Engineering Inc. - January/February 2008 - I-17

2008, Washington, D.C. lines workflows and reduces planning costs by eliminating paper-based processes that lead to inefficiencies and delays. Getting It Right the First Time—Why Designers and Construction Managers Should Collaborate…and Early! Joshua Lawrence, James Peck, Mairav Mintz, and John Koplaski McDonough Bolyard Peck, Inc. offshoring. The first session panel of design firm executives will bring to light the issues, questions and problems of the process, followed by a second session panel of offshoring provider firms to discuss solutions. Unlocking the Secrets of the Generational Engineering Workforce Jim Kissane redVector.com, Inc. by employing best practices in human resources; and how to improve the motivation and loyalty of technical professionals. Future Leaders’ Focus: A Study of the Needs and Priorities of Young Design Professionals Barbara H. Irwin Hr advisors group, LLC and Cara Bobchek Management Consultant 2008, and the challenges in putting successful transactions together. Where Does the Money Go? What Happens Between the Top Line and the Bottom Line? robert vanarsdall XL Design Professional Design professionals can “ensure a quality deliverable” and this session will “challenge your assumptions about what designers and construction managers do, and more importantly, what they can do together.” Presenters will demonstrate through eight case studies, the services of a constructability review, cost estimating and review, CPM scheduling, change order evaluation and management, construction quality assurance and quality control, total project commissioning, proactive disputes resolution, and project and contract closeout. Business Management and Quality Offshoring Goes Mainstream: Design Firm Panel Discussion Paul t. Bryant, and Chandra Weiss Pivotal Management Consulting, LLC For the first time, four distinct generations are thrust together in the workplace, all too often fueling inter-generational conflicts. Misreading the unique dynamics, design firms are at risk for miscommunication, resentment or hostility, and finger-pointing…and all parties lose. Failing to understand this issue increases business risks and related costs from loss of key employees to damaged customer relationships. This timely session looks into interpreting the “generation factor” and its bottom-line impacts on your firm, and identifying “friction points” and their effects. What attracts young engineers to a company? What keeps them loyal? How do they view their careers in comparison to older generations? This session presents the combined voices of young engineers through their responses to an original 2007 survey in over 50 firms nationwide. Results of this survey provide insight into the minds of a firm’s younger staff, as well as ideas, direction, and guidance to firms focusing on overall retention and development of the workforce of today and tomorrow. Too often, engineering firms look at the revenue line on their balance sheets, then the total profit, and wonder where all the money went. The gap between money made and money kept can be a large one. In this session, vanArsdall will describe important tools for identifying how and where money disappears inside the firm, on projects and in pricing. He’ll focus on price differentiation by client, the elements of activity-based costing and its implications on overhead, and identifying the places where potential profit is being lost and how to stop it. Contracts and Risk Management Limiting Liability and Managing Risks Through Contract Provisions: Ceilings, Floors and Trap Doors neal J. sweeney, esq. Kilpatrick stockton LLP Finance and Economics Crafting a Successful Deal: An Overview of M&A Activity in the A/E/C Industry steve gido ZweigWhite Human Resources Best Practices: How A/E Firms are Leveraging Their Human Resources for Competitive Advantage John geddie Martin-simonds assoc. Firms experimenting with offshoring of design services have produced mixed results. There are currently no standards for creating the business case and implementing an offshoring plan and managing the resulting changes within their firms. These two consecutive sessions offer a unique forum to increase the success ratio and fully realize the benefits from Improved retention of employees has an immediate bottom-line impact on your firm’s expenses. The current tight labor market makes it imperative that A/E firms develop and retain a competitive hiring advantage. This session examines how to leverage human capital within a firm to improve productivity; how to win the talent war What factors drive M&A activity in our industry? What motivates buyers and sellers? Why are only half of all merger or acquisition deals generally considered successful? According to Gido, the past three years have been a strong period for merger and acquisition activity in the industry as a result of “a willingness to buy rather than build as a means of strategic growth.” This session looks at the current M&A environment, the outlook for Engineers regularly risk claims that are out of proportion to their modest design fees and even to their entire net worth. Realistic risk management requires project owners to confront these economic realities and reflect on them responsibly in the allocation of design risk and limitations on the engineer’s liability. Sweeney will explore the concepts of standard of care and professional negligence in protecting the engineer from liability; marketing efforts and contract language that raise the standard sPrIng seMester 2008 I-17

http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/conferences/annual-08/index.cfm

Engineering Inc. - January/February 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - January/February 2008