Our world is changing more rapidly than many of us would like but the reality that technology is becoming more and more important in our daily lives is clearly evident in everything we do.

Computers have changed our lives forever and will continue to impact how we manage our time and activities. It has shaped the way our children see the world and what many of us older generations see as an inconvenient intrusion into our private lives the younger generations see as an undeniable advantage of access to communication and information.

Failing to recognize the importance of technology in our evolution will leave us at a disadvantage. Innovative and creative companies that embrace the new tools are the ones that will advance and grow as they are serving the new generations that have high expectations.

Work ethics are changing, long term commitment of staff is an elusive goal for many companies. Often the only consistent denominator in many organizations is the operating system that can accommodate change easily.

Removing Some of the Variables

The establishment of a dependable and easily manageable system for production that is efficient and productive can yield large rewards. A system that will accommodate staff changes easily and is consistently productive and meets the needs of consumers is critical for success. Look at McDonalds, which has endured for decades by doing things right. Make no mistake they have changed dramatically over the years to adapt not only to consumer demands but also to allow the system to work efficiently despite a high churn rate for staff.

Building the right system for your organization can mean the difference between success and failure.

Use the Right Tools Effectively

Having the right people is important but you also need to empower them with the tools, resources and knowledge to work effectively and efficiently. Today that means the most current technology in the vast majority of cases. If you don’t keep up with technology you will be left behind.

At DraftLogic, we understand the importance of making things easy to use and highly efficient. A system that automatically complies to standards, reduces the opportunity for errors, is productive quickly and fits well into the technological demands of today’s world is an important ingredient for success.

Do Your Research

When looking at new technology make sure you look carefully at what each product can do for you. There are many tools out there with many claims. It is important to understand what is reality and what is sales hype. Don’t be fooled by buzz words and claims that make unrealistic promises

At DraftLogic we have backed out claims with detailed benchmark testing.

Those that chase dreams will catch them.

Gerry Stebnicki, P. Eng, Bsc. Electrical
President
DraftLogic

BIM (building information modeling) is the new buzzword for building document production. Creating a 3D model is an exciting new way to represent the building element electronically and allows the designers to fly around and through the 3D images to see how all major components fit together. The advantages over previous 2D technology is the ability to do coordination with all building systems and a compelling way to show clients the spatial relationships that they may not have clearly understood without the benefit of this tool. There is value to the BIM approach but it does not come without a cost. Time must be devoted to creating both the base data and the rendered images, thus there is a balance to be struck between how much time is spent and how far to carry the details.

The Tools

There are many software programs available to create 3D imagery such as Revit and Sketchup.  Most can be compiled into an integrated image with 3^rd party software. Programs designed for this purpose are generally easy to use but create large files and have some practical challenges that will limit the level of detail that is created. Most 3D models will include the architectural base and major elements of structural, mechanical and electrical systems that are of sufficient size or location critical to have relevance to the final model. In most cases smaller system components are not shown because as the size of a component is diminished the number of it generally increases as systems branch to the end points. Smaller components are usually not important to the 3D coordination model as they usually can be easily routed on site to fit in spaces available.

How far do you go in 3D?

The answer is easy: only go as far as you need to! Communicate with your client to find out what they really need. In electrical drafting, do you need to show anything beyond the big stuff, distribution boards, cable tray, buss duct, 4” conduits,etc?  Not really.  Even for the components you are interested in, you only need to show those in congested areas so that can cut down your work considerably. In some cases you may want to show some detail like wall plugs, switches etc in typical rooms for coordination but that should be about it.

I hate to break the news but showing ¾” conduits is of little value in the vast majority of cases because it is unlikely installing this size of component will be a problem so nobody cares about modeling to that level in a building. Most firms stop at that point and create the working drawings in their building electrical design production software environment which is usually 2D and much more efficient than working in 3D.

Benefits of 2D

As speedily as possible producing easily managed information that is still perfectly accurate and sufficiently detailed is the primary goal of electrical design firms. In creating DraftLogic Electrical we had that goal clearly in our sights, increasing designer productivity by a minimum of 200% and up to 1300%.

We have included extra information in the 2D model to enable DraftLogic Electrical to create an accurate bill of materials.  Getting to your desired documentation destination in a fraction of the time that would be demanded by working in a 3D environment is extremely beneficial when it comes to creating construction documentation.

Chart your course for efficiency

Don’t fall into the trap of trying to do everything with the wrong tools. Use good 3D software to do your modeling and use good building electrical production software to do the rest. A skilled carpenter does not use only one saw for all woodwork, he will have a variety of tools each best suited for a specific task–use software the same way. Yes, you can force results using the wrong tools but why bother to put yourself through that pain?

Gerry Stebnicki P. Eng Bsc. Electrical

President

DraftLogic

DIFFERENT MOTIVATIONS, SAME RESULT

Since some of you may not believe in the science behind the global warming threat, how about we talk about things that every building owner desires: safe design that minimizes construction and operating costs and yet meets any future expansion needs they identify.  The choices made by the building electrical systems designer are the same to meet these needs and to minimize the building’s contribution to global warming.

INITIAL EFFECTS

Efficient, right-sized, and accurate design will result in the minimum amount of devices required to provided the needed level of services.  With the right amount of devices, connected in the most efficient manner, the materials required to service the building will be minimized.  This reduces the cost of construction and at the same time reduces the amounts of these goods that have to be manufactured from raw materials and then transported to the building site, thus contributing less to global warming during the construction phase.

ONGOING EFFECTS

Once built, the right-sized design will consume less electricity than an overbuilt design.  This reduces operating costs and, of course, contributes less to global warming assuming at least some of the energy is coming from non-renewable resources.

Whether you believe in global warming or not, I think we can all agree that efficient, right-sized, and accurate design is better.

WHY NOT NOW?

How do we make efficient, right-sized, and accurate design happen?  Well, that means bringing back some of the detailed and repetitive calculations/analysis into building electrical systems design:  performing lighting calculations for each space (e.g. zonal cavity), supplying the needed lighting/receptacles for each type of space and no more, circuiting efficiently to maximize neutral sharing, drawing branch circuit wiring to also maximize neutral sharing while minimizing the amount of wire needed to interconnect everything, and finally sizing the feeders to be safe but not overly large.  Some designers at some companies have been forced to reduce the accuracy of their selections in these regards due to design time limitations and design fee budget limitations.

Performing the detailed calculations and analysis required for the above would add A LOT of time to how long it takes you to design a project, unless your CAD suddenly got A LOT smarter and did the extra work for you!

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Enter DraftLogic Electrical!  DraftLogic Electrical inherently does all those detailed calculations that you don’t have time to do and may have been forced to ‘rule of thumb’ and ‘educated guess’ around.  With DraftLogic Electrical, you take a lot less time to do a lot more accurate design work.  That’s good for you, good for your client, and good for the environment.

A LESSON FOR ALL OF US

Since I cannot resist the urge to preach, and this is MY blog, I am going to do it.

Above I detail how the decisions made by building electrical systems designers affect global warming.  Talking above that major and contentious issue, we can also say ‘the sustainability of the environment that our species lives within’.  Basically ANY job that ANY one of us is doing can also be shown to have similar effects–do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

Kindest Regards,
Dean Whitford
Chief Operating Officer
DraftLogic