BIM integration into a fabrication management system like STRUMIS can streamline your workflow and leverage information and associated drawings directly from modeling solutions such as Revit, Advanced Steel, Solidworks, Inventor, Tekla and SDS2.

It is no secret that fabricators have been using BIM for several years now to improve project efficiency and reduce costly errors on their projects. However, these benefits increase exponentially when you can integrate your model into a management system, driving greater efficiencies in many areas of the project such as Estimating, Planning & Resource Management. Without this critical integration, fabricators currently have to manually add potentially thousands of parts and assemblies to a project, just in time for the next revision to be issued and start the process all over again. When you truly take advantage of the BIM model you can drive this data input directly from the model and make revision management a breeze.

When the time comes to generate your next estimate or create the long list of detailed items for your BOM, imagine having the ability to import your entire detailed model including piece marks, assemblies, connections, material finishes, CNC files and drawings all in one easy step. Think of the time savings of this one process, not to mention keeping all these items connected together and to the model throughout the entire project. The next time you get hit with that revision, you then only need to re-import your model and let the software guide you through the changes, additions and deletions of the project in just a few easy steps. This process not only saves you valuable time, but significantly increases the accuracy of your project.

Once all this critical project data is now a part of your project, you have the ability to drive cost details from the actual model data, plan your shop time and resources from the connected and revision controlled CNC files and drawings. You management system can even push your critical production status and material order status details back to the native model for a complete and seamless workflow.

It has been proven that 90% of projects are delivered late. This is most often a result of poor communication & lack of planning. Embrace a true BIM workflow today and you can expect to see the industry standard results helping you drive down material waste by as much as 10% and reduce your construction rework by as much as 30%. With profit margins tighter than ever, make every dollar counts.

Leverage your BIM model today by working smarter and not harder.

To see how STRUMIS and BIM can benefit your steel fabrication visit www.strumis.com

This year’s SSDA awards has seen the largest amount of entries to date with the quality of the entries still remaining high as ever, this is incredibly reassuring for the SSDA’s future.

The British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd and Tata Steel have the pleasure of inviting entries for the 2016 Structural Steel Design Awards Scheme.

The objective is to celebrate the excellence of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the field of steel construction, particularly demonstrating its potential in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness, aesthetics and innovation.

David W. Lazenby CBE – Chairman of the Judges, comments

“It is reassuring that we have seen an increase in the number of submissions for the Award scheme this year, and that the quality and interest of the projects remains as high as ever.

One strong impression is that these days there are few easy projects. For reasons of technical difficulty, timetabling or late-evolving scheme requirements, there are very few projects that do not present great challenges. This means that the teams must work closely and constructively together, and the importance of a well-committed and collaborative client cannot be overstated.

We have a good geographical spread, as well as a broad range of types of project. With two major sports arenas,school and university buildings, and exciting works in museums and national memorials, the usual areas are well represented. But we also have important energy schemes, commercial and residential rehabilitations, as well as five exciting footbridges. Altogether they represent a major contribution to the built environment.

In a real sense they are all winners. But the final list of projects to receive Awards, Commendations and recognition of Merit, reflect the strength and diversity of the industry.”

But what’s reassuring for STRUMIS is that an outstanding 43% of the winners from all categories are STRUMIS users.

In fact there isn’t a category that doesn’t have a STRUMIS user within it.

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/award-thames-tower-redevelopment-reading/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/award-london-olympic-roof-conversion/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/award-south-stand-expansion-etihad-stadium/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/award-harlech-castle-footbridge/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/award-the-memorial-spire-international-bomber-command-centre-lincoln/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/commendation-land-rover-bar-americas-cup-hq-building-portsmouth/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/commendation-the-diamond-engineering-building-the-university-of-sheffield/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/lagan-weir-pedestrian-and-cycle-bridge-belfast/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/commendation-6-bevis-marks-roof-garden-london/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/merit-leeds-station-southern-entrance/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/merit-energy-from-waste-facility-ardley/

http://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/ssda-2016-national-finalists/

To read more about the SSDA please click here

As the project needs to be cost effective to be considered for an award try entering your information into our STRUMIS Ready Reckoner to see how much money you would save with STRUMIS click here

In the UK, Ireland and Australia the term “hoover” has long been synonymous with “vacuum cleaner” and generally the verb “to vacuum” referring to the Hoover Company’s dominance there during the early 20th century. Despite Hoover’s no longer being the top seller of vacuum cleaners in the UK, the term “hoover” has remained as a common phrase to describe the chore of vacuuming our homes.

