Believe it or not, Schemmer’s Bryce Johnson, MS, PE, LEED AP, QCxP, didn’t exactly dream of being a senior mechanical engineer. His early career aspirations were a little more out of this world.
“I remember wanting to be an astronaut and drawing lots of rocket ships, very detailed drawings.”
A junior high survey then indicated he should be a train engineer or an engineer. Bryce followed the engineer path in college and was torn between architectural and aerospace engineering, as both had elements of mechanical engineering in them. Regardless, he figured mechanical was a good start and would be safe for about anything.
Bryce crossed paths with one of the most influential leaders in his career during his college years, Dr. Galen Dodge, who served as Executive Director of the Nebraska Human Resources Institute (NHRI) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Dr. Dodge opened Bryce’s mind to the concepts of positive psychology and strength-based leadership development. They practiced things like active listening and empathy exercises. Bryce also served as a counselor in the Institute’s mentoring group to help others build positive relationships by listening, asking questions and identifying strengths in others.
Schemmer - Design with Purpose. Build with Confidence.
As a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Schemmer, Bryce not only has extensive mechanical knowledge and experience, he also applies the skills learned through the NHRI to the services he provides to clients.
“The most important thing, beyond of course having a basic understanding of the sciences of mechanical engineering, is being able to communicate with all types of people. I attempt to understand people and their needs and communicate back to them in a way that fits their understanding of the systems.”
Committed to functionality and efficiency
When Bryce provides commissioning services, he has to truly understand the problem before he can offer the solution. If Owners knew what the problem was, they wouldn’t need his help.
“I start an open-ended conversation and talk to the person that hired me and others that really know what’s going on behind the scenes. It’s really a get-to-know-you process.”
The time it takes Bryce to uncover solutions varies. Sometimes a solution can take a week and other times it could take longer. A lot of things are seasonal and must wait for the seasons to pass and systems to go through their cycles, especially in the Midwest. It takes a little patience on the Owner’s part to understand that. Many times, Bryce needs access to building information and data that isn’t readily available, so it’s a forensic engineering process for him to go after data.
Operations Support
Many companies offer commissioning services, but offer them in separate packages. One may do a separate energy study and then commissioning.
“Schemmer offers the whole process as one package, called Operations Support, recognizing that it could take a number of approaches to solve the problem. As a full-service firm, we do more. If I think part of the problem is a sinking foundation or a bad building envelope, we don’t have to go to an outside consultant. We have staff in-house who can quickly and efficiently provide solutions for our clients.”
Bryce, along with Schemmer’s trained commissioning team, will take an integrated, problem-solving approach for your facility, taking into account the interaction between systems. By streamlining the operations in your building and optimizing big energy consumption items such as lighting, HVAC, computers, process equipment, etc. to only use the amount of energy needed to perform their tasks, they will save you money and create a more comfortable environment.
OPERATE Services Include:
- Energy Modeling and Benchmarking
- Load Matching and Peak Load Reduction
- Water Conservation and Quality Strategies
- Daylighting and Occupancy Controls
- Life Safety Systems Review and Analysis
- Envelope Analysis
- Systems Commissioning
- Building Envelope Commissioning
- Six Sigma Process Review
- Power Generation/Distribution Review, Testing and Analysis
