GRAITEC is proud to announce International User Projects Contest!

March 26, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Are you using one or more GRAITEC Advance software in designing your projects? Now it’s the time to show us, and others, how you used Advance Steel, Advance Concrete orAdvance Design in your projects!

Why?
Beside the attractive awards that we have for you, all projects will be presented on the GRAITEC website and all our social media networks. This will lead to anincreased visibility of your projects and your business.

About the contest
The contest is open to all GRAITEC customers that have completed a project using one or more GRAITEC Advance software, version 2012 or 2013. Participating projects will be evaluated based on specific criteria, such as project size and type, technical sophistication, social importance, originality, testimonial used metrics, etc.

GRAITEC is proud to announce International User Projects Contest!

Contest rules

The project submitted must have been created with at least one of the GRAITEC software products: Advance Steel, Advance Concrete or Advance Design.

For each participating project the following documents must be submitted:

Registration Form
The model in the GRAITEC software format
Images and pictures (as files). Photos of the real structure will be appreciated
Project description and your testimonial
Rights Transfer Agreement document

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Each participant can submit more than one project. Each submitted project will be evaluated separately and has its chances of winning.

You can send us your projects to info.contest@graitec.net. If the package intended for submitting is too big, you might consider using a free internet file transfer website, such as https://www.transferbigfiles.com/ or http://www.dropsend.com/ to the same email address.

Deadline for submission is September 15^th, 2013.

Take part and win!

1 year free maintenance or 1 free upgrade

BONUS: Top 12 artistic photos will be part of the annual GRAITEC 2014 calendar. You can see here the projects presented in the 2013 annual calendar.

GRAITEC is proud to announce International User Projects Contest!

For more information or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info.contest@graitec.net.

User testimonial: using Advance Steel on its own platform

March 8, 2013 / graitecgroup / 1 Comment

Testimonial from Maxime Delforge (SAS BOULET BATIMENT, France), daily using Advance Steel on its own CAD platform

SAS BOULET BATIMENT is a 50-employee company located in the city of Azincourt (north of France) and which is specialized in steel construction. Maxime Delforge, in charge of the 3D modeling at SAS BOULET, explains why Advance Steel – after only few months of use – handled projects of any type and allowed for sub-contracting more efficiently the fabrication of these steel structures thanks to the high-quality drawings and NC-DSTV created automatically.

Testimonial from Maxime Delforge

After a demonstration which proved that the software answered positively to all company’s requests, SAS BOULET BATIMENT acquired Advance Steel in the spring of 2012. More than 6 months later, we can say that several dozens of projects have been modeled in 3D and successfully erected at site. It includes structures of all types going from renovations (like an outside roof in a school made of curved rafters connected on the top of concrete columns already in place) to the conception of industrial buildings (such as food plants) or commercial buildings (different supermarkets and warehouse supporting cold rolled Zed purlins).

Testimonial from Maxime Delforge

In addition to the possibility to model all the main steel structure (portal frames, floors, side rails), Advance Steel provides different functionalities to represent the environment (existing concrete walls, machinery, piping,etc.) and therefore to handle a global multi-material project which can also sometimes contain timber elements such as the purlins. This is very important as this is taken into consideration by the integrated clash check which prevents issues at site. It is also possible to create in 3D the gutters or other types of complex folded elements (e.g. stringer made of a folded plate for stairs) and to get their workshop drawings with the part displayed both folded and unfolded, which is highly appreciated by the workshop as it facilitates their understanding.

Testimonial from Maxime Delforge

SAS BOULET BATIMENTdoes not have an integrated workshop and therefore the fabrication is sub-contracted; this is also where Advance Steel finds its right place as it automatically creates all NC-DSTV files which can then be read by the CNC machines of the workshop.

Maxime Delforge adds: « We do not have any AutoCAD licenses at SAS BOULET BATIMENT therefore I am using Advance Steel on its own platform since my first training day, and I am very happy with it.The software allows navigation with speed in my 3D model displayed in realistic mode, the automatically created drawings correspond to the expectations of our teams at site, and the sub-contractors which fabricate our steel structures can successfully import NC files created with Advance Steel. »

Free Webinars by GRAITEC US

March 1, 2013March 15, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Complete a Set of Drawings for Stairs and Railings under 20 minutes	March 4 12:00 EDT
Advance Steel Quick Learning Curve for AutoCad® Users	March 7 12:00 EDT
Graitec Structural BIM Vision – Synchronize Revit® – Advance Design – Advance Steel	March 11 12:00 EDT
Complete a Set of Drawings for Complex Plate Work under 20 minutes	March 14 12:00 EDT
Create a Complete Set of Drawings for Curved Stairs and Railings under 20 minutes	March 18 12:00 EDT
Master Structural Steel Design with Advance Design	March 21 12:00 EDT
Create a Custom Connections Template in Advance Steel	March 25 12:00 EDT

>> Register online here

Ease of use, Power and BIM… the key words of the Graitec Advance 2013 release

February 26, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

GRAITEC, European software developer for modeling and drawing creation for the construction industry, announces the release of the GRAITEC Advance 2013 suite.

