1) Kohrs Lonnemann Heil (KLH) Engineers partnered with Advanced Solutions to conduct a workflow simulation analysis of KLH's RFI and submittal processes in order to identify areas for improvement. 2) Advanced Solutions analyzed the current processes, identified inefficiencies, and simulated new workflow scenarios. This allowed KLH to evaluate potential process changes without disrupting operations. 3) The simulation found improvements that reduced average RFI/submittal steps by 40% and administrative overhead by 48%, and increased on-time completion of requests from 50% to over 90%. The analysis provided clear evidence that supported process changes increased efficiency.

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McGill Associates
Customer Case Study
AutoCAD
Autodesk Civil 3D 2012
Autodesk Infrastructure Design
Suite
“Civil 3D was our solution.
Across our industry it’s the
number one product, so
everyone in the company
needed to be current.”
Leo Smith
IT Manager
McGill Associates
Creating Innovation through Process
Improvement with Workflow Simulation
Kohrs Lonnemann Heil (KLH) Engineers, PSC, embarked upon an internal process
improvement by partnering with Advanced Solutions, Inc. (ASI) to provide
Workflow Simulation services.
Company Overview
KLH Engineers is one of the largest
engineering firms in Kentucky and Ohio
offering mechanical, electrical, plumbing,
communication and information
technology, lighting design services,
commissioning, and energy solutions.
Since 1955, KLH has had the vision and
drive to continually redefine engineering
by stepping outside the box, taking
chances, and developing to meet their
clients’ aspirations.
KLH is a forward thinking firm, striving to
improve quality through process
innovation and the adoption of
technology. They are constantly looking
at ways to automate “busy” work, so
their engineers can focus on being
engineers. Executive Director of
Engineering, Joseph Kohrs, PE, said,
“We’re not afraid to take chances with
the technology.” He went on to say, “We
don’t want to be the guy who waits for
the technology to mature before we
utilize it. We feel that is a failed response
in terms of being innovative and staying
ahead of the competition.”
Business Problem/Compelling Event
Advanced Solutions Workflow Simulation
services were the perfect solution to
demonstrate, predict, and measure
workflow strategies for optimal
performance at KLH through internal
innovation. KLH has historically enjoyed
an advantage over its competition, but
has seen, with rapid changes in
technology, the gap shrink from a 3-5
year advantage to 0-6 months. With the
industry quickly adopting Building
Information Modeling (BIM), the need to
stay ahead of the game is crucial.
Two things make KLH the company that it
is: the people and the technology.
Leveraging technology to allow engineers
to design more quickly and accurately,
allows more time to service clients. This is
where the collaboration with a process
consulting firm became necessary. KLH
needed a partner who recognized the
challenges in the AEC industry, evolving
technologies, and road blocks in
integrating new data with current
resources. Advanced Solutions (ASI)
presented an ideal solution with
Workflow Simulation.
DESIGN SOFTWARE
Platinum Partner
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Workflow Simulation Services
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Northern Kentucky University - Griffin Hall, Highland Heights, KY
Advanced Solutions
was able to show a
decrease of 40% in the
average number of
submittal and RFI
process steps and
provide a 48%
decrease in
administrative
overhead.

