With the construction of skyscrapers and iconic structures mushrooming around the world, employing large quantities of steel in developments has been a rising trend seen in the densely populated developed cities. Currently, over 50{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of world’s steel production is used in construction.

Moreover, as the global population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050 along with rapid growth in urbanization, the demand for buildings and infrastructure will rise globally. Building high-rise towers is one of the solutions that most nations are adopting to address the future need for housing.

Also, since buildings are reported to be responsible for around 20{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of global greenhouse gas emissions, the need to minimize consumption of natural resources is becoming vital for future sustainability.

Constructing sustainable, as well as extraordinary structures have become a norm in most metropolises, who want to set them apart from the rest. The world’s marvel structures like The Eiffel Tower – Paris, The Brooklyn Bridge -New York, Burj Khalifa -Dubai, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and numerous other projects across the globe are erected using tons of steel that provides design flexibility and the endurance to a structure. Steel is recognized as a green product for been wholly recyclable, and its ease of maintenance makes it an attractive building material.

Steel is strong enough to resist any damage caused by natural disasters including tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes. It is also preferred the choice of the architects who get more flexibility in designing buildings and homes, creating more great spaces with steel.

Hence, both in the developing and developed nations, there is a significant growth potential for use steel in construction and manufacturing. This, in turn, provides steel detailing companies to become an essential part of the sustainable construction solutions, enabling development of low-carbon-neutral buildings.

Steel Detailing Aids In Development Of Engineered Steel Structures

With the high-paced growth in the development of incredibly engineered steel structures, the field of structural steel detailing services is becoming technologically innovative, thus performing the job more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Structural steel detailing is divided into two parts: first is the structural steel shop drawings or detail drawings that provide all information necessary for the steel fabrication process. It includes information like materials used, component sizes, dimensions and all other information concerning to the fabrication of each component.

The second is about the erecting drawings consisting details about erection and fitting of the steel components, i.e., information about the position of each part, the requirements for installing them, and all the associated field works.

Another essential area of steel detailing services is steel design, connectivity diagrams areas, anchor setting plans, shop bolt summary, BoM (Bill of Materials), and more.

With all the essential detailing information provided beforehand for standard sections, steel bolts, and welds, etc., the builders can then picture their proposed steel building structure and build up efficient construction systems.

Technology Driven Steel Detailing

The development of steel structures is done under controlled industrial processes. With the advancements in software technology such as computer-aided design (CAD), steel detailing and the structural design that was earlier completed manually with hand drawings is now prepared using software, making the task easier, quicker and very proficient. Use of mechanical aid as part of its structural design has made the transition from imagination to reality was quite beneficial.

Structural Steel Detailing Facilitates Flawless Developments

Steel detailing services furnish a precise image of each structural element, its position, connections with other parts and exact dimensions, thus being instrumental in proper assembly and flawless development, which is a growing need in the urban communities.

Pre-engineering of steel structures makes these constructions affordable and low-cost. It also allows measuring the longevity of a project, taking into account the physical, environmental and economic factors before the actual engineering is done.

The construction industry across the world has thus seen a surge in steel detailing companies that offer expert and experienced engineers for accurate and cost-effective detailing services.

Tekla Steel Detailing Enhances Works Performance

While traditional detailing methods have been supporting the industry over several years, the visual representation of structures through the BIM (Building Information Modeling), intelligent 3D model-based detailing software such as Tekla Steel Detailing has made the process of erecting buildings more accurate, reducing the likelihood of errors.

Therefore, city developers are increasingly looking at enhancing their structural steel detailing process using 3D modeling programs that reduce the chances of costly surprises and reworks, permitting total process optimization, ensuring that delivery is error free and on time.

Thus, the structural steel detailers using the advanced 3D detailing and modeling options assist the engineers, fabricators, constructors, and builders across the construction process, as it is impossible to build any structure without using detailed drawings, reports and plans that illustrate various phases of the construction process.

Steel Detailing Challenges

The primary challenge for the industry stakeholders is that 3D modeling software programs costs/training is higher and the process is far more complicated – so it requires specialized expertise.

Therefore, only an expert steel detailer that knows about the various types of steels and materials and architectural details will be capable of giving accurate information.

This makes the presence of high-quality steel detailing companies a vital part for any urban city development across the world, for they aid in planning city’s buildings and model structures like flyovers, bridges and various other types of buildings residential and commercial buildings, factories with the highest level of precision.

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Real estate is one of the biggest and most lucrative industries currently, what with the need for individuals/groups to find a space of their own in today’s ever-expanding world.

By extension, construction has also become a big part of this process, and such is the demand to complete high-end work in today’s world that different agencies are willing to bid the highest amount for a particular project. This means that construction firms now play a vital role in ensuring that building of any structure goes off smoothly, sans hitches or incidents.

This, in turn, means the need for experienced and smart project managers, structural engineers and architects has become highly important. However, the most important task arguably is that of the steel detailers’, who take inputs from both the engineers and architects to make a blueprint of how the structure should be built –  inside out. This process is known as steel detailing, and this is what we will take a closer look at here.