Driven by sustainable development challenges, the increasing complexity of projects, time constraints and smaller budgets, construction professionals have no other choice than to make the leap to innovation. GRAITEC, a player in dynamic innovation, dedicates a signifi cant portion of its Research & Development investments in Digital Modeling or BIM (Building Information Modeling), in particular in its GRAITEC Advance suite.

This technology associates each real object to its virtual equivalent in the digital model and offers users the ability to simulate the behavior of the real structure, to automate the creation of technical documentation of their projects, to maintain consistency through the changes to the project and facilitate technical collaboration with all project stakeholders.

GRAITEC Advance has more than 15,000 users and 7 new users join the community every day. The uniqueness of GRAITEC Advance is to offer a solution that is very effi cient because it is dedicated to building professionals: design, calculation and creation of fabrication drawings, easy training, and provides a rapid return on investment, usually from the fi rst project.

The GRAITEC Advance suite consists of software products dedicated to the BIM structure: Advance Design, Advance Concrete and Advance Steel and Advance CAD, a new drawing tool that completes the suite.

Version 2013 has many improvements and strengthens its position: simplicity and power.

Simplicity because Advance Steel and Advance Concrete work as well as standalone as they do on AutoCAD, the choice is the user’s. In addition to the economic advantage, this innovation allows the release of AutoCAD licenses for other uses within the design office. Simplified installation, getting started faster, optimized interface, in short simplicity.
Power because of features such as custom connections in Advance Steel, advanced management of bar marks in Advance Concrete or “Capacity Design” calculation in Advance Design bring greater efficiency to users.

For Francis Guillemard, CEO of the GRAITEC Group: “In 2012, the GRAITEC Advance suite saw sustained growth of 35% in a market where the average growth rate was 8%.
The user community has almost doubled in 3 years. It is truly a sign that the profession is looking for solutions that offer the best compromise of Power/Simplicity and obviously at a low cost. This positioning ensures the growth of GRAITEC Advance. We contribute to the democratization of BIM in construction and make it very practical for our users.“

Advance Steel 2013: The best ease of use / power compromise

Independent of the AutoCAD® platform since Version 2012, Advance Steel 2013 improves its ergonomics and ease of use by providing a new user interface element, the “palette”, which contains animated buttons and tooltips.

It has many new innovations: first, the ability to create custom connections allowing users to define, store and reuse custom connections in their projects and thus easily adapt to all types of situations.

The new release also adds new connections for cold rolled profiles. Many other features are also available such as the option to create welding lines in drawing and a new recognition technology of “notable points” that applies to manual dimensions that are updated automatically by Advance Steel 2013.

Advance Concrete 2013: CAD platform freedom

Advance Concrete 2013 main focus is to offer users the freedom to use Advance Concrete with or without AutoCAD. Advance Concrete 2013 includes its own graphics engine allowing the user to select the desired CAD platform.

Advance Concrete 2013 provides greater control and better coordination with the “External drawing technology” allowing the user to place each new view and each new layout in a separate DWG. This results in smaller DWG files and better performance.

A new bar mark management functionalities is also available.
Version 2013 also improves user efficiency and productivity thanks to the new, redesigned Ribbon arrangements and the new Graitec tool palettes.

Advance Design 2013: High simulation exigency and Eurocode expertise

Advance Design 2013: High simulationexigency and Eurocodeexpertise

Advance Design 2013 goes further than ever in helping engineers to optimize the design of concrete, steel and timber structures according to the Eurocodes and North American codes.

Among the many new functionalities in regards to Eurocodes: major 3D climatic generator improvements for EC1 (more accurate wind parameters definition, better management for isolated roofs, additional fields for CsCd calculation), several improvements on the EC2 engine (possibility to place real reinforcement on linear and planar elements, new slab punching verification, availability of a detailed design report including a reinforcement sketch for concrete beams, etc.), EC3 engine improvements (accurate lateral torsional buckling calculation considering intermediate restraints and load application point,buckling check for circular hollow sections of class 4, new joints and improved user interface for the steel connection module, etc.), EC5 improvements (residual area in case of fire verification, improvement of deflection check in the detailed report, etc.).

One main new functionality is dealing with the “Capacity design” implementation helping users to optimize members design according to seismical requirements (especially for EC8).

Advance CAD 2013: NEW!!

Advance CAD is a new comer in the Graitec Advance suite. It is a fully compatible DWG® CAD software. It provides its users a simple, natural and economical solution to the frequent requirements of drawing creation and modification. With a modern easy-to-use interface, Advance CAD creates all 2D entities (lines, polylines, arcs, circles, polygons, etc.) and associates all desired colors, line styles and shading. Concepts such as “layers”, “snap points”, “windows” are available as well as all navigation features (zoom, pan, orbit, etc.). Advance CAD can also create and handle 3D solids (cubes, spheres, cylinders, etc.) and perform Boolean operations.

