Project Snapshot
The Customer
A leading steel detailing firm in North America managed growing demand for steel building projects requiring complex shop drawings, erection plans, connection detailing, and precast coordination. Accuracy and speed were critical to meeting fabrication schedules.
Rising project volumes exceeded the in-house team’s bandwidth, while experienced Tekla Structures detailers were difficult to recruit locally. Permanent staffing for fluctuating workloads also created financial inefficiency and limited the firm’s ability to expand capacity.
The Challenge
Increasing workloads created production, scheduling, quality, and resource pressures that could affect project delivery, costs, customer satisfaction, and growth plans.
Capacity constraints
Capacity constraints prevented the in-house team from efficiently handling the rising volume of projects.
Tight fabrication schedules
Tight fabrication schedules meant detailing delays could affect fabricator schedules and downstream construction timelines.
Limited local skill availability
Limited local skill availability made recruiting and onboarding experienced Tekla Structures detailers difficult and time-consuming.
Quality consistency requirements
Quality consistency requirements increased pressure, while multiple concurrent projects required accurate connection detailing and coordination.
Variable workloads
Variable workloads made permanent hiring financially inefficient during periods of lower demand.
Complex steel and precast scopes
Complex steel and precast scopes required coordinated multi-discipline detailing to ensure proper component fit-up.
The Solutions
A dedicated offshore detailing team functioned as an extension of the firm’s existing team, aligning with established workflows, standards, and quality protocols.
Steel shop drawings
Developed steel shop drawings with member details, connection drawings, and assembly sequences.
Erection drawings
Prepared erection drawings covering bolt patterns, lifting points, and installation sequencing.
Connection detailing
Detailed bolted and welded connections with calculations-ready annotations.
Precast coordination
Coordinated precast concrete modeling with steel components to support proper fit-up.
Bills of Materials
Generated Bills of Materials for fabrication planning and material tracking.
Clash detection
Performed clash detection to identify and resolve conflicts before fabrication.
Revision management
Incorporated design mark-ups and revisions throughout the detailing process.
Native Tekla workflow
Worked exclusively in Tekla Structures to maintain native file compatibility.
Standards alignment
Adopted existing templates, naming conventions, CAD standards, and quality protocols.
Regular coordination
Maintained daily or weekly coordination to review progress, resolve questions, and incorporate feedback.
Independent QA reviews
Applied independent QA reviews before drawings reached the fabrication floor.
Flexible resourcing
Adjusted team resources according to project demand to avoid idle capacity.
The Result
The engagement improved delivery speed, reduced resource costs, strengthened quality control, and provided greater flexibility for changing workloads.
- Reduced shop drawing turnaround time by 40–50%.
- Shortened standard detailing cycles from 2–3 weeks to 1–2 weeks.
- Delivered 30–40% cost savings compared with hiring local detailing resources.
- Eliminated the financial risk of maintaining permanent staff during project troughs.
- Reduced recruitment, training, and onboarding costs.
- Achieved zero rework on the fabrication floor.
- Prevented conflicts between steel and precast components through clash detection.
- Reduced QA cycles through consistent application of the firm’s standards.
- Secured repeat engagement across multiple subsequent projects.
- Freed senior resources to focus on project management, design coordination, and business development.
- Enabled the firm to bid for larger or concurrent projects and opened new market opportunities.
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