CAGE Inc.

Founded in 1997 by the former President and Senior Vice President of a major baggage and material handling systems supplier, CAGE Inc. is a diversified consulting and management company with specialized engineering experience in aviation support systems. Based in Irving, Texas, the company’s primary professional services focus on planning, design, procurement, installation and commissioning of complex automated baggage handling systems (BHS), explosive detection and trace detection systems for baggage security screening, aircraft parking and movement planning, and aircraft gates support systems including Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBB), 400 Hz ground power, Preconditioned Air (PCA), and potable water systems.

Ross & Baruzzini | CAGE Inc.’s full range of services are provided by a professional staff with extensive hands-on experience and in-depth knowledge of applied technology, manufacturing, construction and application of governmental security mandates and processes.

Ross & Baruzzini | CAGE Inc. has delivered advanced engineering solutions in the field of airport information technology, security, and electronic systems and has worked in more than 200 airports worldwide including 90 percent of the largest US airports and iconic international airports throughout the Middle East, Canada, and South America. We offer fully integrated and innovative solutions for airlines, airports and passengers around the globe.

Acoustics in Healthcare: Achieving LEED Silver Certification for MUSC Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Women’s Pavilion

When we think of acoustics, many of us tend to imagine auditoriums, theaters, or places of worship. But how does sound affect healthcare environments? 

Imagine recovering from a major illness while highway traffic rattles the patient room or working as a neurosurgeon team performing complex surgery with a constant whirl of air ventilation and noisy pipes. Excessive noise affects both physical and mental well-being, causing a range of health issues including stress, increased blood pressure and heart rate, and disturbed sleep patterns – all counterproductive conditions for a hospital. 

Thoughtful acoustic design promotes patient healing and increases staff efficiency. At Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion in Charleston, South Carolina, we provided acoustic consulting services with architecture partner Perkins & Will and general contractor Robins & Morton.

The Healing Power of Quiet

The design of the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and the Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion advances healthcare for children and women in South Carolina and the Low Country region. With a ten-story patient tower, rooftop helipad, and adjacent four-story diagnostic and treatment podium, this facility provides specialized care for high-risk pregnancies, pediatric trauma, delivery care, and other services all within a sensory-friendly setting. 

This project is the first comprehensive inpatient hospital project in South Carolina with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification at any level. In addition, our firm’s recommendations as Acoustical Consultant earned two LEED points for Healthcare Acoustics, without which, this project would not have reached the point total required for overall LEED Silver Certification.

Working in Complex Environments

Ross & Baruzzini Associate Principal Richard Brink, MS, CTS-D, used his 30 years of acoustical consulting and technology design to help bring the $300 million, 650,000 sq-ft project to life. 

Designing for acceptable levels of sound creates unique challenges, however final testing for this project presented a one-of-a-kind experience for Brink. 

Under normal circumstances, sound testing is scheduled before opening doors to the public. Due to extenuating circumstances, post-project testing was completed after the hospital was open.

“The hospital was already open when I completed testing,” said Brink. “This was a unique kind of testing environment since the hospital already began seeing patients. In addition to the hospital opening, I also had to work with COVID-19 restrictions at the time. I completed my normal testing around a steady cadence of people since the ER served as the sole point of entry at the time.” 

Brink completed acoustic testing in late 2020. Because of COVID-19 protocols, the hospital limited access to the main ER entryway to better manage visitor flow. 

Despite unusual testing circumstances, the hospital successfully achieved LEED silver status. 

Engineering Holistic Acoustics Design

Ross & Baruzzini collaborates with designers, builders, architects, and owners to improve sound environments for hospitals as well as higher education, research, corporate, and commercial venues. Our full acoustical consulting services include:

•   Mechanical Systems Noise Impact 
•   Architectural Finishes
•   Acoustical Privacy and Intelligibility
•   Partition Selection
•   Vibration Analysis
•   Certification Analysis and Verification including LEED and WELL Building

How can we help your next project? Contact our Acoustics team to learn more and view related healthcare projects here

Photography via Perkins & Will. 

Ross & Baruzzini: Kansas City’s First Choice for Healthcare Engineering, Technology & Consulting

Whether your next healthcare project is in Kansas City or Kanpur, we are dedicated to finding the best solutions built to improve your patient and staff experience.

