Schneider Electric and Compass Datacenters Time Study: Prefabricated IT Pods Cut Onsite Installation for a Liquid-Cooled Data Hall from 75.5 to 15 Hours
Schneider Electric and Compass Datacenters conducted a time study on onsite installation for a high-density liquid-cooled data hall: prefabricated IT pods moved TCS piping, busway, and cable-support work into a manufacturing environment, reducing onsite installation time from 75.5 hours to 15 hours. The savings came not from crews working faster but from eliminating separate onsite installation activities. The traditional baseline combined observed containment-installation durations with schedules developed by MEP specialists; the study's authors themselves sell prefabricated solutions.
AI data center construction faces a question that is frequently discussed but rarely quantified: how many hours of onsite labor does it actually take to bring a liquid-cooled high-density data hall from shell completion to a state ready for IT equipment installation? Schneider Electric and Compass Datacenters published a time study in October 2026 attempting to answer this.
They compared two functionally equivalent installation approaches. In the traditional method, containment, TCS piping, busway, and cable-support systems arrive as separate deliveries and are installed sequentially by different crews. In the prefabricated method, these infrastructure elements are integrated onto the IT pod frame in a manufacturing environment before delivery, requiring only limited onsite joining. The study focused on all onsite activities between the pod's arrival and the point at which IT equipment installation can begin, excluding offsite manufacturing and any work after installation verification.
The core figures: the traditional approach required 75.5 hours; the prefabricated IT pod required 15 hours, an 80% reduction. Schneider Electric emphasized in the blog that this saving did not come from crews performing the same field activities faster. In the traditional comparison, separate TCS piping installation accounted for approximately 37 hours, busway for approximately 13 hours, and cable shelving for approximately 5 hours—these three independent onsite processes totaling 55 hours were largely eliminated in the prefabricated approach. Truss-mounted TCS piping sections were installed before delivery and joined onsite; busway cages and cable shelving were mounted to the pod frame during assembly.
However, not every individual phase was shorter with the prefabricated approach. Receiving and staging larger, preassembled components required more front-end handling time. The traditional approach's smaller components could be unloaded more quickly but required additional unpacking, organization, verification, and installation later in the sequence. Schneider Electric noted that the modest increase in front-end handling was offset by the later installation work avoided.
The learning curve provides another observation. At Compass Datacenters, the installation analyzed required approximately 15 hours of onsite work, compared with 18 hours for a deployment completed 15 pods earlier. Standardization of design, assembly processes, and installation sequences allows teams to refine the same core process across deployments. Meanwhile, project requirement changes—such as adjustments to cooling and density—could be incorporated into later modules without entirely recoordinating the overhead supports, routing, and trade sequencing across the white space.
On quality verification, the factory environment allows TCS piping sections to be cleaned, passivated, and leak-tested before shipment. The complete TCS loop still requires final flushing, pressure testing, and commissioning onsite, but completing selected activities earlier reduces the amount of integration work required within the data hall.
The methodological boundaries of this study deserve attention. The 15 hours for the prefabricated approach came from observed durations during a single Compass Datacenters deployment. The 75.5 hours for the traditional approach combined observed containment-installation durations with schedules developed by MEP specialists for the additional TCS piping, busway, and cable-support infrastructure. A gap exists between scheduled plans and actual observations; the two baselines are not fully symmetric. Additionally, Schneider Electric itself sells prefabricated data center solutions; the study was led by the solution vendor, and its conclusions should be understood as vendor-reported empirical data rather than independently verified findings.