Graitec BIM Connect 2013: A smooth BIM connector to Revit

With GRAITEC BIM Connect, Autodesk Revit Architecture 2013 and Autodesk Revit Structure 2013 users quickly connect their Revit models to the GRAITEC Advance suite and then optimize the design of their structures in accordance with U.S. and Eurocode standards, produce effective and error-free general arrangement drawings, fabrication drawings, BOMs, and NC files both for steel and concrete structures. Release 2013 provides key improvements such as extended profile mapping and ACIS solids transfer.

ADVANCE Steel 2013 reviewed by AEC Magazine

February 25, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

AEC Mag.com is the online presence of AEC Magazine, UK’s number 1 journal for decision makers in Architecture, Engineering and Construction. AEC Magazine has a bold agenda that reflects the evolutionary nature of this fast-moving sector with its proliferation of software and hardware technologies and the collaborative working practices that are integral to today’s design and engineering workflow.

Greg Corke, Managing Editor for AEC Magazine, offers a first look at GRAITECs first release for this year: ADVANCE Steel 2013. For version 2013, the software remains focused on quality and enhanced efficiency: “Having done a major re-write last year, the 2013 release is about improving user productivity. GRAITEC has focused on four main areas — user interface, raw performance, modeling enhancements and drawing issue and re-issue.”

The start page is new, offering users a quick look at recent projects, videos, tutorials, FAQs and others. For the interface however, the biggest change is found in the tool palette, from which many of the model manipulation commands are found. In terms of performance, the graphic engine has been optimized, new viewing modes are available and the general speed has been improved. “GRAITEC has placed a big emphasis on performance and 64-bit support means there are now no limitations on model size, providing the workstation has enough system memory.”

The modeling process has been improved thanks to new intelligent tools made available to users. This reflects directly to the production and quality of the drawings, which are now “less manual”on the way these are updated or referenced.

“While the performance improvements will no doubt be welcomed with open arms, it is the workflow enhancements that will arguably have the biggest impact — particularly when it comes to minimizing the amount of manual re-work required on re-issued drawings”, Greg Corke concluded.

Click here to read the full review

Advance Steel Project: Manchester Road Bridge

February 11, 2013 / graitecgroup / 1 Comment

Advance Steel project: Manchester Road Bridge Manchester Road Bridge in part of the Living Street Project, a lottery-funded project focused on the development of a suitable, convenient and safe route across Manchester Road, which will have the potential to visually enhance this important gateway into the city. This new walkway is a people-orientated, street environment that links up people with places using broad, high-quality, avenue-like routes for pedestrians and cyclists linking up residential areas, schools, shops, health care, parks and town center.

The steel structure of unique design was detailed in ADVANCE Steel by Briton Fabricators Lt. The building process started in November 2011 and over 10,000 components have been put together to compile the structure. It forms an elevated section of the Living Street and will be a gateway feature for Manchester Road. The bridge is close to a surface level signalized crossing which serves a bus stop on the guided bus route. All bridge ramps are 1:20 gradient, and the bridge 3.7 m in width. Access through the public park is 1:15 gradient.

Advance Steel project: Manchester Road Bridge It is made of over 350 tonnes of steel, 210 meters long in total with two main spans over Manchester Road of 22 meters and 24 meters. It is supported by almost 100 piles buried into the ground carefully engineered to avoid underground services and Bradford Beck. At the central reservation dividing Manchester Road a 17m high rectilinear extension to the column forms a towering central feature which marks the visual centre of the bridge crossing.

The fantastic new bridge links up local communities on either side of the bridge, providing a pleasant route for cyclists and pedestrians, and enabling quick and easy access to the town centre and other essential links, which were missing before. It also offers a more gentle approach to the old footbridge, which was nearly 40 years old and in need of serious maintenance to address time related deterioration. Manchester Road Bridge was built approximately in the same position as the old footbridge and was completed in September 2012. Hundreds of people turned out to see the bridge officially being opened. Although, during an average weekday, 621 people use the surface crossing of Manchester Road, and only 340 the footbridge, for reasons of safety the public authorities encourages everybody to use the new bridge to cross this busy junction.

CAD Digest review of ADVANCE Steel 2012 – Connections & Joints

January 30, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

CAD Digest, one of the most popular online sources for CAD, CAM & CAE articles and testimonials, reviews ADVANCE Steel, not as a design tool, but as a solution for accelerating the design process. James Finkel, author of the review (with experience in mechanical engineering, programming, custom design engineering, QA and software testing) explains why ADVANCE Steel is a powerful tool for all types of projects.

ADVANCE Steel introduces three versions of the software, depending on the scope and versatility of the project: Standard, which is a “light version”, limited to 10 tons of steel, Professional, which has no limits to the weight of the steel and can be tested for free as a 30-day Trial Version (this being the version used by James Finkel for his review), and Premium, which also includes the multi-user technology. Each of the available packages has been created to meet users’ business needs, depending on key software selection criteria: ease-of-use, interoperability, drawing output and, of course, cost.

