Uponor Kitting Services Boosts Installation Productivity, Streamlines Project

Among the many critical challenges facing a plumbing foreman on a multifamily project is the need to maintain efficient and consistent installation methods across the entire project.

“Every plumber has a better idea of how to run pipe,” says Pete Erny, a 21-year veteran of the plumbing industry in Minnesota and a foreman with Major Mechanical in Maple Grove. Focusing on commercial and multifamily plumbing projects, Erny has ample experience coping with the headaches and rework that inevitably occur when too many plumbers go in too many different directions on a job site.

This need for consistent installation quality is the prime reason Major Mechanical chose Uponor Kitting Services for the rough-in plumbing work on the Applewood Pointe development in Eden Prairie. The service is designed to streamline the PEX-a pipe and fitting installation process for the plumbing or mechanical contractor.

“Historically, piping-system layout and procurement for rough-in plumbing has been coordinated on the job site, with the foreman having the responsibility for ordering all the materials needed, including chasing down any unexpected shortages,” explains Daniel Worm, manger, Commercial Segment, at Uponor.

Problems often arise in the form of communication and information gaps between the field and home office. These gaps are “managed” through over-buying by the foreman, just to make sure crews aren’t left to stand around, waiting for materials to arrive.

“Uponor Kitting Services is structured to close communication gaps,” says Worm. “It reassures everyone that the right material in the right quantities will be on the job and ready for installation precisely when needed. The goal is to smooth worksite-to-office communications, reduce procurement errors, minimize installation mistakes, and ultimately boost productivity.”

With his experiences at Applewood Pointe, Erny sees the service as a welcome relief from the old ways. Kit contents are based entirely on rough-in designs created by Uponor Construction Services, working closely with the contractor. The result is an installation consistency that drives workforce efficiency.

“The service takes the thinking out of the rough-in install process, so the temptation to freelance is much less,” Erny notes. “You still need to figure out how to get Pipe A to Pipe B, however putting all the essential piping-connection components in a single kit for a single apartment unit gives each installer a running start and a clearer direction.”

It’s in the Bag

The Applewood Pointe complex consists of 100 apartment units, each with two baths, a kitchen, and a laundry area. But the floor plans for these 100 units are not identical. There are 25 different configurations — each with a different, trunk-and-branch plumbing plan.

Major worked with the Uponor Kitting Services team to create plumbing layouts for each of the 25 configurations. Kits, which consist of plastic bags carrying precise, hand-counted numbers of elbows, tees, rings, and other PEX system components, are then assembled to meet the specific needs of each design. The kits are marked clearly with the name of the individual apartment where they are to be installed.

Just as importantly, Uponor ships each kit to the job site with a materials list and a 3D isometric drawing, detailing the designated apartment’s plumbing layout. This approach helps installers clearly understand what they need to do.
“I just hand the installer the bag with the fittings and the drawing, saying ‘Follow the diagram.’ All by itself, that speeds up the install process,” he says.

Erny has also noticed fewer purchasing and material handling headaches, thanks to kitting. “Uponor delivers the kits as we need them on the project, one zone at a time,” he explains. “The kits contain what we need where we need it, so there’s no one running to me, saying, ‘Hey, we are out of half-inch tees.’”

Partnering for Perfection

There’s always a learning curve at the onset of any large commercial plumbing project, and that was as true for the new kitting service as it was for Major Mechanical. But scaling the curve was not that difficult, according to the project’s lead plumbing installer, Jared Hudalla.

“During the early stages of the project, we went through the kits to see what worked best for a particular application in terms of fittings and other components and whether plumbing-layout changes were required,” he says. “We wrote our adjustments onto the isometric drawings, and the manufacturer reps took them back to the Uponor team.”

This process ensured all the changes would be incorporated into the next set of kits shipped to the job site. “Our corrections were routinely made, allowing us to concentrate on installing,” he says. “We worked together to streamline the process to drive the results we wanted.”

Hudalla, who became a plumber in 2008, shares Erny’s enthusiasm for Uponor Kitting Services’ ability to foster installation consistency.

“The biggest thing for me is, if you just give a mechanic a bunch of fittings, he’s going to try to use them all. Over the years, I’ve seen too many ‘creative’ installs because the mechanics were given large quantities of every fitting under the sun.

“Kitting, on the other hand, helps create an overall quality install by limiting the number of fittings per unit to only what’s necessary for the layout that’s been created,” he says. “That, in turn, results in the water piping being run the same way every single time across the board.”

On a similar, previous project, Hudalla reports he was completing the rough-in for five to six apartments daily. “At Applewood Pointe, we have been able to jump it another two to three units with kitting.”

Josh Giffen, project manager/estimator for Applewood Pointe, is the Major Mechanical manager who runs the numbers to assess the impact of the kitting service.

“The relationship with Uponor is amazing,” he reports. “They understand what we as contractors would like to see, and they make the adjustments to help us out. I like that for every apartment unit, the materials are in a bag and not a mess on the floor. I like the idea of a drawing showing our apprentices how to water-pipe a unit the correct way without overthinking it. It’s a teaching technique that has really worked to our advantage on this project.”

For more information about Uponor Kitting Services, visit https://go.uponor.info/kitting.

Contact information:
Uponor
800.321.4739
uponor.com