Why Choose Ross & Baruzzini for Your Next Healthcare Project? 

Ross & Baruzzini offers engineering, consulting, and technology solutions. Our project expertise in the healthcare market runs the full gamut, including renovations, new construction, energy studies, and code consultation for all building types on hospital campuses.

Our advanced knowledge and global experience combine to provide fully integrated engineeringplanningdesign, and commissioning.

MEP/FP: Innovative Engineering for Your #KC Project

Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital

From greenfield hospitals to renovations of existing facilities, Ross & Baruzzini provides mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering services to solve our clients’ most challenging needs.

We create environments that are energy efficient and sustainable without compromising comfort, indoor air quality and required temperature and humidity conditions to ensure the best patient experience.

Technology: A Focus on Next-Gen Healthcare 

Our technology team leads healthcare facilities through the “clinical transformation” process by providing a holistic, collaborative, and visionary approach on every project.

Using a proven approach that includes planning appropriately, gaining consensus on project direction and funding, and taking ownership of managing the implementation, our clients are able to be actively involved in the project without taking too much time from their day-to-day responsibilities.

Security: Providing a Safe Enviroment with Physical Security and Cybersecurity Tools

Healthcare professionals must be ready for anything that can disrupt the ability to provide quality care or jeopardize the safety and security of patients, visitors and staff. Ross & Baruzzini is committed to developing security solutions to minimize the impact to our clients’ operations, through an approach firmly grounded in innovation, pragmatism, and creative collaboration. Our services span physical and cybersecurity design, consulting, and engineering.

Ross & Baruzzini is Your Trusted Kansas City Partner: Contact Us Today to Get Started.

“Innovation made personal” is more than our tagline. Our national footprint with local roots means we’re big enough to get the work done right without sacrificing personal touch.

Clients choose Ross & Baruzzini because we provide a high level of multi-discipline integration and an individualized understanding of our clients’ business processes. Whether at home or abroad, we believe all business is personal. And that’s the way we like it.

Contact Our Kansas City Office for Your Next Project:

Kansas City Office

5350 W. 94th Terrace, Suite 102

Prairie Village, KS, 66207

John Sommers

Mechanical Department Manager – Kansas City Region

O: 913.308.2503

E: [email protected]

Business Resilience & Airport Innovation: Join Ross & Baruzzini at the 2021 SMART Airports Conference & Exhibition

Ross & Baruzzini is a proud silver sponsor for the 2021 SMART Airports Conference & Exhibition. This premier event covers how SMART airports and their adjacent regions are leveraging connectivity to stimulate innovation and opportunity.

2021 SMART Airports Conference & Exhibition leads the way with its innovative, interactive agenda:

  • The most comprehensive community of SMART airports and the regions they serve, focusing on the opportunities and innovations that technology is bringing to environments, communities and cities
  • Up to 500 senior level attendees and decision makers
  • Opportunity to learn from visionary speakers and thinkers
  • Extensive and intimate opportunities to network with this progressive audience across 3 days.

Attend Smart Airports 2021 in San Antonio, TX

Register for the 2021 SMART Airports Conference & Exhibition

Getting to Platinum: Higher Education Team Pushes for Sustainability

Ross & Baruzzini has been committed to energy-conscious and sustainable building design since our inception in 1953. Our most recent achievement is the LEED Platinum certification earned by our Bluford & Brooks Hall project at the University of Missouri – Columbia. This project is our 3rd LEED Platinum-certified project as a firm and the 15th Platinum-certified building in the state of Missouri.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification system that provides voluntary guidelines for the development of sustainable buildings of all types, including schools, universities, and healthcare facilities. Certification level is awarded based on points in nine categories – integrative process, location and transportation, materials and resources, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, sustainable sites, regional priority, and innovation – with the Platinum level as the highest achievable certification.

Ross & Baruzzini provided mechanical, plumbing, and fire protection (MPFP) engineering consulting services for the Bluford & Brooks Hall project, which included the demolition of the existing Jones Hall and the construction of two new residence halls and a new dining hall. The housing consists of single and double bedrooms, split across living modules suitable for 15-20 residents, each including one community-style bathroom, dedicated study space, and shared social lounge spaces.