For this review to be as accurate as possible, the author requested the assistance of Benoit Lalonde, a GRAITEC technician from our offices in Canada, in creating a model with a large variety of joints: beam-beam, beam-column, column with four beams of unequal sizes, plate work, column-to-concrete footers, and beam-to-wall connections. The creation of the model was the first step in determining the capability and efficiency of the software in handling unusual or complex requests.

Concerning input and output of data, ADVANCE Steel 2012 offers many solutions – use built-in CAD tools or import the model from AutoCAD or Revit and, as a result, generate reports in plain text, Word documents, XML, Excel spreadsheets, and so on, and issue a full suite of the projects’ drawings.

Advance Steel - Generating reports in Excel from drawings

Throughout the modeling process, users are provided with an extensive library of smart objects, libraries of customizable automatic joints (more than 300 joints), customizable drawings, and generation of all detail drawings required by fabrication shops. ADVANCE Steel provides all the necessary tools to create, save and reuse simple or complex custom connections. “This flexible software handles a wide range of steel design situations”, states the author.

Advance Steel - Selecting joints, which can be customized

Regarding operability and features, James Finkel tested the customization of joints, the stress at joints, generation of reports and defining new and more complex shapes. His conclusion was that ADVANCE Steel 2012 offers a full-featured structural steel design system, with a wide range of output formats, according to customer needs. “Starting from an AutoCAD model, Revit, or working within the CAD supplied within the software, users have a wide array of tools for joint construction with point and click for individual or multiple joints. The software has an equally wide array of output formats and features”, James Finkel declares.

Creating new shapes in Advance Steel

Read here the full article

Advance Steel webinars for Asia-Pacific

January 15, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Advance Steel

Advance Steel® is specifically designed for steel professionals who require easy-to-use BIM structural steel software for automating drawing creation, documentation and fabrication.

List of FREE webinars organised by GRAITEC Asia-Pacific, Singapore

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Short presentation of Advance Steel showing the advantages and the main features

Thursday, January 31^st, 2013

⇒ 15:00 PM – 15.30 PM (South East Asia time)

2/ How to improve your productivity on steel detailing with Advance Steel

Discover a number of the features and enhancements in Advance Steel that increase your productivity

Thursday, February 14^th, 2013

⇒ 15:00 PM – 15.30 PM (South East Asia time)

3/ How to generate automatic drawings, BOM lists and NC files in Advance Steel

How to easily generate and configure the 2D drawings, BOM lists and NC files from a 3D model in just minutes

Tuesday, February 26^th, 2013

⇒ 14:00 PM – 14.30 PM (South East Asia time)

4/ Advance Steel easy to learn for AutoCad® users

You know how to use AutoCad? You can easily learn how to make 3D models in Advance Steel using theacad standard commands

Wednesday, March 13^th, 2013

⇒ 15:00 PM – 15.30 PM (South East Asia time)

Advance Steel 2013 User Day in UK

January 8, 2013 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Date: Wednesday 23rd January 2013
Time: 9:30-16:30 (registration from 8:45am)
Location: Branston Golf & Country Club
Theme: What’s New in Advance Steel 2013!!

Don’t forget to book your free place!

Advance Steel 2013 User Day

To celebrate our expansion, this year we are holding our 2013 Advance Steel User Day at one of the most prestigious locations in the Midlands – the Branston Golf and Country Club, Burton on Trent in Staffordshire. Don’t miss this opportunity to see what’s coming in the next version – register to attend now!

Advance Steel UK Project Competition

It’s time to show off your work again and be in with a chance of winning some fantastic prizes! We know you have produced some excellent, interesting, every-day and some extremely complex projects of all types and sizes using Advance Steel. This is a unique opportunity to show off your work and gain fantastic worldwide PR exposure for your designs, absolutely free!

Enter your projects now! Hurry…..the deadline for submissions is Friday 18th January and winners will be announced at the User Day.

We look forward to showing you what’s in Advance Steel 2013, receiving your projects and seeing you at what promises to be a great User Day!

For further details, please call a member of the Graitec Team on 0844 543 8888 or email info@graitec.co.uk

Advance Steel Release of Version 2013

December 6, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Advance Steel Release of Version 2013 GRAITEC announces the release of version 2013 of its flagship 3D structural steel detailing software for automating drawing production: Advance Steel.

Advance Steel is specifically designed for steel professionals who require an easy-to-use 3D structural steel detailing software for automating drawing production. Advance Steel is based on the implementation of a digital model (BIM / Building Information Model) and automates the creation of drawings, BOMs and NC files. Advance Steel drastically increases productivity and drawing quality, while reducing the risk of errors. The software also allows users to communicate information in the digital model to all project stakeholders.