Such has been the impact of the real estate industry that it contributes to almost 4 percent of the total world output, with the total global property value coming up to $217 trillion by 2015 end. 75 percent of this is made up of residential property. For those interested, the world economy had a Gross Domestic Product output of $80 trillion in the same timeframe.

In the Indian context, the real estate domain is the 2nd largest employer after agriculture and is scheduled to develop exponentially over the next ten years approximately. The real estate market of Indian is projected to reach $180 billion by the year 2020. The housing sector itself forms around 6 percent of the country’s GDP.

Know The Work

To begin with, let’s have a look at two of the key terms here: steel detailing and steel fabricator. A steel fabricator is a company that provides – and at times installs – steel foundations for any construction project.

Steel detailing is the process where a person, known as a steel detailer, makes shop drawings for the steel fabricator. Shop drawings are a set of drawings or a kind of blueprint which shows how the steel members have to be erected to get the best possible shape and stability for the structure being constructed.

Based on the steel detailers’ drawings, the fabricator will cut and weld the members together. Along with this, the detailer will also generate instructions for layout which will aid in building and put together the steel skeleton.

Number crunch: In the US, ironworkers (those who install and reinforce iron and steel to form the structure’s skeleton) are paid substantial salaries for their work. According to the country’s Bureau of Labour Statistics, ironworkers’ median pay is $50,830 per year, and $24.44 per hour, for 2016. There were around 90,300 such ironworkers who were employed in 2016.

Did you know: Structural engineering dates back to around 2,700 BC in Egypt, with the construction of a step pyramid by Imhotep, the chancellor to pharaoh Djoser. However, the oldest structures in the world are the Megalithic Temples of Malta, a group of temples even older than the great pyramids of Egypt or the Stonehenge in England.

Why The Steel Detailer Is So Crucial

The detailer is so crucial to how the overall project shapes up. Having to combine the design of the architect and calculations for size and locations of the steel by the engineer is not easy, and slight deviations can lead to stumbles in how the structure finally looks. The steel detailer needs to be aware of the guidelines and norms of all aspects regarding construction so that the structural steel detailing can be made according to the common standards followed. A good detailer should be able to make even the most difficult of projects conceivable within the given budgets and timeframe.

Did you know: The average pay for a steel detailer per hour is $19.75, while total pay can range from $30,000 to $70,000!

Why Is Steel Detailing Now In High Demand?

Anyone who has followed the developments around the world recently will know that construction is a growing field, what with the worldwide population heading towards a “population explosion”, this means that both residential and commercial complexes need to be constructed every other day. There is no lack of construction work around the world, but each country will have its own sets of challenges and regulations to work around.

This is where a good steel detailer, who knows his/her way around a construction site and can communicate clearly with the various people he has/she to work with (engineers, architects, contractors, fabricators) as to what is the best way to move forward with the project.

While there is no shortage of steel detailing companies around the globe, finding a detailer who can provide quality and clarity is not easy. Of course, this is not to say that the detailer is the be all and end all when it comes to construction of a structure.

But someone who is good at the job can be a big difference between extra costs or losses incurred and making optimum use of available resources to come up with the best structure possible.

Know the union: Most developed countries have trade unions, which include those working in the construction field. These unions take care of demands, requirements, wellbeing and safety of workers.

Technology Cutting Off Detailers

Many companies have started making use of technology to aid detailers in coming up with the best models for a structure. In fact, nowadays, they are doing away with detailers, instead focusing on using the accurate virtual models that are prepared by machines. All that is to be done is feed in details of the construction site and structure, and an accurate blueprint is brought out by computers.

For example, the Tekla steel detailing model has been a big success, thanks to the BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology that is used by the company. This form helps reduce fabrication errors and minimizes the need for rework.

Technology has made its presence in many fields in today’s world, be it sports, finance, politics or human resources, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the construction field embraces its use shortly. Until then, combining the best quality of steel, the best manpower, the best engineers and architects and detailers can help contractors and fabricators come up with the best structures.

Some of the software used for steel detailing are:

1. Bocad by AVEVA
2. Advance Steel by Autodesk
3. ProSteel by Bentley Systems
4. Tekla Structures by Trimble Navigation
5. TecnoMETAL by Steel&Graphics
6. SDS/2 by Design Data
7. Soft Steel
8. SSDCP
9. SOLIDWORKS
10. TSD (The Steel Detailer)

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“I’ve Heard Of This, But How Does It Affect Me?”

Though there are no limits to an artist’s creativity, there are of course limits to his/her execution of their creative vision – though that is rapidly changing due to relatively recent technology.

We’ve all heard the buzzwords – 3D Printing, biometrics, blockchain/cryptocurrency and the like. But these are largely looked at as the basis for a futuristic science-fiction TV show or a way to unlock our smartphones at best.

2014 saw a growth rate of 35{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} in the 3D printing industry alone, across every conceivable industry, from art design and construction to the medical industry and aerospace/ defense as per Forbes.

