment design engineer, a brewery equipment engineer, a sawmill equipment engineer, and I have worked on various process engineering assignments. All of these roles have involved careful analysis of the construction and layout of manufacturing facilities. I have extensive experience analyzing existing facilities to determine necessary construction alterations and necessary equipment installation. My work with industrial plants in the litigation realm has primarily involved installation and safety issues. I am well aware of the issues present in this case.

Do you have experience as a project manager or engineer working on constructing a manufacturing facility?

I am very capable of looking at the history of the design on the project, how the design has changed, and whether or not the plaintiff was given adequate design specifications to create an appropriate manufacturing facility.

About the expert

This seasoned Professional Engineer has over 40 years of extensive experience in construction and industrial accident investigation, forensics, testing, reconstruction, manufacturing machinery, household equipment, HVAC and ANSI/OSHA compliance. His industry experience includes aerial lift design, manufacture and applications, surface mining equipment manufacture and applications, manufacturing machinery, assembly machinery, engineering management, project management, machine design and testing. He is in both certified Forensic Mechanical Investigations and OSHA safety regulations. He is an authority in his field having published 14 articles on various engineering and safety topics. Most notably he investigated an incident in which elevator machinery was allegedly damaged by sandblasting media.

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Specialties:

Mechanical Engineering

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