NC files

Steel-Glass façade for the most inclined Tower of the world

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Steel-Glass façade for the most inclined Tower of the worldThe façade of the Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi was constructed by Waagner-Biro Stahlbau AG with Advance Steel, the 3D-Software for steel constructions.

The spectacular skyscraper “Capital Gate” was created directly to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, the biggest area for trade shows and events in the Middle-East. The Capital Gate is 160m high and has an impressive inclination up to 18 degrees. Therefore it is more inclined than the leaning tower of Pisa that has only an inclination of 4 degrees. In the Guinness Book of Records the Capital Gate is already listed as the most leaning tower of the world. The building was erected between 2007 and 2010. It consists of 40 levels and is used as an office complex. In the 16th upper floors a five-star-Hyatt Hotel is located.

Waagner-Biro AG from Vienna was responsible for the modeling, construction, detailing and assembly of this extraordinary and organic formed steel-glass-facade of the Capital Gate. The tower has a polygonal foundation and the facade is one degree per level sloped and twisted. At the most inclined part the facade leans out more than 24m over the ground floor. The main-load bearing structure consists of a diamond structure.

Waagner-Biro Stahlbau AG

More than 720 diamond elements were field-assembled by triangle sections with the glass and finally mount complete to the main structure. Each of those large-sized elements called “Diamonds” covers two levels and consists of 18 triangular areas and 33 single rods. For the entire facade 23.760 single bars and 12.960 glass panels were used. Because of the complex free formed surface each triangular glass panels and each single bar is unique. All in all more than 1.200 tons of steel and 24.000m2 glass was used for this extraordinary facade.

In order to realize the complex and challenging project in cost and on schedule, the 3D-CAD Software Advance Steel was used for planning. Thanks to its extensive 3D-tools it was easy to model the sculptured surface with nodes, rods and joints between them. Advance Steel processes the entire 3D model data, accelerates all document creation and insures all-around drawing consistency. An in-house programming on top of Advance Steel created all workshop documents (assembly drawings, GA-drawings, BOMs, NC-files) automatically from the 3D model.

Steel-Glass façade for the most inclined Tower of the world

Mr. Gert Weimann, head of engineering and construction department at Waagner-Biro AG, explains: “The project Capital Gate was a big challenge for us especially concerning the geometry, construction, detailing and assembly. Advance Steel increased the productivity in engineering and in the participated departments by more than 50% due to its 3D abilities and its possibilities of a comprehensive programming“.

About Waagner-Biro Stahlbau AG
Waagner-Biro is an international company for steel constructions and has its headquarters in Vienne, Austria. The company was founded in 1854. More than 1.000 employees work for Waagner-Biro in 16 offices in Europe, in South-East Asia and in the Arabic countries. Waagner-Biro is specialized in steel-glass-technology, bridge constructions, stage constructions and special mechanic engineering. Some of their main references are the cupola of the Reichstag in Berlin, the YAS-Marina Project in Abu Dhabi, the new airport terminal in Baku (Azerbaijan) and the Sony-Center in Berlin.

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User testimonial: using Advance Steel on its own platform

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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 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. »

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

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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.

Fantastic feedback from one of our UK clients!

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Westbury Park Engineering  are a service Engineering Company specialising in Fabrication, Structural and Mechanical Assemblies together with custom built equipment.

Fantastic feedback from one of our UK clients - Westbury Park Engineering

Their experience and diversity from being involved in the industry for more than 20 years has culminated in a wide knowledge and understanding of working practices, technologies and industry requirements.

Westbury Park Engineering have the experience to complete contracts from complete materials handling plants, MOD and Petrochemical Fabrications with full manufacturing traceability to mechanical and custom built assemblies including Hydraulics, Pneumatic, Electrical and CNC systems.

Westbury Park Engineering has been working with GRAITEC software for a number of years now.

Nial Ball, Westbury Park Engineering, recently sent in his comments following a site visit by one of the Technical Support team at GRAITEC UK: “I would like to thank John Bennett for the hard work he did yesterday in re-installing my Advance Steel. I think the work involved was a little more than he had anticipated but my Advance Steel seems to be working so much better now. Thanks again for your commitment to customer service and satisfaction. I can’t imagine that many other companies would be so dedicated to their customers“.

