CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
10 December 2004
Product News
netGuru, Inc. Adds Steel Design to Engineering Software; STAAD.Pro to Include Steel Connections, Specialty Steel Beam Options
netGuru, Inc. engineering division REI is adding new steel design capabilities to its engineering software through agreements with Oakland-based Omnitech Associates and the SMI Steel Products division of CMC Steel Fabricators, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Commercial Metals Company.
Omnitech's DESCON is the industry's most popular and widely used steel connection analysis and design software, including moment, shear, bracing, and seismic. Under the agreement, DESCON will be integrated into REI's STAAD.Pro engineering software and offered as an upgraded product to REI's approximately 4,600 engineering clients in the U.S.
Steel connections are an integral part of structural analysis, and engineering clients using the new software will be able to perform steel connection analysis and design along with structural modeling and analysis within related materials design codes, all in-house without subcontracting connection-related work. This ability to extend control over a larger portion of a job is expected to enable netGuru engineering software clients to realize benefits of greater quality control and lower out-of-pocket expense.
Clients and end-users on the West coast are expected to realize additional benefits, since STAAD.Pro's new features will enable clients to design structural steel connections that meet Federal Emergency Management Act (FEMA) seismic requirements. Construction activity in that region remains high, with seismic activity being of particular concern.
Omer Kiciman, Omnitech Associates president, remarked: "The integration of DESCON into STAAD.Pro creates a single package that brings a new level of structural analysis and design capability to steel construction. The industry's needs for the capability to include steel connections in the structural modeling stages, and vice versa, suggest the new software will be well received and produce important benefits, including higher productivity for our customers. We also expect to see sales growth for both Omnitech and netGuru as the result of this new relationship."
SMI Steel Products is the exclusive manufacturer of cellular steel beams in North and South America. Cellular beams are manufactured by cutting a traditional wide flange beam longitudinally in a pattern along the web. The two halves are separated, staggered, and welded back together to form hexagonal or circular openings along the web in equal increments. The resulting cellular beam is generally 50% deeper and 50% stronger than the original section. This engineered section not only provides openings in the web to accommodate mechanical services but also provides a stiffer, lighter section for superior vibration characteristics. In today's volatile construction market, the cellular beam saves weight and costs on construction projects. Under the agreement, STAAD.Pro will offer options in the design process to include cellular beams as an alternative to traditional beams for steel framing. This flexibility in structure and materials is expected to accommodate increasing demand for more specific design choices and also potential cost savings, considering the rising trend in steel prices.
Commercial Metals Company and subsidiaries manufacture, recycle and market steel and metal products, related materials and services through a network including steel mini-mills, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, a copper tube mill, metal recycling facilities, and marketing and distribution offices in the United States and strategic markets overseas.
Billy Milligan, vice president of SMI Steel Products, remarked: "This agreement represents an opportunity to integrate two closely related elements in steel construction, design and fabrication. Through netGuru's efforts, our cellular beams are expected to gain immediate presence with the design community during the conceptual design phase and also in the latter stages of steel detailing and construction planning. The implementation of cellular beam design into STAAD.Pro makes the software more efficient in serving customers' needs in terms of design time and evaluating and choosing the most economical frame option for the structure."
netGuru Chairman and Chief Executive Amrit Das commented: "We are pleased to add new capabilities to include steel connections and specialty steel beams in structural design and analysis, not only because of the sales potential for STAAD.Pro but also because Omnitech and SMI are leaders in their industries, and their expertise is widely recognized and well-respected.
"These upgrades are also expected to further strengthen STAAD.Pro's position as the engineering software standard," Das continued. "And from a more strategic standpoint, these agreements represent further progress by netGuru to offer engineering software that is more fully integrated and comprehensive in its capacity to fulfill all engineering and construction needs.
"We feel the improving economic environment for engineering and construction, and the long-term nature of this cycle, offer substantial opportunities to further extend the capabilities of the Company's engineering software from the initial stages of concept, analysis, and design into the structural steel connections and materials stages," Das added. "This extension into steel design steps in the construction process is also expected to benefit netGuru's engineering business process outsourcing operations, which at present encompass steel detailing and production-planning."
netGuru is an engineering information technology and services company offering engineering and design collaborative software solutions and professional and technical IT services and support to businesses worldwide.
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