The improvements in Version 2013 are organized in the following categories:

Enhanced ergonomics and ease of use
New productivity tools
Availability in new markets: Australia, India, Brazil

ERGONOMICS AND EASE OF USE

Independent of the AutoCAD platform since Version 2012, Advance Steel improves its ergonomics and ease of use by providing a new user interface element, the “palette”, which contains animated buttons and tooltips. New features, such as direct access to workshop drawings with a simple right-click in the model or the improved capabilities of working with joint groups, further enhance the simplicity of this new version.

NEW PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Advance Steel has many new innovations: first, the ability to create custom connections allowing users to define, store and reuse custom connections in their projects and thus easily adapt to all types of situations.

For Olivier RASQUIER, Steel detailer at Ets J-C FASSLER (France) and Version 2013 beta user: “Until now, I was frequently creating my connections “manually” because my projects are all specific. With Advance Steel 2013, I can create my own custom connections and save them in my library. I can then easily reuse them in my new projects because they automatically adapt to new situations: changed profile orientation, different section etc. I can also clone them and create slightly different ones, as nothing is fixed anymore.“

Advance Steel Release of Version 2013

Version 2013 also adds new connections for cold rolled profiles (anti-sag and tie rod systems, trimmer cleats, and eaves beam connections) for faster and more efficient drawing creation.

Many other features are also available such as the option to create welding lines in drawings. This function is based on recognition technology of “notable points” that updates automatically when the model is changed which also applies to manual dimensions that are updated automatically by Advance Steel 2013. These innovations provide greater efficiency in terms of modeling and document creation for fabrication and assembly, and significantly increase user efficiency.

Advance Steel “Professional” and “Premium” versions come with an Application Programming Interface (API) which allows users with computer programming skills to enhance and customize the software.

NEW MARKETS

Version 2013 has been adapted for the Australian, Indian, and Brazilian markets.
Besides translation, the following software configurations are implemented: initialization of software settings according to local usage, enriched libraries (profiles, bolts, cladding, etc.), and drawing style configuration that meets local requirements.
Advance Steel 2013 has also been enhanced with specific connections for the Australian market.

December free webinars

November 30, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Structural Engineers, Steel and Concrete Detailers…

…Discover our Structural BIM suite!

Advance Steel

Advance Steel® is specifically designed for steel professionals who require easy-to-use BIM structural steel software for automating drawing creation, documentation and fabrication.

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Thursday, December 6^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET – Metric

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET – Imperial

2/ StruCad® switchover to Advance Steel

Discover a number of the features and enhancements in Advance Steel that StruCad® customers require

Thursday, December 13^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Thursday, December 27^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

3/ Multi user mode

We will show how the Advance Steel multi-user mode can speed up the modeling of your projects of steel structures and how several users can work at the same time on the same project with security.

Thursday, December 20^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Steel: BIM software for structural steel engineering, detailing and fabrication

Advance Design

Advance Design® is specifically dedicated to structural engineers who require professional and easy-to-use BIM solution for simulating and optimizing all their projects according to international design codes (latest European standards, American standards ACI and AISC).

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Tuesday, December 4^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

2/ Dynamic and non-linear analysis in Advance Design

During this ½ hour presentation, you will discover all the possibilities of Advance Design to run advanced analysis on real projects, from the assumptions definition to the results postprocessing step: time history analysis, modal buckling, non-linear analysis, 2nd order effects…

Tuesday, December 18^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Design free webinar

Advance Concrete

Advance Concrete® is specifically designed for structural engineers and reinforced concrete detailers who require professional and easy-to-use BIM software that automates the production of drawings, BOMs and NC files. Advance Concrete® drastically increases productivity and drawings quality, while reducing the risk of errors.

1/ Advance Concrete customization for your office standards

We will show you the ways to change the defaults of Advance Concrete according to your company standards: user preferences, project settings, representation styles for model elements, drawings and reinforcement objects (colors, hatches, line styles, …), fabrics and bars library, modify / create rebar and formwork symbols, modify rebar list templates, modify dimension styles, re-use the settings in new projects.

Wednesday, December 5^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

2/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Wednesday, December 12^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Design free webinar

GRAITEC Group reports + 22% revenue growth End of Q3 2012 compared with 2011 and +511% growth in Profitability

November 13, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

GRAITEC reports a turnover of 21.27 million Euros for the first three quarters of 2012. GRAITEC turnover increased 22% compared to the same period in 2011, exclusively due to organic growth. The profitability has also soared by more than 6-fold compared to the same period in 2011. The main reason for this performance is due to a massive adoption of the solutions developed and sold by GRAITEC.

Highlighted performances:

Advance Steel, the Structural BIM solution for the steel industry, has grown year to date by +54% in revenue and over 45% in number of seats. Advance Design, the Structural BIM analysis and design solution, has achieved a remarkable +20% growth in turnover. Advance suite, the complete international Structural BIM suite of Graitec, reports a year to year growth of +35%.

Mentioning only some of the Geographical best performers:

• North America has done an amazing job in the steel construction industry, increasing the Advance Steel turnover by +121%.

