ConXtech® is in the process of quantifying what we call the ConXeco™ factor. The following is an overview of the ConX® system and an attempt at articulating the positive environmental impacts of utilizing ConX.

Systemized Approach
ConXtech delivers a "mass customizable" building structure comprised of a handful of common components that can be custom configured to achieve any look an architect may envision.  ConXtech has systemized not only the structural steel building components, but everything from design to engineering to manufacturing to assembly in the field. The resulting structure is the "chassis" to which other modularized systems can be added. This approach allows ConXtech to offer a particularly "green", remarkably affordable and sustainable structural solution for multi-family, mixed-use, office, data center and parking structures - as well as industrial applications such as refinery, pipeline and petro-chemical structures.

Leveraging Technology
ConXtech structures are designed and manufactured in a highly automated factory environment utilizing CAD/CAM, robotics, CNC machining and other state-of-the-art technologies. Although these technologies have been employed in the automotive, aerospace and a host of other industries for decades, the construction industry has been particularly slow to innovate or adopt technology for a variety of reasons. Now, as the world begins to recognize the value of building more sustainable communities, “Technology” is the key to cost control and quality and will enable unprecedented efficiencies in the use of materials and time and energy in the built environment.

Building Higher…Affordably
The urban skyline is particularly void of structures in the 5- to 12-story range because: (a) wood is limited to under 5 stories; (b) concrete becomes more economically feasible when building beyond 10 or 12 stories; and (c) conventional steel is typically more expensive than other methods of building.

ConXtech delivers seismically sound, sustainable structures that can be built higher than wood but more affordably than concrete or conventional steel structures. The ConX system allows developers to build higher than wood, enabling a parcel of land to "work harder" at 8-12 stories than at 4 or 5 stories. The cost of land is amortized across more units. ConX gives architects, developers and municipalities an additional tool with which to optimize land use and to deliver compelling communities to the urban core near retail, restaurants and public transit.

Efficient Use of Time, Materials and Energy
The ConX System is inherently friendly to our environment in other ways as well:

• ConX is precision manufactured in a factory environment reducing labor in the field. ConXtech provides a predictable place of employment - a factory - rather than varying job sites, which historically have required an entire labor force to travel great distances from home to jobsite to new jobsite. The benefits of this model are numerous as we enable employees to locate their homes and families near their place of employment.  Fewer miles traveled means a savings in fuel, an opportunity to use public transit or bicycle to work and fewer hours commuting. Employment near home means more family time and more time to participate in our communities.
• Structural steel is comprised of 65-95% recycled content.
• We minimize structure, stair and exterior substrate-related waste both in the factory and at the building site.
• ConXtech recycles all material which is considered “drop” or scrap. Our “drop” in the factory is less than 3.5%, whereas the conventional industry is 6-8%.
• ConXtech assembles a structure in a fraction of the time (often 50% faster) compared to conventional methods and minimizes disruption to the community in which we are building.

 
Currently ConXtech is collaborating with others to deliver additional streamlining through a systemized approach that will bring enormous leveraged efficiencies to the industry:

• Collaborating with outside subcontracting and design teams to enable modularized kitchen and bath units which can be efficiently manufactured by others and seamlessly integrated into a ConX “Chassis.”
• Collaborating on palletized solar and green roof systems which can be manufactured by others and added to rooftop receptacles by utilizing the HSS vertical columns which are an integral element in ConX structures.  

We are just beginning to quantify the ConXEco factor that can be realized in every phase of the building process, but for starters:

Conceptual Design, Architecture, Engineering and Analysis:
In many cases the initial framing plan is conceived on paper from a plan view of the architect’s conceptual drawings. From that point forward, CAD tools are employed and those drawings evolve electronically all the way through the process until the structure is fully manufactured. This does not mean that the drawings don’t make it onto paper at points in time throughout the process, but ConXtech reduces the amount of paper consumed by streamlining the design process so that the initial conceptual designs are closer to “reality” from both structural engineering and “build-ability” perspectives. Less back and forth between architect and engineer reduces consumption of paper, toner and even incremental energy consumption.  Conservatively, we estimate that we reduce paper consumption during the design phase by 50%.

