Time is money. And it's never been truer for companies with operations spread across the globe. Equipment downtime, lost production, delays in project reviews and high travel costs or time to troubleshoot problems can kill the bottom line. If the best engineer is located in New York and a large structural design project is located in South America, costs mount quickly when decisions are delayed. Typically, the expert (or a whole team of experts) would board a plane to go and try to solve the problem, causing further delays and incurring expensive travel costs. With mobile collaboration, no one leaves their desk, let alone the country.
The standard form of video collaboration facilitates face-to-face meetings in video conferencing meeting boardrooms. For structural engineering firms, though, the heart of their business is often on the job site — where traditional video conferencing doesn't reach. Mobile video collaboration, quite simply, brings the problem to the expert, rather than the other way around. The system visually connects a person at the site of the problem to the right person at the right time to get the right answer.
| What's Coming Up?
FEBRUARY
Feature: University of Michigan North Quad — One of everything
Systems selection occupies much of a structural engineer's time during the concept phase of a project, and many factors affect the decision to use one type of construction over another. Desired floor-to-floor heights, winter construction schedules, local contractors' preferences, material costs, and aesthetics all influence the selection of structural components. The North Quadrangle Residential and Academic Complex at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor exemplifies the program-driven results of structural systems selection for a $175-million building complex occupying 360,000 gross square feet.
Technical Feature: Software
Every structural engineer knows the weight of his or her decisions. As those entrusted with analyzing and verifying the integrity of our buildings and infrastructure, precision and timeliness are an absolute must. There is no room for error, as even one misinterpreted comment on a drawing can throw a schedule off track, and possibly jeopardize the success of a project. Effective communication is a must and PDF editing solutions essential.
Materials Feature: Wood
Once state codes or local jurisdictions adopt the 2009 International Building Code (IBC), owners of a project with metal-plate-connected (MPC) wood trusses will be required to engage a registered professional to design and inspect both temporary and permanent bracing for such trusses when spanning 60 feet (18 meters) and greater. What does this mean for designers of these schools, places of worship, and retail projects? |
e-Mail
Print
