• Evaluate and eliminate stress issues without relying on FEA
• Diagnose mechanical and electrical issues quickly
• Proposing unique and cost effective retrofit solutions
• Bringing your idea from cocktail napkin sketch to reality
• Improving reliability and robustness of existing designs
• Hydraulic system design and troubleshooting

Engineering Experience

• Designed and managed over 20 large and small scale projects involving mobile and automation equipment
• Design and implement Data Acquisition Systems (DAQ) for testing apparatus
• Develop new manufacturing methods of fiberglass panels
• Finite Element Analysis for structural design and buckling
• Structural hand calculations
• Investigation of hydraulic, structural and electrical issues
• Design of various lifting equipment apparatus including energized electrical conductors
• Evaluation and design of industrial equipment structures
• Design of concrete slab moving equipment

Manufacturing Knowledge

Firm understanding of manufacturing process and fabrication techniques including:

• • Plasma and laser cutting sheet steel cutting
  • Brake press forming
  • Roll forming
  • Welding processes
  • Controlling heat distortion
  • Machining (CMC and manual)
  • Filament wound composites
  • Lean manufacturing
  • Continuous improvement methods

Certifications

Professional Engineer

• North Carolina
• Texas

International Fluid Power Society

• Hydraulic Specialist (CFPHS)
• Electronic Controls Specialist (CFPESC)

Innovation

• 2 Patents Granted
  • No-Tilt Dump Box (10,286,828)
  • 4 Axis Insulated Joystick (10,707,869)

No!

The only exception would be if the scope changed.  In that case, a new proposal will be provided for the additional work.  Depending on the project, a portion of the existing project may be credited on the new proposal.

At Rasmussen Designs, we quote projects at fixed costs for your
benefit. Let’s face it, projects done on a time and materials budget
often end poorly when hours are running high. The desire to end the
project quickly grows and sometimes the parties never speak again. If
you have ever said to a contractor, “We’ll take care of it from here”
then you know exactly what I mean.

The main issues with time and material projects are

• Budget Overrun – In many projects, the end
  can’t be seen from the beginning so projects are done on a Time & Materials (T & M)
  basis. Complications from the real world kick in and the hours start
  mounting. It’s only natural.
• Lack of project scope
  – When a consultant is getting paid by the hour, the natural tendency
  is not to care about total project cost or the end goal. We will do
  what you ask us to. This always leads to budget overrun.
• More Extravagant Solutions Proposed
  – If your project is done on T & M, the solutions will be larger
  and more costly than you desire simply because the contractor will need
  more time to implement the solution.
• Lack of Innovation – When your contractor is being paid by the hour, there is no incentive to automate tasks or find creative solutions.
• Hesitation in making additional contact
  – Let’s face it, we often hold back or hesitate before sending an email
  or calling because we are afraid of the bill that follows.

None of these lead to a healthy working relationship. Let’s see how fixed costs change this working dynamic.

Budget overrun is eliminated because the work in the scope of the
project is a fixed cost. Whether the project takes us 20 hours or 2000
you pay the same amount. Undercharging is our problem, not yours.

In order to give an accurate bid, we will need to have a well defined
project scope. A well defined scope forces both parties to talk about
the end goals, project values and outcomes desired. Having these well
defined at the start of a project always leads to client satisfaction.
This also prevents overly extravagant proposals and replaces them with common sense solutions.

Fixed costs promote a partnership between the contractor and client. With a well defined scope and cost, a level of trust
develops between the parties because even if the project takes twice as
many hours to complete, it will cost the same. There will not be
tension if you believe that we are not as efficient as we should be and
think that we are “milking the clock.”

Finally, additional phone and email contact will be part of the
contract. We welcome you to share your thoughts and concerns about the
project without hesitation.

In many projects, I have looked back and said, “I wouldn’t imagine that the solution would look like this.” It is impossible to quote a fixed cost for the entire project when you can’t see what the end looks like from the beginning. Unfortunately, many projects switch to time and materials at this point.

But, let’s back up for a minute. We can definitely break up a project into sections that we could see the end from the beginning and quote each of those as fixed cost projects. For example, the first stage of a project could be simply to come up with 3 or 4 concepts that could solve the problem at hand. From there we could decide on one and develop if further.

I have found that most projects can be broken into the following stages; concepting, preliminary design, detailed design, final design and implementation. In each stage a clear scope and goal can be set and a fixed cost can be quoted.  In each stage, it can be addressed if Rasmussen Designs is still the best candidate for the project.  Often we are only needed for a few of the stages and will point you in the right direction.

For 3D CAD we use Solidworks and can use your version if it is still supported.

AutoCAD is used for 2D drawings of electrical and hydraulic schematics

MathCAD and MS Excel are used for hand calculations.

FEA is done with Solidworks Linear Simulation and is saved in the eDrawings format.  A free reader is available online