Inside Scoop!
David Darling P.Eng. started with Makami as an Engineer in Training February 2013 then moved up the ranks and in 2016 became a Professional Engineer in Ontario. David has enthusiastically led and dedicated time and experience to help build Makami Engineering Group including working to get his CWB – Visual 1 Inspector, CSA 178.2. Because of his eager commitment to moving up within the company David now has the management position for the entire Makami engineering department.
Tyler has been with Makami Since 2012 and has shown his dedication to reality capture and new technology. Since then, Tyler has worked to establish the benefits of using this technology to advance projects and provide essential deliverables to our clients. Recently, we have promoted Tyler to Reality Capture & Field Services Team Leader. Please congratulate Tyler on his new management position. Well Done!
Daryl has been with Makami since 2016 and has naturally or organically taken on the lead role of the designers. Because of his professional and encouraging personality that motivates and ensures organizational goals are reached, and the client’s needs are met Daryl has been promoted to management status.
Please join Makami in congratulating Daryl for this Design Lead accomplishment!!
The newest addition to our arsenal of Reality Capture tools, The DJI Matrice 300 RTK.
This versatile beauty has multi payload capacity and is capable of a wide variety of functions during a 30-to-40-minute flight depending on payload.
This will allow Makami Group to capture data with accuracy within 1 to 1.5 centimeters, gather survey grade photography used in photogrammetry and create outstanding photos to be used later in inspections.
Take a look at the Unboxing video!
Detailed Engineering by Danielle: Conveyance and ropes removed to facilitate the removal and replacement of the sheave house, the sheave wheels (which were scanned in place to provide proper alignment afterward) as well as the sheave deck. The wheels and deck are not being replaced so extra caution needs to be used. The 9 compartment columns are being removed and replaced from top of collar house roof to the sheave deck. Partial removal and replacement of the bin house roof will then occur as well as creating a hoistwell within the headframe to perform all of this work with the end goal of shaft steel replacement.
Makami completed the scope of work detailing the sequence for all removals as well as the shoring in the headframe to remove all compartment columns safely. The crane operators disassembled the headframe in a specific sequence creating stability and therefore not inducing any instabilities.
Stay tuned for the next Phase of Danielle’s Headframe Engineering Support.
Original Article
Makami’s Tyler Levac talks about his journey to Makami and how technology is shaping the way he approaches projects
Tyler Levac was raised with a strong work ethic. At 10 years old, he was already helping his dad, a diesel mechanic, in his shop on the weekends.
“My father taught me at a young age about engines and mechanics, I was 10 years old taking them apart and putting them back together,” he said.
Those early experiences helped shape how he executes tasks in his job today.
“I think about how things are built, I understand them quickly, so I look at something, kind of take it apart in my mind and see it in 3D and say ‘okay, this is how it should go,’ so it helps with designing in the field now.”
In the industry for 11 years, Levac is a design specialist and UAV pilot at Makami Engineering Group in Sudbury, he uses his specialized skills in design and UAV drone piloting, to support and assist Makami’s engineers.
Levac utilizes the technical equipment at Makami, such as the P50 Scanner, the Leica Romer and the AT420 Tracker, by making sure all the software works, and developing the processes to best utilize the equipment to help collect information.
“Clients may say, ‘I need this for this job,’ and then I ask, what are you looking to engineer or design? Are we doing an FEA? Are you doing a structural design? Are you doing mechanical piping? It all depends on the job.” Levac said. “Then I develop the process to collect the information, get it into our system and then get the engineers something they can use for their design.”
Levac has a diverse background in specialized skills. While he decided not to become an engineer, he went to college to become a civil engineering technologist and learned the generalities of each engineering field.
After graduating, he worked at Grant Aggregate where he earned experience in structural and mechanical design, and then worked for Stantec – a large engineering firm – where he was a drafter and worked on large, underground mining projects.
However, Levac said his experience being a welder/fabricator for seven years is where he learned about the industry, and how he came to eventually work at Makami.
In his nine years at Makami, Levac has done everything from deviation and FEA analysis of components, reverse engineering, mine, and surface plant infrastructure design, with his focus now in mechanical and structural 3D modelling and UAV inspection of infrastructure.
