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| Genesis® Overview |
| Press Releases | Steeling Home |
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June, 2001 |
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Terrence Belford Financial Post
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Steeling home |
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The printer in the design office of KML Engineered Homes Ltd. of Cambridge,
Ont., chatters like an angry chipmunk as it churns out page after page of
lists that spell out every last panel, nut, bolt, flange and coupling needed
to create a stacked townhouse project on which the company has successfully.
"Without our computer systems it would take forever to do this by hand,
says Joe Aprile, design manager and head of the 20-person team that turns
architects' drawings into plans for new houses.
Unlike most house construction in Canada, KML does not use wood; it creates
steel homes, from sub-floors and frames to exterior walls and roof trusses.
Everything is steel except the finishes.
At one time, the cost of such a structure would have been prohibitive --
even though it would last longer and require less maintenance -- but applying
computer technology to the manufacturing process has helped KML create all-steel,
prefabricated units that save in time spent on traditional framing -- and
enough money to make the company competitive.
"The most recent example is 528 stacked townhomes we did for Fernbrook Construction
in Mississauga, Ont.," says Rene Bindi, KML's sales manager. "From start
to finish it took us just 24 weeks, a fraction of the time it would take
using traditional wood framers. As an added attraction, those homes are
30% more energy-efficient than wooden ones."
Granted, to date the savings on framing time works best for high-density
housing projects. Single-family homes do not offer the same cost benefits.
That may soon come, Mr. Bindi adds. "Take a look at the greater Toronto
area. As construction booms, that means framers become in shorter and shorter
supply. The fewer there are to work on jobs, the longer they take, and the
longer they take, the more sense steel makes
." What KML has going for it is a computer system it created three years
ago to streamline design, supply ordering and fabrication. Best of all,
the software runs on high-end Pentium III computers, says Mr. Aprile. "Quite
ordinary, really. They have Pentium III chips, are 500 megahertz models
and have 256 megabytes of RAM."
Underlying the proprietary software is AutoCAD 2000. AutoCAD interfaces
with the design software and creates draftsman's drawings at the click of
a mouse. There are actually two different types of design software involved.
One, created by a Canadian company, which Mr. Aprile will not name, handles
floors and walls. The other is a customized shrink-wrapped product from
a U.S. software company that deals with roof trusses.
The process, once so time-consuming, is now deceptively simple. First, a
client hands KML the architect's drawings for the project to be built. In
90% of the cases, the design calls for traditional wood-frame construction,
Mr. Aprile says. The first task, therefore, is to translate those drawings
from wood to steel. KML's engineers do that by creating a three-dimensional
computer model of the structure and then adapting that model for the differences
steel can bring. Beam span lengths can be longer and support posts fewer
and spread further apart, for example.
Then the drawings -- often more a wish list than accurate representation
-- are adapted to the reality of the market. "The drawings may show windows
being four feet wide, but suppliers actually make them three feet, 10 inches,"
says Mr. Aprile. "Our designers correct the drawings for stuff like that."
Once the original drawings have been turned into an accurate 3-D model of
the finished house, the process of working out the intricacies of the steel
components begins. The software takes the 3-D model and instantly fills
in the stud work, bolts and paneling.
"The system is even smart enough to know where to insert such things as
lintels and posts and what size to make them," says Mr. Aprile.
AutoCAD then takes over and translates the model to finished drawings to
be sent to fabricators -- sub-contractors specializing in turning cold-rolled
steel into all the elements demanded for floor and wall panels. At the same
time, the software takes an accurate and detailed count of all the materials
required for each prefab panel so those materials can be ordered. Orders
and fabrication drawings are sent to suppliers as an e-mail message.
Time elapsed from e-mailing drawings and a list of materials to suppliers
and the arrival of components at the KML shop floor: three days. After that,
it is a matter of assembling the bits and pieces into floor and wall panels
and getting them ready to ship, says Mr. Bindi. KML does its own roll- formed
roof trusses. The design computers are linked with the shop floor computers
that turn out those trusses, so transfer of design and fabrication instruction
is instant and automatic.
By the time a job is finished, the design computers will have created three
different sets of drawings: a preliminary drawing to secure building permits,
a second definitive set for fabrication and a third set destined for the
teams that put it all together on a job site.
Mr. Bindi estimates KML could handle 3,000 new homes a year but admits the
pace right now is more like half that number. That may be about to change,
however. A major fire destroyed more than 180 wood-frame townhouses in Toronto
in early May. Since then, his phone has been ringing off the hook with inquiries
from contractors interested in the fire-retarding benefits of steel.
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