The new dining facility provides seating for over 700 guests and includes a private dining room that seats 75 guests. For two of the Ross & Baruzzini team members, Niki Partney, Senior Mechanical Designer, and Randy Diemer, Senior Mechanical Engineer, the dining facility was their favorite part of the design. ”The kitchen design was interesting. It uses a high-performance, energy-saving kitchen ventilation system,” said Diemer.

Sustainable design features of the project include:

  • Total enthalpy heat recovery for ventilation systems
  • High-efficiency LED lighting
  • Daylighting controls
  • Occupancy setback control of lighting and HVAC systems
  • Demand-controlled ventilation using CO₂ and occupancy sensors
  • High-performance building envelope
  • Low-flow plumbing fixtures
  • Solar domestic hot water heating system
  • Variable air volume (VAV) kitchen exhaust and makeup air system
  • Low friction-loss duct design utilizing static regain (fan energy optimization)

The new buildings are powered, cooled, and heated using energy from the campus power plant, chilled water loop, and central steam system. The campus steam system is fed from a combined heating and power central utility plant that utilizes a biomass boiler for steam production.  In addition to producing power through steam turbine generators, steam is also used to produce chilled water through steam turbine chillers. Solar photovoltaic arrays and wind turbines provide power to the University power grid, as well. Accurately incorporating this central plant into the energy model was a critical component to earning all 19 points available under the Optimize Energy Performance Credit (EA Credit 1). Another important factor was the accurate modeling of the true operation of the buildings.

Go to https://www.cf.missouri.edu/cf/sites/cf/files/inline-images/images/CHP_WEB_2016.jpg for additional information on MU’s combined cooling, heat, and power process.

“The biggest challenge for me was the energy model. Mizzou challenged me to fine-tune the model to include very realistic building operation schedules, space loads, and equipment efficiencies, which was a level of detail that I had not done before. In the end, it paid off!” Partney stated.

Speaking on the firm’s most recent achievement, Jeff Crawford, Senior Vice President and Director of Higher Education + Research, said “Achieving LEED Platinum certification for the MU Bluford Brooks project is a rewarding accomplishment for all of the stakeholders on this project, as everyone involved worked hard to make this happen. We were fortunate to have a client in the University of Missouri that is leading edge when it comes to sustainability, as well as great design partners in KWK Architects, Lawrence Group, Antella Engineering, David Mason & Associates, and KPFF. Sustainability is a very important part of our culture at Ross & Baruzzini and we take great pride in providing building system solutions for our clients that minimize energy consumption and offer the best life cycle cost. Utilizing detailed energy modeling to test building system options, whether it be HVAC, lighting, building automation control, renewable energy or envelope options, is the foundation upon which we help our clients make informed decisions to optimize their buildings’ performance. We are proud that we were able to contribute to this project’s success.” 

Ross & Baruzzini Team Secures Rare Copy of the Declaration of Independence

Article was originally published on July 1, 2016. Updated on June 30, 2022.

On the night of July 4, 1776, a series of copies of the Declaration of Independence were printed by John Dunlap, which would eventually be known as the “Dunlap Broadsides.”  Of these copies, 26 are known to be in existence today. Ross & Baruzzini’s Security team has provided security for six of the Dunlap Broadsides, including the ones at Independence National Park, the Morgan Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, and Princeton University.  The copy of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by Congress is known as the “engrossed” or “parchment” copy and is currently housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Our Security team was appointed security consultant and engineer for the Olin Library at Washington University in St. Louis, where another copy of the Declaration is set to become the centerpiece of a new exhibit.  Our team designed all of the electronic security systems for the space, including video surveillance, access control, and intrusion detection. Working with the designers of the Declaration’s custom casework, we are currently investigating a number of cutting-edge technologies to help preserve and protect the document, helping to ensure it will remain viable and on display for future generations to appreciate.

For more information, and to watch a video produced by Washington University, click here for an article from the St. Louis Business Journal.

A Brief and Moveable History of Aviation Security

In “the business” – those familiar with the vagaries of aviation security – we too often get so immersed that we lose context. Aviation security is not in fact a steady-state feature of aviation, but a constantly evolving response to moving circumstances.