“But What Changes Can We Anticipate?”

3D Printing, however, is something we’re seeing touch our lives more and more in the past decade – quite literally. Structural steel detailing, in particular, is making great application of the three-dimensional physical mapping and planning properties.

The ability to map a physical space down to a couple of microns is revolutionary in the Structural Steel Detailing industry for very obvious reasons. The first of them is a reduction in the cost of procurement of materials and eliminating wastage thereof.

Constructions materials, TMT Bars, cement blocks and ceramic tiling often go wasted in the tons, with 3D modeling used in conjunction with Steel Detailing, to map out every bit of material required down to the last bits and scraps.

Saving Resources, Saving Lives

This is especially important since Steel Detailing and other construction material consumption are both on a massive rise, given that global poverty was cut in half in the past 30 years.

With government-funded projects across the world, everything from army bunkers and weapon system components, to water storage and pumping parts in developing countries are seeing a massive increase in production via structural steel detailing from several local and global stakeholders.

You can 3D print anything you download the model for. And given the right machinery and resources, it can become a life-changing or life-saving reality in a very short period.

Conventional Examples

A great example and early adopter of this in the manufacturing sector is Ford in the US. As per 2015, Ford was saving over $500,000 per month producing large segments of cars as per 3D modeling.

Ford is also known to revolutionize 3D modeling and structural steel detailing in automobiles through their patented Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology. This is claimed to have cut production time down to hours (from days or weeks required to manufacture it earlier).

NASA’s Made in Space programs allows astronauts and engineers in the International Space Station(ISS) to fabricate their own parts and replacements without needing expensive and time-consuming resupply (through conventional resupply rocket launches and docking).

It’s also known to offer free 3D blueprints for everything from 3D models of launch vehicles and satellites to texture models of the moon’s surface for example.

Creative Examples

From Van Gogh’s Ear to entire housing blocks, the potential and spectrum of what Steel Detailing companies can achieve have only recently seen proper utilization given fairly recent strides in technology.

The applications of Steel Detailing have touched industries extend from bridges to offshore oil rigs such as the ones that Tekla Steel Detailing solutions deal in. Another great example would be this mansion and apartment complex, both mapped and constructed from 3D models entirely.

The components were mapped and “printed” separately and then assembled onsite with almost zero wastage and huge savings in planning and design costs as well.

Artists and inventors can now envision a project in a 3D environment, mapping it dimension by dimension down to the last detail. Curves, load-bearing structures, pylons and the overall picture come together like never before – giving the architects and planners unprecedented accuracy in their execution and assembly phase.

Application Where It Matters the Most – On the Battlefield

Even though eliminating material wastage and ensuring higher accuracy and lower build times are admirable achievements by themselves, they are already being used in crucial operations across the world in literal life or death situations.

The military shows a great deal of interest in the technology as it would eliminate a huge amount of logistical problems about resupply and repair of everything from rifle parts to the components of a guided missile or tank.

These could then be manufactured near the front in a Forward Operations Base (F.O.B) instead of having to be flown, driven or sailed in from their home bases (a logistical nightmare in hostile territory for the US, flying supplies to US troops operating in Afghanistan or Iraq).

Pre-modelled bridges and bunkers can similarly be deployed within hours of entering a combat zone instead of the usual days – even under fire.

Separated by Continents – Connected Via (3D) Blueprints?

Out of over 7.2 billion people who live on this planet, an estimated 1.6 billion lack adequate housing, electricity, water, and sanitation wise – or housing altogether in most cases.

The past decade hasn’t been kind to some of the harshest places to live in politically or climatically. Whether its political instability across Africa (Boko Haraam) and the Middle East (Syrian civil war and rise and fall of ISIS), more than a million people have been displaced by violence alone. This isn’t even accounting for recent droughts, earthquakes, and hurricanes.

NGOs and Governments along with international bodies have made rehabilitation of an estimated 66 million refugees worldwide (as per a UNHCR report) a top priority if peace and development are to reach these regions.

After all, you can’t be curing cancer or inventing the next Mars rover without even a roof over your head. Structural steel detailing companies are no strangers to this reality.

To this effect, “prefab” or prefabricated components are increasingly being used in refugee camps and rebuilding projects, not just because of lower costs than conventional building and conceptualization, but from a time perspective as well.

Endgame…Or Is There An Even Bigger Picture?

While housing the worlds homeless and bringing crucial resources to use are noble pursuits in themselves, one can’t help but wonder if there’s more that can be done with this concept and what it’s future applications could be. 222

3D Modelling is used in everything from designing lifesaving pacemakers, and metallic skull plates post craniotomy to life-ending weapons systems with everything in between being a distinct possibility.

It’s now possible to print tissues and organs, plaster casts and even pills in the Biotech industry. Recent science has shown developments in 3D printed prosthetics for limbs to facial prosthetics and reconstruction surgery.

This is one industry and technological concept to keep an eye on in the years to come.

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• Structural steel detailing
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• Tekla steel detailing