How could a brand name of a product used to suck up dirt from the floors of our homes become so embedded in our culture, become part of our language (and even distort our language) and become so synonymous with a process we all dislike so much – vacuuming – sorry, hoovering!

Well, through need in the first instance, as is the case with most inventions, when in 1908 an asthmatic store janitor and occasional inventor by the name James Murray Spangler, invented the first upright vacuum cleaner to help minimize the impact of the dust on his asthmatic condition and speed-up the task of cleaning the department shop floor.

Once the vacuum cleaner had a name – “hoover” – the rest is history.

But it’s not quite so simple and easy though as just inventing something which helps us humans save time and makes life easier. Any inventor can’t simply revel in their glory of a great invention if they wish to make a business success of their invention and in the early days Hoover vacuum cleaners were given away free to American housewives in order to generate awareness of what a life changing contraption the hoover was in the early 1900’s and still is today – a must have household appliance. But please remember that the Hoover Company didn’t have the luxury of social media and the internet to generate awareness through what modern marketing teams take for granted today.

So… is STRUMIS a Hoover?

Obviously not, STRUMIS is a Management Information System software program for steel fabricators – definitely not a vacuum cleaner but there are some similarities in evolution of product origin, product quality and brand name recognition.

I have had the privilege of working with the STRUMIS program for over 28 years, 13 years as an end user and 15 years working for STRUMIS Ltd. I had the same experience as the American housewives to some extent, by adopting STRUMIS in my last steel fabrication business I worked for – we saved hundreds if not thousands of hours in time. We had a need for improvement in all departments in our business – STRUMIS provided the answer to our needs. The needs of the modern steel fabricators are many – from traceability to reducing man hours to saving cash on material and consumables to improving efficiencies to presenting a modern and forward thinking approach to technology to making our lives easier and ultimately improving profitability.

STRUMIS has evolved in much the same way as the vacuum cleaner, progressively improving to meet the demands of our clients and the steel fabrication industry in general. STRUMIS has gone through three iterations of re-development from DOS in the late 80’s through FoxPro in the 90’s to .NET in 2006 and this constant evolution coupled with extensive marketing, referrals, positive customer experiences, ease of use, comprehensive feature list and dedication and direction from the business directors has propelled STRUMIS on to the global stage in over 57 countries in less than 15 years!

How?

Brand recognition & quality.

We as humans often demonstrate a “loyalty to brand”. We fall in love with our gadgets, our cars, our televisions, our phones. We are driven to stay loyal to a brand which has helped our need, has made our life easier and more rewarding. But brand names don’t survive without quality of product, quality of service, evolution and progressive development of features.

Is the STRUMIS brand name so synonymous with helping the needs of steel fabricators across the world to the same level hoover vacuums helping us clean our floors? Perhaps not quite but the global spread of awareness and appreciation is spreading at an alarmingly pleasing speed and the more end users who experience the same benefit of using STRUMIS as I did is very satisfying to see.

So, again and finally, is STRUMIS a hoover? No, probably more like a Dyson would be my best analogy as the Top Seller today.

For more information on how STRUMIS can help with your steel fabrication needs visit www.strumis.com

Latest data from the Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI) surveys indicated that the conditions in the UK manufacturing sector are on an upward curve as they continued to improve at the end of the third quarter.
With a long term average of 51.5 (2004-2016), it is very pleasing to see a further rise from 53.4 this August to 55.4 in September. This is a positive rebound following a slight slump immediately after Britain voted to leave the EU.

The purchasing managers index (PMI) figures from IHS Markit are given as a number between 0 and 100. Anything above 50 signals growth, while anything below means a contraction in activity — so the higher the number is, the better things look for the UK.

Since Brexit we are continuing to see improvements throughout various sources of data such as the PMI figures which in turn build a greater confidence in the UK market. There are a number of factors which may be contributing;

According  to the Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI® Report (October 2016),  The domestic market remained a prime driver of new business wins, while the weaker sterling exchange rate drove up new orders from abroad. September saw the level of incoming new export orders increase at the fastest pace since January 2014. UK manufacturers reported improved demand from clients in Asia, Europe, the USA and certain emerging markets.

Although Brexit brought a great deal of uncertainty about how business’ in Britain would fair, there is nothing more promising than a rise in PMI to provide a further positive contribution to GDP in the third quarter.