As a design specialist, he uses laser scanning and high accuracy measuring equipment to achieve highly accurate results in the field. Recreating an exact 3D model of an environment not only gives them a view as if they were there but is also helpful when an area is not easily accessible.
“Let’s say there are beams and steel that’s up above and it’s not efficient for us to get up there and measure it. I can take a scan and get all the dimensions and measurements that we need. I can then take those measurements and bring it to our 3D modelling software to model exactly what’s there to the accuracy of plus or minus a sixteenth of an inch,” he said.
That model can help develop a new design, or one for repairs, which Levac said is extremely useful when he designs the piping processes for their mechanical department.
“We can accurately layout drawings for a piping manufacturer or a contractor to build a pipeline with our technology,” he said. “We give them the exact dimensions that they need so they can build it and then we can verify it with our scan data. They can then take it into the field and assemble it.”
Levac explains when a plant or mine wants to run new piping, modify, or repair existing piping, 3D modelling is an extremely efficient way to give them the exact measurements they need while also saving them time and money.
A certified UAV pilot, Levac also assists engineers by flying their drones to inspect and get high-resolution photos and video footage of restricted access, or inaccessible areas. They have two drones, the Elios Inspection Drone, which is used indoors, and the Albris, an outdoor drone used for exterior inspections of infrastructure that can be programmed to fly on automated flights.
“It uses photogrammetry to build a 3D model similar to our laser scanner of millions of little points of what you took a photo of, so for surveying you can get things like contour maps, grading, cut and fill calculations,” he said.
Levac said one of the reasons he enjoys working at Makami is because he gets to use the latest technology and 3D modelling, and they are always pushing the forefront of the development and use of that technology for the industry.
“Every day is different and there’s always something new on the horizon that’s exciting, especially here at Makami, we’re encouraged to look for different possibilities,” he said.
Makami Engineering Group in Sudbury, Ontario, is a specialist engineering company that provides solutions to complicated problems for a variety of heavy industrial and commercial clients across the world.
They provide services https://makamigroup.com/services/ to those in the mining, railroad, steel production and commercial industries using experienced personnel and the latest technology to achieve optimal results.
To learn more about Makami Engineering Group or if you’re interested in their services, contact them at 705-523-1340 with any questions you may have. You can also email info@makamigroup.com or visit them on Facebook .
Original Article:
Growing up in Sudbury, Kyle Beaudry enjoyed the freedom that came with powersports, spending his time on quads and snowmobiles and anything that allowed him to be outdoors.
Being hard on these vehicles, Beaudry was constantly tweaking, fixing, and upgrading them. He was a kid intrigued with how things worked, and from an early age, often took machines apart to find out what made them move.
This interest in the mechanical would eventually help shape his career path.
“I always wanted to go into a career where I could do something similar. And that’s where mechanical engineering came in,” said Beaudry. “Originally I wanted to do automotive engineering. The next best thing was mechanical engineering and I’m glad I went into that because I’m able to design similar mechanical components I worked on as a kid.”
Beaudry is an intermediate mechanical engineer intern at Makami Engineering Group in Sudbury. Kyle has fulfilled all the application requirements for registration as Professional Engineer and is expecting his designation this month.
Beaudry brings a diverse set of skills and experience to Makami, previously working at Icon Mining, a consulting firm for mechanical equipment where he designed chutes, loading pockets, buckets, and various other mechanical equipment, and later for Minecat (now Koveterra), where he designed and customized personnel vehicles used for underground mining.
However, Beaudry wanted to go back to consulting for mechanical equipment, so joining Makami was a natural fit. It’s an opportunity to apply his knowledge and experience and apply that to the work he’s doing today. He said what he loves most about his job is that every day brings a new project and challenge, and he can utilize the cutting-edge technology at Makami to get the job done.
“Six years that I have been in the industry, it’s changed for me quite a bit,” he said. “Where I worked before, we didn’t have 3D scanners. It was really old school, so when I was doing reverse engineering, I was using a tape measure and calipers,” adding that the 3D scanners and modelling software have completely changed the way he does mechanical and machine design.