• GRAITEC Asia/Pacific, over performed with a +86% growth.

• GRAITEC Russia, in the same range of performance, increased its revenue by +73%.

• Europe has also delivered some great performances, in all countries where Graitec operates, a few highlights are:

An amazing over 80% growth for B&B, the Italian subsidiary of Graitec, acquired in 2011
+37% turnover in GRAITEC Germany (covering DACH region).
UK +16% including the 2 Graitec entities performances, Adris and Graitec UK.
GRAITEC France gaining market share with 28% growth in the CAD solutions (Advance Steel and Concrete) and reinforcing its BIM Structural Analysis leadership with +11% Growth.

Alexandre Tartas, COO of GRAITEC, comments: “We are very proud to report another solid performance at the end of Q3 2012. Graitec not only grows but does it in a very profitable business model, which is a very remarkable performance. It is difficult to talk about every unique performance, when every subsidiary, every sales office over performs. Graitec continues to reinforce its Structural BIM Specialist position in the market, providing and implementing best-in-class solutions to contribute to the daily challenges of our customers. Of course Q3 is only a stage in 2012 and everyone is actively working on maintaining this level of performance until the end of the year. This year to date 2012 accelerated growth gives Graitec high ambitions and expectations for Q4 and we can expect to over achieve the initial targets in turnover, operating margin and profit.”

November free webinars

November 1, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Structural Engineers, Steel and Concrete Detailers…

…Discover our Structural BIM suite!

Advance Design

Advance Design® is specifically dedicated to structural engineers who require professional and easy-to-use BIM solution for simulating and optimizing all their projects. It includes a user-friendly structural modeler, an automatic load generator, a powerful FEM engine, comprehensive wizards for designing concrete and steel members, and efficient post-processing and report generators. Advance Design® implements the latest European standards, American standards ACI and AISC.

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Tuesday, November 6^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

2/ The advanced post processing tools in Advance Design

We will show you the available post processing tools in Advance Design to make your project’s results post processing step more easy and efficient: isoregions, diagrams, result curves, stresses on sections… You will also see how you can update all the created documents in one click when changing the model using the “result memory” technology.

Tuesday, November 20^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Design free webinar

Advance Steel

Advance Steel® is specifically designed for structural engineers and steel detailers who require professional and easy-to-use BIM structural steel detailing software that automates the production of drawings, BOMs and NC files. Advance Steel® drastically increases productivity and drawing quality, while reducing the risk of errors. Advance Steel® can be used with or without AutoCAD®.

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Thursday, November 8^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET – Metric

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET – Imperial

2/ Advanced tools for miscellaneous steel

We will show different techniques when using Advance Steel for miscellaneous steel, from the 3D modeling to the automatic creation of all necessary documents for fabrication and erection.

Thursday, November 15^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Steel: BIM software for structural steel engineering, detailing and fabrication

3/ Drawing customization

Advance Steel allows users to get high-quality drawings by using presentations delivered by default. We will show in this webinar how block titles and drawing styles can easily be customized to fit the company’s way of providing workshop and general arrangement drawings.

Thursday, November 22^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Steel: BIM software for structural steel engineering, detailing and fabrication

4/ StruCad® switchover to Advance Steel

Discover a number of the features and enhancements in Advance Steel that StruCad® customers require.

Thursday, November 29^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

Advance Concrete

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Wednesday, November 14^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CET to 9:30 AM CET

⇒ 6:00 PM CET to 6:30 PM CET

See all the webinars organized for the rest of the year

Discover how you can easily create a gutter formed from a folded plate with Advance Steel!

October 25, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

This movie shows how you can easily create rectangular & polygonal plates for the all the different sides of a gutter and then use an automatic tool to get a gutter formed from a folded plate.
As a result, this gutter can be automatically displayed unfolded in the modeling as a preview but also within NC files and workshop drawings for fabrication.

Successful Advance Steel road-show in Brazil

October 16, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Our reseller ARKISOFT organized in August 2012 different roadshows to promote Advance Steel in the capitals of 10 different states of Brazil. The events were met a great success with a total of more than 400 participants (e.g. 100 participants in Natal, 80 participants in Salvador, and also many interested ones in the cities of Vitoria, Fortaleza, Cuiaba, Campo Grande, Goiania, São Luis, Curitiba and Palmas).

Successful Advance Steel road-show in Brazil

All these seminars were supported by CREA (Conselho Federal de Engenharia, Arquitectura e Agronomia, which means Regional Council of Engineering and Agronomy) and took place in the auditorium of the CREA local offices.

Successful Advance Steel road-show in Brazil

The audience was very impressed with the capabilities of Advance Steel for its automatic detailing to get high-quality drawings together with the easy-of-use and possibility to get all documents automatically updated in case of modifications in the 3D model.