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Advanced Solutions approached KLH
Engineers to be a Workflow Simulation
partner, just as the KLH team was
looking to examine their RFI and
submittals process to validate weak
points and identify opportunities for
improvement. Joseph explained, “We
were more than willing to open up our
doors, our thought process, and our
systems flow, so they could do a deeper
dive and understand what we were
doing right and what we were doing
wrong within our systems and help us.”
The Solution
Industrial engineers from Advanced
Solutions embarked on an intense study
of the RFI and construction submittal
process by interviewing employees
throughout KLH. They gathered
measureable data, evaluated current
strategies, and looked into all aspects of
their diverse service offerings.
The ASI team observed the submittal
review process by shadowing members
of the KLH Innovation Team to evaluate
each step of the workflow. The KLH
Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) platform allowed for extraction
of time management data related to
the submittal process. Once the data
collection phase was complete, the ASI
team modeled the existing workflow
using simulation software. They worked
with the KLH team to validate the
workflow model, making sure it was an
accurate representation of the process.
KLH Innovation Team Lead and Process
Innovation Manager, Michael Brun,
CTS-D, suggested ways to improve the
existing process and provided guidance
on modeling new scenarios to test
changes and evaluate improvements.
Advanced Solutions was able to model
the existing submittal process, validate
current workflows, identify
inefficiencies, explore alternatives, and
simulate several new workflows for KLH
to evaluate. Michael shared, “Advanced
Solutions was able to compare the data
from the existing process… with the
new process, putting real time elements
behind it, to help us understand
whether that new process, in fact, would
end up yielding the time savings that we
were hopeful it would.”
Performance
The Advanced Solutions industrial
engineering team was able to present KLH
with several automation options to
evaluate, during the decision making
process. The assessment allowed them to
see the simulated outcome of each
process improvement, instead of making
large capital expenditures upfront on
changes that may or may not work. KLH
could clearly evaluate a successful process
improvement against one destined to fail.
In the simulation environment,
conclusions can be drawn without
disrupting the current workflow or
creating costly mistakes. The information
gathered throughout the interview
process allowed KLH to make informed
decisions, in order to improve efficiency,
eliminate waste and increase profit.
Advanced Solutions was able to provide a
knowledgeable team, with aligned
industry experience, who were
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personable, patient, flexible and focused
on achieving success for KLH. Joseph
stated, “They want to make a difference
in this field of work and it shows.” He
went on to say, “Whether you are the
CEO, programmer or director of IT, they
present the data in a way that makes
sense to you, no matter what your role is.”
The Results and Benefits
Through the application of Workflow
Simulation services, Advanced Solutions
was able to look internally at process
strengths vs. weaknesses and collaborate
with KLH on the road map to improve
their RFI and submittal process. ASI was
able to separate itself from individual
agendas and perceptions to objectively
focus efforts towards KLH’s organizational
goals. Not only did ASI provide a
prioritized strategy, but they validated
when the process was working and
eliminated unneeded changes.
Once KLH embarked on the RFI and
submittal assessment, Joseph said, “We
knew that we were going to save time
and money with a change to the process.
Northern Kentucky University - Griffin Hall, Highland Heights, KY

3. Advanced Solutions
1901 Eastpoint Parkway, Suite 301
Louisville, KY 40223
www.AdvancedSolutions.com
1-877-GET-ASI-1
Advdvance rkfl.com/worcedSoluolulutionss.c kfloflowsim
GET1-877-G1- ET-ASI-SI-1
What Advanced Solutions was able to
give us was a forecast of those potential
savings.” Advanced Solutions was able
to show a decrease of 40% in the
average number of submittal and RFI
process steps, provide a 48% decrease in
administrative overhead, and confirm
required workflow changes between the
receipt of the RFI and processing by the
engineer to meet the targeted
turnaround time.
Furthermore, before implementing the
changes suggested through the
Workflow Simulation assessment, KLH
experienced a 50% failure rate in
meeting their targeted turnaround time.
After 2 ½ weeks of implementation,
having processed 190 units from receipt
to completion, KLH was able to confirm
an average reduction in turnaround time
of 61%, showing drastic improvements
in efficiency.
Final Thoughts
KLH sees the use of Workflow Simulation
services as an investment in the company.
They were able to simulate, validate, and
even avoid unintended consequences by
modeling their existing workflow process.
Gaining knowledge about internal
processes is an important part of
continuous improvement and business
growth.
Advanced Solutions is proud to have
developed a lasting partnership with KLH.
Joseph mentioned, “They have always
been a partner of ours.” He went on to
say, “Whether they are providing us new
services, such as the workflow simulation
or Revit health checks to help audit our
existing design process within Revit, we
will continue to gain great information
from this long partnership.”
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