Industrial & Manufacturing Facilities
Engineering support for working plants — where production can't stop for a design cycle.
We serve manufacturing campuses, processing facilities, and industrial buildings across the Chicago area. Most of our industrial work isn't new construction. It's the constant stream of smaller projects that keep a plant running: equipment that needs a foundation, a roof that needs to carry a new unit, a wall that needs an opening, a crane that needs verified support.
These projects are too small for large A/E firms to prioritize and too technical to proceed without a licensed engineer. That gap is where we work.
How We Work With Plants
On-Call Engineering Under a Blanket PO
Most of our industrial clients keep us under an open purchase order rather than contracting project by project. When something comes up, we're already set up — no procurement cycle, no new agreement, no minimum job size.
What that includes:
No minimum project size. A two-hour beam check and a 60,000 sq. ft. building addition run under the same PO.
MEP and civil under one contract. We carry mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and civil consultants as subconsultants, so your plant coordinates with one firm instead of four.
Permitting handled end to end. Drawings, submittals, plan review comments, and inspections — through your municipality, not ours.
Field response. We visit the site, verify existing conditions, and work from what's actually there rather than from record drawings that stopped being accurate in 1974.
We currently serve in this capacity for a 1,000,000+ sq. ft. electrical equipment manufacturing campus in Chicago, supporting more than a dozen buildings across three permitting jurisdictions.
What We Handle
Equipment Installation & Support
New equipment rarely lands where the original structure expected it. We verify what's there and design what's needed.
Overhead crane and hoist installations — runway support, column reinforcement, foundation verification
Rooftop unit support — roof framing analysis and reinforcement for new RTUs, dust collectors, and exhaust equipment
Process equipment foundations — including vibration-sensitive and high-impact equipment
Floor capacity verification for equipment relocation
Structural framing for blenders, mixers, and process vessels
Structural Modifications to Existing Buildings
Masonry and concrete wall openings — new doors, equipment access, conveyor penetrations
Column removal and load transfer
Overhead and dock door enlargement
Floor infills and slab modifications
Lateral bracing system evaluation and reinforcement
Mezzanines & Elevated Platforms
New mezzanines for storage, production, and equipment access
Platform and catwalk design
Existing mezzanine load capacity evaluation
Building Additions & Expansion
Steel-framed additions — design through permit and construction administration
Structural connections to existing buildings
Precast panel, open-web joist, and metal deck systems
Foundation design coordinated with site geotechnical investigation
Cold Storage & Controlled Environments
Freezer and cooler additions, including insulated slab and floor-warming systems
Blast freezer structural framing
Footing underpinning for new cold-storage loads
Site & Sitework Structures
Underground stormwater detention systems
Parking structures and lot improvements
Bulk material storage — including bin-block and push-wall structures
Trench drains and equipment pits
Zoning, Entitlements & Code
Planned Development and rezoning support for campus expansion
Building code analysis and compliance strategy
Structural condition reports for violations
Special inspection coordination
Jurisdictions
We permit regularly in Chicago and throughout Cook, Lake, DuPage, and Will counties.
Knowing the reviewer matters as much as knowing the code. We've worked through plan review in these jurisdictions repeatedly, and we build submittals to what each one actually expects.
Licensed: Illinois (Structural Engineer and Professional Engineer), Indiana, Wisconsin, Texas, Alabama — useful for companies with facilities in more than one state.