Successful Advance Steel road-show in Brazil

Alexandre Miranda, managing director at ARKISOFT says: “This partnership with GRAITEC is providing technologies with competitive advantages for the steel construction in Brazil, enabling a significant increase competitiveness and satisfaction to Architecture, Engineering and Construction Overview professionals.“

ARKISOFT will organize other Advance Steel road-shows in October 2012 in different cities of the São Paulo state.

Service Pack 2 of Advance Steel 2012 is released!

October 4, 2012 / graitecgroup / 1 Comment

We are pleased to announce the release of Service Pack 2 of Advance Steel 2012!

Service Pack 2 has a set of enhancements and provides the following advantages to users:

International catalogs additions: Advance Steel libraries have been extended for profiles such as Zed and C Australian sections.
More efficient modifications: The user can now modify all anchors in fewer clicks using the multi-edit function which now also works with anchors.
Detailing of complex beams: Polybeams (such as beams created from polylines) can be automatically detailed with an unfold representation and the correct display of holes and bolts which are part of them.
BOM on drawing enhancements: Service Pack 2 provides more choices to define the BOM on drawing template with new options such as creating formulas with divisions (“/”).
GRAITEC Advance manager: The tool which helps users to control all global settings and have a direct access to the databases of the software has been enhanced concerning the table editor.
General reliability: performance and stability updates.

Any customer under maintenance contract can download Service Pack 2 from the GRAITEC Advantage web site: www.graitec.com/advantage

October free webinars

September 28, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Structural Engineers, Steel and Concrete Detailers…

Discover GRAITEC Structural BIM Suite

…Attend our free upcoming webinars!

Advance Steel

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Thursday, October 4^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST – Metric

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST – Imperial

2/ StruCad® switchover to Advance Steel

Discover a number of the features and enhancements in Advance Steel that StruCad® customers require.

Thursday, October 11^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

Thursday, October 25^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

3/ Advanced tools for miscellaneous steel

We will show different techniques when using Advance Steel for miscellaneous steel, from the 3D modeling to the automatic creation of all necessary documents for fabrication and erection.

Thursday, October 18^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

Advance Steel: BIM software for structural steel engineering, detailing and fabrication

Advance Design

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Tuesday October 9^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

2/ Seismical analysis EC8

Discover how you can handle a seismical analysis according to EC8 with Advance Design: spectrum generation and modal analysis. During this ½ hour presentation, you will discover how you can benefit from dedicated tools in Advance Design to handle multi-material projects in seismical areas: automatic generation of seismical spectrum, behaviour coefficient definition, additional torsional eccentricity effects, results postprocessing per mode…

Tuesday, October 23^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

Advance Design free webinar

Advance Concrete

1/ General overview: discover the software in 30 minutes

Wednesday, October 10^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

2/ Several ways to create reinforcement drawings

Thanks to Advance Concrete, discover different ways to create reinforcement drawings:

• Based on the 3D model elements with reinforcement styles
• Based on the 3D model without using reinforcement styles
• Create the rebar drawings based on a pure 2D drawing
• Rebar symbols, bending details and reinforcement lists

Finally we will create a 3D view of the reinforcement, run a clash check detection and place the reinforcement drawings on a layout.

Wednesday, October 17^th, 2012

⇒ 9:00 AM CEST to 9:30 AM CEST

⇒ 6:00 PM CEST to 6:30 PM CEST

GRAITEC has made the finals for the 2012 Construction Computing Awards

September 27, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

GRAITEC has made the finals for the 2012 Construction Computing Awards This year, we are delighted to announce that GRAITEC has made the finals of the Construction Computing Awards in the following categories:

–> Construction Computing “One to Watch” Company 2012 (companies that are going to make a real impact in the industry) – GRAITEC UK;

–> Construction Computing “One to Watch” Product 2012 (new products in 2012 that are going to become “big” in the next 12 months) – GRAITEC ADVANCE Steel 2012 – Standalone;

–> Structural Design Product of the Year (accurate design of overall products and individual joints, whether working in steel, concrete or other materials) – GRAITEC UK – SuperSTRESS;

–> Product of the Year (the product which has impressed you most throughout 2012) – GRAITEC UK – ADVANCE Steel;.

–> Company of the Year (the company which has impressed you most throughout 2012) – GRAITEC UK.

Featuring more than 20 different categories, the Construction Computing Awards reward the technology, tools and solutions for design, construction, maintenance and modification of commercial buildings, residential and social housing and civil engineering projects of all types and sizes.

Voting started on September 13th, 2012, and will close on November 8th, 2012. You may cast your votes by registering your personal detailsand selecting your favorites here.

The Winners Ceremony will take place at Hotel Russell in London, on November 22nd, 2012.

Stay tuned for more information and don’t forget to show your support for our company and products.

Footbridge construction: Interview with LEGRAND

September 20, 2012September 20, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

Advance Steel Testimonial: Footbridge construction: Interview with LEGRAND Founded in 1956, LEGRAND is involved in the field of railway engineering, metalwork and signage industries throughout France for over 50 years.
In 1981, LEGRAND chose to diversify its client base and its business activities by creating a Steel Construction Department in the Quincieux site (Dpt 69). This department includes its own design office which is equipped with a modern and recently renewed IT infrastructure.
Currently, LEGRAND employs about 200 people.