In the Beginning

Commercial aviation originated as a means to provide relatively unfettered public transportation across large distances. Air transport is inherently vulnerable to unlawful interference and attack. Air flight has also always been a spectacular and visible feat, enhancing the system’s attractiveness as a target for activity seeking spectacular attention.

These very achievements – reliable and speedy long-distance travel and technical mastery of human flight – have brought into existence a particular form of malice and a particular set of solutions to it, collectively known as aviation security.

Criminal intervention in aviation is nearly as old as commercial flight. The first record of a hijacked aircraft is in 1930 when a Pan American mail plane was hijacked by Peruvian revolutionaries seeking to drop leaflets over Lima. Security-related incidents tended to be dominated by aircraft hijacking for several decades thereafter, usually by persons seeking expeditious political asylum, rather than political leverage.

International security approaches followed this trend, with the gradual introduction of magnetic screening devices aimed at detecting guns and other metallic weapons being carried onto airplanes.

The situation changed dramatically in the 1980s with the appearance of terrorist bombings of aircraft. Beginning with TWA #843 and culminating in the 1988 bombing of Pan American #103 in Lockerbie, radical organizations sought to create terror and call attention to their causes by the destruction of aircraft in flight. This development, coincident with the rapid development of electronic systems, ushered in the modern era of aviation security.

Prior to 1988, although international aviation governing agencies were in existence, no comprehensive regulatory guidance was available and the technical approaches to securing the aviation system were sporadic and largely manual.

Advent of Electronic Security 1988-2001

Two seminal documents were forged in the late 1980s: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) formulated Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention outlining international aviation security standards, and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued Part 107 to the Code of Federal Regulation 49. These governmental responses to aviation terrorism produced the first appearance of electronic security.

By 2001, virtually every commercial airport had incorporated the most basic security measures, including delineation of security zones, electronic badge access to secure zones, control between public and sterile areas, electronic control of security badges, radiographic and magnetic screening of departing passengers and luggage and some form of video surveillance in critical areas. A body of knowledge grew up in this period, industry committees were formed and the business of aviation security matured into a relatively widespread feature of air travel and aviation operations.

Modern Integrated Security 2001

The attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, opened a new chapter in threats and responses to aviation security, which produced – again, in conjunction with rapid technological developments – a host of more integrated and effective security approaches and solutions. The “Post 9/11” aviation security environment shifted to address the specter of suicide attacks including the use of aircraft itself as an instrument of terror and destruction.

Interestingly, some of the more advanced security strategies have resulted from the realization that reliance on technology alone does not provide the most comprehensive and effective measures to secure the system. Advanced practitioners began to adopt models of balanced security, layered concentric security, integrated security processes with building design and technology, and establishment of situational and domain awareness.

The global picture for aviation security was altered dramatically in 2001, as both regulatory influences and heightened awareness combined to create a massive demand for new security technologies. Rapid introduction of new products and technologies ensued and continues in the current decade. The global homeland security market has been estimated at $200 billion, with as much as 10% of the total devoted to the aviation industry.

Key advances in aviation include:

  • Internet Protocol (IP) Video: introduction of advanced IP video cameras and all-digital systems.
  • RADAR Applications: use of shortwave radio detection and ranging (RADAR) for anomaly detection and integration into airport security.
  • Physical Security Information Management ( PSIM ): software and applications to integrate multiple independent sensors/technologies to create comprehensive domain awareness.
  • Biometric Technologies: use of personal characteristics, such as fingerprints, hand geometry, retina, and face recognition, to establish and authenticate identity.
  • Advanced Passenger Imaging: use of millimeter wave and backscatter technologies for passenger screening.
  • Air Cargo Imaging: deployment of conventional radiography and explosive trace detection technologies for large-scale screening of inbound air cargo.

Aviation security is not a steady-state business. It changes with the world and the world of flight.

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Dave

About the Author:

David Kipp leads Ross & Baruzzini’s Domestic Aviation and Rail/Transit/Communications market areas. In the course of his 27-year career, he has led complex technology projects across the globe as a project executive and practitioner. Dave is also a respected advisor to many public sector clients, universities, and healthcare systems seeking objective and trusted counsel on information technology, communications, critical operations, wireless, and security issues.