Beaudry said they can use the 3D scanner to scan the area and then he can easily take those scans and model from them with a lot more accuracy and efficiency. With the scan data, Makami can analyze components and systems using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). FEA is a tool used to predict stress, fatigue, stretch and other variables within a component when it is subject to various loads such as force and pressure. The engineering group has highly skilled individuals performing these analyses, including mechanical engineers and intermediate engineers in training that are educated in engineering principles and these types of analysis specifically. This ensures results are accurate and interpreted correctly.
At Makami, not only does Beaudry enjoy his work, but he said he also appreciates the opportunity to serve the local industrial companies that have been a part of his family for decades. For example, his father has been the general manager at King Shotcrete for the past 25 years, and his grandfather was a miner his entire career.
“It’s always been a part of my family so I’m very grateful to be doing work for local mines and clients,” he said. “It’s especially cool that I get to sit at a supper table with my grandfather comparing his old days of mining versus when I go underground nowadays, and he loves to hear about me going underground because he gets to relive his memories.”
About Makami Engineering Group
Makami Engineering Group in Sudbury, Ontario, is a specialist engineering company that provides solutions to complicated problems for a variety of heavy industrial and commercial clients across the world.
They provide services to those in the mining, railroad, steel production and commercial industries using experienced personnel and the latest technology to achieve optimal results.
To learn more about Makami Engineering Group or if you are interested in their services, contact them at 705-523-1340 with any questions you may have. You can also email info@makamigroup.com or visit them on Facebook.
Original Article:
When Ashley Rooney first began his career in engineering, he would never have imagined the advancement in technology and how it assists him today in doing the best job possible for the clients of Makami Engineering Group.
Rooney, who has been working for Makami as a mechanical engineer for the past three years, and in the industry for the past 23, says the industry is ever-changing and the technology is always advancing, making his career one that is always evolving.
“The things we are doing now are far above and beyond anything that I probably would have ever dreamed capable of 25 years ago,” he said.
This is mainly due to being able to utilize the latest, most innovative technology including the Leica Scan Station P50 Cyclone, which is the leading point-cloud processing software for 3D laser scanning projects and surveying, modelling software like Inventor, as well as drones for aerial surveying.
Describing his role at Makami as a problem-solver specializing in mechanical equipment and piping designed for process improvement or equipment repairs, Rooney said this technology, especially the P50 scanner, “is probably my biggest help and biggest tool in my toolbox that makes everything work so much better, it takes a lot of the guesswork out of things.”
This technology was invaluable during a recent project Makami did for Domtar where they needed to replace storage tanks, valves and piping that were corroding. Rooney said they used the P50 to take a 3D scan of the area, giving them a fast and detailed picture of what needed to be repaired and replaced.
“What’s so neat about it (3D scanning), is that it gives me an accurate, dead-on picture of what’s exactly in the field,” he said. “The best thing it does is it allows you to be much more precise in preparing your drawing and it cuts down an awful lot of time in the field.”
Rooney said another client he works closely with is Vale, which is his former employer of almost 11 years previous to joining the Makami team. It was there that Rooney acquired valuable experience as he was exposed to several different jobs and sectors within Vale.
He was hired on as a satellite engineer working at the nickel refinery, the smelter, mill and all the different mines. Over the next decade, he would also go on working as a general engineer, as well as in project and job management working on multi-million dollar projects.
At Vale, Rooney gained invaluable knowledge, skills and experience, and left only to continue to advance in his career. Makami, he said, was the ideal company to do so as they’re known for their cutting-edge, advanced technology that sets them apart in the industry and provides him with the opportunity to continue to work on a variety of projects for a variety of companies.
Makami Engineering Group in Sudbury, Ontario, is a specialist engineering company that provides solutions to complicated problems for a variety of heavy industrial and commercial clients across the world.
They provide services to those in the mining, railroad, steel production and commercial industries using experienced personnel and the latest technology to achieve optimal results.
To learn more about Makami Engineering Group or if you’re interested in their services, contact them at 705-523-1340 with any questions you may have. You can also email info@makamigroup.com or visit them on Facebook.
