Industrial Technology Solutions Drives Iconic Steel Structure Construction with PolyWorks|Inspector
With high-profile projects like Las Vegas Sphere, NASA’s Mobile Launcher 2, and Portland International Airport among its realizations, Industrial Technology Solutions gives credit to PolyWorks|Inspector™ for driving unprecedented improvements in production time and fit-up accuracy.
The design of Portland International Airport includes a 9-acre mass timber roof, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and advanced seismic isolation. Image courtesy of Industrial Technology Solutions.
What Is Industrial Technology Solutions?
Company Profile
Industrial Technology Solutions (ITS) and Engineering Management Solutions (E&M Solutions) together form a family-owned enterprise specializing in metrology and engineering. Headquartered in Jonesboro and Hot Springs, Arkansas, the two companies combine their expertise to tackle highly complex engineering challenges. The owners, Jeff and Cindy Van Horn, have built a team of 12 professionals over the years, including their two sons, both mechanical engineers, one of whom also owns and operates E&M Solutions.
The company delivers precise, data-driven solutions that validate structural integrity while helping manufacturers and steel structure fabricators avoid costly errors. Each project begins with a deep understanding of the client’s needs, then translated into a tailored design grounded in extensive knowledge of fabrication processes, industry standards, and code requirements.
Serving primarily the steel construction and steel manufacturing industries, the enterprise combines advanced metrology with engineering expertise to ensure accuracy, reliability, and performance throughout the project lifecycle.
“We are results-driven,” says Jeff Van Horn, senior engineer and founder of Industrial Technology Solutions. “Our focus is on delivering high-quality design, inspection, and detailing services to ensure we’re looking after our customers’ financial success. This calls for clear, well-defined design and inspection plans with a reliability-centered focus.”
Jeff Van Horn, ITS founder and senior engineer, standing in front of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building. Image courtesy of Industrial Technology Solutions.
What Are the Main Hurdles in Large Steel Fabrication Projects?
The Challenges
Cost overruns caused by rework remain one of the most prominent challenges in the construction industry—and when your company is mandated to build the world’s largest spherical structure, you typically want to do so efficiently and within budget.
Las Vegas Sphere is a structural marvel, rising 366 feet from its base and spanning approximately 520 feet at its equator. A total of 368 cast-steel nodes connect straight runs of structural steel tubing. In addition, a tubular-steel framework with thousands of field-bolted connectors wraps around the exosphere and supports the world’s largest, highest-resolution exterior LED screen.
Given the project’s leading-edge architectural design, all structural components must meet tight tolerances to prevent misalignment, on-site adjustments, or worse yet, costly redesigns. To ensure quality, Jeff Van Horn and his team developed an innovative approach called Metrology CAD Assisted Solutions (MCAS) as an alternative to performing a full bolt-up before shipping components to construction sites. The Vegas Sphere project marked the team’s first time using this method at such a large scale, and the results exceeded expectations: MCAS, powered by PolyWorks|Inspector™, proved highly effective, enabling the team to easily verify fit-up, detect and resolve potential issues earlier, and significantly reduce assembly time.
“Steel mills run at a million dollars an hour per mill. If you’re the cause of rework and a mill runs an extra week because of it, you’re out of the game.”- Jeff Van Horn
Cindy Van Horn, President of ITS, standing in front of Las Vegas Sphere. Image courtesy of Industrial Technology Solutions.
Van Horn highlights another major project involving the use of the MCAS approach on a 550-foot, 200-ton structural beam at Portland International Airport: “we completely stressed out the project management team when we told them we did not need to perform a complete bolt-up at the manufacturing facility. We trusted PolyWorks® and our approach to modeling the bolting plan in the shop, before shipping the structure. We knew it would work—we had done this many times already at that point on much smaller projects. And, as planned, the massive structural component went up quickly and smoothly.”
How Can Costly Errors Be Avoided in Large Steel Fabrication Projects?
The Solution
To reduce production time and bring projects months ahead of schedule, Industrial Technology Solutions trusts MCAS. At the core of this approach lie Van Horn’s deep understanding of steel fabrication challenges, his decades of experience, his company’s fleet of 3D scanners and laser trackers, as well as PolyWorks|Inspector.
Industrial Technology Solutions uses 3D scanning, laser tracking, and drone-based capture to provide data to designers, fabricators, erectors, and millwrights, among others.
“Results are the only thing people really care about,” Van Horn states flatly. “Too many companies only provide massive files of scanning data without delivering the solution you need. We carry the technology to analyze equipment and as-built systems, and provide clear engineering insights in reports that are easy to read and understand.”
“Equipment installers, millwrights, erectors, and others need data and analysis as fast as we can provide it,” he continues. “If we can scan a large component, align it with its CAD model, and show where adjustments in welding, machining, or other changes need to happen minutes after we scan it, we can save significant time and ensure components fit.”
While working with a fabricator on the roof of the Texas Rangers baseball stadium, Van Horn noted it only took a couple of hours to scan the cap components in PolyWorks|Inspector and provide the manufacturer with enough information to come up with a plan. “In the past, delivering such results would have taken weeks instead of minutes,” he claims.
The Value of PolyWorks Technical Support
Industrial Technology Solutions was working with a steel fabricator when an issue occurred.
“We called PolyWorks technical support and asked when we could get some assistance. The response, from a real person, was that they were in a conference with about 40 support specialists, but would love to put it up on the screen and use it as a live exercise. With the client’s approval, we shared the data. The insights we received enabled the steel fabricator to deliver the project two months ahead of schedule.”
Where Does This Position Industrial Technology Solutions for the Future?
The Conclusion
Jeff Van Horn is a strong, enthusiastic advocate and user of PolyWorks|Inspector, particularly valuing functionality such as the Build/Inspect. His proven, trademarked MCAS approach has positioned him at the forefront of the industry. When challenged by a leading steel fabricator to benchmark their respective metrology processes on the same part, MCAS, powered by PolyWorks|Inspector, demonstrated a 300% improvement in production efficiency.
“We have a lot of people trying to replicate our process, but they don’t have my 40 years of experience making mistakes,” Van Horn says with a smile. “We couldn’t do what we do without PolyWorks. You guys have made this fun again.”
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