Additionally, we are collaborating with Stanford University’s CIFE (Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering) and Autodesk Corporation to further streamline the design process. We envision that from conceptual drawings, a more collaborative electronic design process can be realized. 

From Approval to Detailing:
Once plans are approved, structural detailing takes place in our facility. Structural detailing is highly automated and checking of those details is accomplished electronically using a variety of products, Autodesk, Tekla, Pro-Steel 3D and ConXCAD® tools. These CAD tools, along with the use of oversized displays on modelers and detailers’ desktops, enable cross-checking iterative updates directly from the electronic model (rather than from printed drawings.) ConXCAD also enables manufacturing data to travel electronically (via DSTV files) from the detailing to our CNC cut and drill lines in the adjacent factory. This process virtually eliminates the “shop drawings” which typically consume paper, toner and other resources. The resulting structure is precise because the use of electronic files eliminates the possibility for human “cut and fit” errors that typically occur in fabrication and field assembly. “What You Design Is What You Get” (WYDIWYG).

This process not only reduces the consumption of paper, but ConXCAD, our in-house developed design tool, enables detailers to literally eliminate weeks and sometimes months, in the design detailing phase. By comparison a company with 4X the revenue of ConXtech employs over 215 full-time detailers. Imagine just the savings in energy that this streamlined method of detailing delivers.

From Detailing to Manufacturing:
ConX moment-connection collar components are machined to tolerances of .006” using CNC machine centers, a production cell that can run “lights out” for 72 hours.  ConXBeams and columns are cut and drilled by an automated cut-and-drill line that requires minimal human intervention and can produce substantially more product for the same footprint and manpower when compared to conventional methods. Our robotic welding cell accomplishes in 5 minutes and 35 seconds, what would take close to 3 hours in the field. The resulting precision and quality are unprecedented. Additionally, most of the energy consumed in our factory is electricity in contrast to fossil fuels that would be consumed by field welding. Emissions from welding are filtered in the factory; in the field the resulting greenhouse gasses are not filtered and released into the atmosphere.

From Manufacturing to the Field:
ConXtech’s process from manufacture to the field is also streamlined. ConXtech manufactures in the order in which the building will be assembled. We do our best to manufacture in a Just-In-Time (JIT) sequential fashion to minimize the need for storage of finished goods.

Reduction in Steel Reduces CO2 in the Atmosphere:
Engineering with ConX has reduced the amount of structural steel by 10% to 50% when compared to conventional steel. For every ton of structural steel produced, two (2) tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere.

Recycled and Reused ConX Packaging is also highly efficient and green. We protect our precisely machined beam-end connectors for shipping with plywood end-caps made of recycled formwork (which is functionally obsolete) from a structural concrete operation. The end-caps work beautifully and we re-use them again and again leaving virtually no garbage, scrap or clutter on the site.

Minimal Waste on Site. Because our components are pre-manufactured and factory pre-assembled to the largest extent possible, ConXtech creates remarkably little waste at the jobsite. There is virtually none of the conventional “cut and fit” or field welding on the structure or exterior ConXWall panels, and minimal “cut and fit” of the corrugated metal decking because that material is ordered in pre-cut lengths that fit directly into the building’s bays. Delivery is also sequenced (just as the frame structure is sequenced) so that decking can be taken directly off the truck and hoisted into the structure. This choreographed approach means that in even the toughest urban environments where “lay-down” space is limited, ConXtech can be efficient and less disruptive to the community.

The Ultimate in Sustainability - Disassemble and Reassemble
Our unique bolted collar connection makes ConXBeam and collar components uniquely re-usable. The lack of weld between ConXBeams and ConXColumns means that each stand-alone column and each beam assembly can be repurposed into a completely different structure with minimal impact to our environment. In fact, ConXtech has utilized the same frame components (columns and beam assemblies) on several structural bracing projects where ConX was assembled to temporarily brace a number of historic facades while the interior was re-built. Now those same assemblies reside in a helicopter rescue training tower for the National Park Service in Yosemite, CA.