Jean-Sébastien COURIVAUD, Design Office manager and Jean-Charles MASBOEUF, Draftsman, report their satisfaction of the Advance Steel software.

Advance Steel Testimonial: Footbridge construction: Interview with LEGRAND

How did your drawing software equipment evolve within your Design Office?

J-S COURIVAUD: Ten years ago, we switched from the drawing board to the use of AutoCAD® in 2D, and then we realized the projects were becoming more and more complex. So we have equipped the Design Office with 3D CAD software dedicated to the steel construction industry in which 30 people are working at the Quincieux site. We initially started with Prosteel before choosing Advance Steel. After a personalized demonstration, it was clear that Advance Steel would provide us with significant productivity savings through the automatic detailing and the quality of the final drawings.
Today, we have 4 Advance Steel licenses to deal with our footbridge and highway bridge projects.

What are the advantages of Advance Steel compared to the software you were previously using?

J-S COURIVAUD: The main saving concerns the drawing time creation which is extremely fast with Advance Steel. In addition, a permanent link exists between the 3D model and all the generated documents using the integrated AS document manager, which facilitates the overall project management.

J-C MASBOEUF: Our footbridges typically include curved elements such as lower arches supporting the steel structure and the bridge deck. Advance Steel knows how to manage these kinds of elements without affecting the global performances of the software.

How have you customized Advance Steel to match your work methods?

J-S COURIVAUD: Customized drawing styles have been created to produce drawings perfectly corresponding to our presentation criteria (dimension styles, line thickness, dimensions, etc.) and they can be directly launched from a dedicated toolbar that we have also created on our own.

J-C MASBOEUF: We extended the Advance Steel catalogs with steel profiles used for our bridges. We also added new anchors that secure the structure on concrete abutments.
With the help of the GRAITEC technical support, we configured Advance Steel to work with our fabrication machines at the workshop so that the unfolding of folded plates can be obtained by the criteria of the machines (value of the plate elongation, folding radius, plate thickness, etc.).

Can you give us a description of the footbridge project you recently built with Advance Steel?

J-C COURIVAUD: The construction is a pedestrians/cycles footbridge (access to Anonnay between Peaugres and Davézieux on the RD820). This steel footbridge with 40.30m straight span consists of a mixed steel/wood frame and a concrete floor on HEA 200 beams spaced every 3.40m.

The supporting structure is made up of 2 tapered glue-laminated arches 48cm apart and braced with steel parts. The latter are associated to the level of the deck with 2 lateral steel beams of constant height and connected vertically by two transverse V shaped steel stays (welded plates steel profile stays). The total weight of the structure is 32 tons.

How did you collaborate with the other companies working on this project?

J-C MASBOEUF: We exported the entire Advance Steel 3D model to the ACIS format and we sent the electronic file to MATHIS, the company in charge of the wooden railing of the bridge. For their part, they completed the 3D model by precisely positioning the overall handrail and other wood laths between the steel posts in inverted V, which required specific and precise cuts at the ends of the wooden elements. Then, this completed model was sent back to us and I could import all the wooden parts in my Advance Steel model to automatically produce overall drawings representing the steel structure, the concrete bridge abutment and all the wooden elements.

To conclude, what is your general impression of Advance Steel?

J-S COURIVAUD: Advance Steel allowed us to definitively move on to 3D design which gave us new opportunities and solutions to architects complex requirements. Also, the produced documents perfectly match the needs of the workshop and our clients.

J-C MASBOEUF: Once adapted to our needs, Advance Steel has proved to be very easy to use simultaneously allowing us to deal with projects even more and more complex and atypical.

Get the workshop drawings of a truss – Video

September 19, 2012 / graitecgroup / Leave a comment

This movie shows a truss (created with the Advance Steel automatic macro) and explains how to run the numbering, control which parts are shop-welded, and then start the creation of single part and assembly drawings of the truss.

Take part and win!

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Testimonial from Maxime Delforge (SAS BOULET BATIMENT, France), daily using Advance Steel on its own CAD platform

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Advance Steel 2013: The best ease of use / power compromise

Advance Concrete 2013: CAD platform freedom

Advance Design 2013: High simulation exigency and Eurocode expertise

Advance CAD 2013: NEW!!

Graitec BIM Connect 2013: A smooth BIM connector to Revit

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ERGONOMICS AND EASE OF USE

NEW PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

NEW MARKETS

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How did your drawing software equipment evolve within your Design Office?

What are the advantages of Advance Steel compared to the software you were previously using?

How have you customized Advance Steel to match your work methods?

Can you give us a description of the footbridge project you recently built with Advance Steel?

How did you collaborate with the other companies working on this project?

To conclude, what is your general impression of Advance Steel?

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