So you’ve decided to subcontract a detailer for your next structural steel project. The company you choose to hire—and the tools they use for the job—can have a major impact on the overall profitability of the project. The accuracy and reliability of the detailer’s work affects everything from your production timelines to efficiencies in cost, material, and labor. 

In this post, we’ll outline the most important questions you need to answer before you sign your contract. 

Every year, the SDS/2 Solid Steel Competition gives steel detailers an opportunity to show off their best work. Judged on aesthetics, complexity, and overall cool factor, the competition highlights the great work our users are doing and the projects they’re bringing to life in commercial and industrial sectors. 

We may have missed the beach this year, but SDS/2's first ever digital conference event was a massive success, if we do say so ourselves. Going digital with SDS/2 Summit meant more users than ever before were able to tune in and attend, and our line-up of expert guest speakers shared high-value content, advanced tips and tricks, and industry insights to our users.  
 

SDS/2 is the most intelligent and automated—in short, the best—steel connection design software on the market today. 

But what makes our software intelligent? How does our automation work? And, most importantly, what does that mean for you? Because that’s what really matters here—your user experience, your results, and your decision. 

You may know how powerful SDS/2’s intelligent connection design is for steel detailers, but SDS/2 Detailing isn’t the only software solution we have on the market that’s paving the way for automation, accuracy, and efficiency in the industry.  

Adaptability and digitalization were major talking points in the steel industry even before the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has accelerated the conversation for many, introducing new dimensions of uncertainty to ongoing challenges—addressing labor shortages, for example, and preparing next generation talent.

Online SDS/2 Training & Certification

Investing in new skill development is one way to increase versatility for future growth—and that’s true whether we’re in a time of crisis or stability.  

This project centered on the addition of the bypass duct and seal duct systems to the Cope Station energy plant, which was originally established in 1996.

Cartee-Berry’s innovative process featured the use of SDS/2’s weld plate box material file type for the creation of the small rectangular duct layout.

The bypass duct ranged in size from 13 feet by 25 feet to 13 feet by 36 feet. The seal duct varied in size from 4 feet by 2 feet to 4 feet by 4 feet.

With the existing Fulton State Hospital in Fulton, Missouri, in disrepair, the State of Missouri constructed a new, state-of-the-art mental hospital to replace the aging structure originally built in 1851.

The $211-million, 423,000-square-foot hospital — which opened in 2019 — includes six living units and an administration building.

DGS Technical Services of Elgin, Illinois, detailed the 1,800-ton structure, which included members in dual slope (both slope and skew) in the winged living units. Connections proved critical due to the slope and skew bearing on CMU walls.

The Problem

Steel detailers spend a great deal of time cleaning up drawings that do not match specific detailing and fabrication standards out of the box. This leads to decreased efficiency and increased cost for detailing a project.

The Solution

SDS/2's detailing templates customization service creates customized files specific to individual standards. These templates are used to help intelligently automate the generation of detail drawings. 

SDS/2 has a savings with each connection, but shows its strength when that saving is applied to all connections throughout a project. Based on this study, a typical structure utilizing SDS/2 connection design on 10,000 members has an average savings of 13 minutes per connection, resulting in an estimated savings of $433,333. 

"Everything was accurately detailed using SDS/2 software, allowing the team to meet the Fabricator’s expectations and the owner’s aggressive timeline."

Project by Techflow Engineers: Redstone Gateway is a 470-acre multiuse office park development in Huntsville, Alabama. Techflow created around 1,470 shop drawings and over 160 quality erection drawings for this project. Techflow was awarded ‘building 100’ for steel detailing.

New Jersey Iron is a 4th generation owned family business with 5th generation now here.  My brother and I are each over the 30-year mark in the business, having started in high school as summer jobs and each could run the first CNC punchline we installed in 1990.  We do projects as large as 1,100 tons, but medium projects are mostly what we do so our tonnage comes in around 3,500 tons a year.  We have (4) SDS/2 stations for detailing, fabrication is all done with CNC equipment, including stairs and rails.  We also do our own shipping, erection, shear stud install, and small crane work (rent