Turner Construction digs deeper into offsite manufacturing

Turner Construction today announced the launch of a subsidiary called xPL Offsite that offers prefabrication services as part of an end-to-end supply-chain solution.

Turner has provided prefab, offsite manufacturing, and modular construction for more than two decades. With xPL—the acronym stands for Exponential-Party Logistics—Turner is centralizing the business, according to Drew Kerr, Vice President and General Manager with xPL Offsite, in an interview with BD&C last Friday.

He says that xPL Offsite currently has 100 employees who were drawn from Turner’s ranks as well as from other construction management firms within ACS Group, an international organization of which Turner is a member. xPL’s team is backed by several thousand supply-chain specialists, engineers, and skilled-labor professionals within Turner’s operational orbit. This launch is also drawing from Turner’s global supply-chain infrastructure known as SourceBlue.

In July, xPL will relocate its 20,000-sf factory into a new 200,000-sf manufacturing facility in Decatur, Ala., that features Lincoln Python technology for steel material reduction, ABB robotics for precision beam assembly, and FabStation for optimized fabrication processes.

Targeting projects ‘where prefab makes sense’

Last year, Turner Construction generated just under $21 billion in revenue. A portion of its sales came from sectors such as Advanced Technology, Healthcare, Sports, and some others where Kerr says xPL Offsite is aiming its services. Kerr elaborates that these sectors generally attract large projects with repeatable systems and components “where prefabrication and offsite manufacturing make sense.” He adds that xPL Offsite is focusing on multi-trade prefabrication.

Over the years, Turner has completed over 500 projects that involved Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) services. Some of the projects that xPL has engaged in already include a $400 million hyperscale data center program for which xPL is delivering 13 standardized prefab products to 23 data center campuses in the U.S. xPL is managing four vendors and collaborating with several GCs on this program whose products include conveyance modules, electrical skids, and pump houses.

For Panasonic Energy’s 5.5-million-sf lithium-ion battery assembly plant in De Soto, Kan., xPL Offsite managed the integrated 2,200-linear-ft structural steel conveyance, incorporating all piping and electrical utilities within the plant. In this effort, Turner worked with Yates Construction; Doherty Steel, which handled production; and the prefabrication company Enerfab.

As part of the project’s design-build team for San Francisco International Airport’s $2.6 billion Terminal 3 expansion, Turner built prefabricated modules to create temporary passenger corridors. The 11 modules were fabricated at an air cargo yard and transported across the airfield overnight.

A sought-after service

Many of the industry’s largest general contractors—including Gilbane, STO Building Group, DPR Construction, McCarthy, Mortenson, and Whiting-Turner—have embraced DfMA to varying degrees. And owner-developers in such sectors as hospitality and aviation now regularly consider prefab and modular options.  

Within this competitive environment, Kerr says Turner’s goal is to make xPL Offsite “a household name.” He believes this is achievable by emphasizing how prefabrication is now an integral part of Turner’s comprehensive supply-chain that can offer faster, safer and reliable project delivery across industries and markets, customized to client needs.

This customizable approach is what Turner believes sets xPL Offsite apart, says  the company, along with a kit of parts covering construction disciplines that include central utility plants, MEP skids and racks, modular bathroom pods, clean rooms, and IT closets.

“There are 250,000 open construction jobs out there,” notes Kerr. “We need people, and what prefab does is offer speed, quality, and brings work to where the labor already is.”