GRAITEC UK are committed to providing customers with the most efficient Technical Support service possible – a first class service our customers have come to expect over the years.

We remain focused on delivering outstanding service, and we are delighted to receive these extremely positive comments.

GRAITEC UK offers its users a wide range of services which can help optimise productivity: complete service maintenance, phone and E-mail based technical support, interactive live web support, general and custom training, CAD/design projects, custom software development and many others.

You can visit our Support  page for more information, or take a look at GRAITEC Advantage to see all the services included in our maintenance contract.

GRAITEC is partner with PEDDINGHAUS

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Established in 1903, Peddinghaus Corporation is the acknowledged global leader providing innovative machine tool technology for structural steel and plate fabrication. From Anvils and Bench Vises to Technologically Advanced Structural and Plate Fabrication Systems, Peddinghaus has served the Steel Construction, Heavy Plate Fabrication, and related Metal Working Industries for more than 100 years.

Being committed to the industry for such a long time, Peddinghaus turned to GRAITEC’s ADVANCE Steel, because of its ability to automatically generate bills of materials and NC files. With ADVANCE Steel, there is a direct link from the model to the Peddinghaus machine tool. Basically, CNC machines can be programmed by advanced design software, enabling the manufacture of products that cannot be made by manual machines, even those used by skilled designers or engineers. Modern design software allows designers to simulate the manufacture of their ideas. There is no need to make a prototype or a model. This saves both time and money, while providing the most accurate, productive, and profitable parts or products.

ADVANCE Steel creates all fabrication drawings and offers a large selection of tools for automatic detail creation, dimensions, annotations, and accelerates the creation of general arrangement drawings, fabrication drawings, list of materials and NC files: complete library of structural elements, parametric and customizable connections, wizards for miscellaneous steel (stairs, railing), materials library, sections, bolts, and others.

Needless to say, the advantages of combining computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer aided designing (CAD) are many: reduced cycle time and non-production time, jobs can be set up more quickly, improved accuracy, reduction of scrap and lower scrap rates.

Advance Steel for StruCAD users

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Advance Steel for StruCAD users

Advance Steel, the alternative solution to StruCAD

GRAITEC Products: CAD and Design Software for the Construction Industry

  • Proven track record with more than 10,000 seats worldwide: Trusted market confidence
  • Rapid adoption rate resulting in +50% growth in licenses in 2011: Tried and tested solution
  • Increased functionality / productivity: Tools for all market sectors: BIM, Structures, Off-shore, Bridges, Architectural, Sheet-metalwork,…
  • Works as a standalone application or with AutoCAD: Flexibility for users to choose platform to that suits them – no need to have AutoCAD
  • Low initial financial outlay: Best value system on the market
  • Lower on-going cost of ownership: Premium support & maintenance less than half the price of other systems
  • Easy to use and short learning curve: 5 day foundation training course; 3-days transition training from Strucad, includes full training manual
  • Quick and easy deployment: Set up company drawing borders in minutes
  • Interoperability: DSTV NC files in all versions, IFC, SDNF, CIS2, Graitec BIM, KISS, PSS, …
  • Support and Helpdesk service rated 98% excellent or good by our users: Dedicated team ready to help you by phone, email or remote assistance

Advance Steel 2012 videos

Advance Steel 2012 – Easy and efficient modelling tools
Advance Stel 2012 – Easy and efficient modelling tools
Advance Steel is a complete 3D BIM steel detailing software providing automatic and user-friendly tools for creating the 3D model of your building in the best time.
From the creation of the portal frames to the generation of all cladding profiles, Advance Steel comes with numerous easy-to-use tools for purlins, side rails, automatic connections, stairs, railings and much more!
Advance Steel 2012 – Navigation through a 3D model
Advance Stel 2012 – Navigation through a 3D model
See how user-friendly and powerful Advance Steel 2012 is to navigate through a complex pedestrian bridge (model courtesy of PKD, Czech Republic).

Customer Projects

Advance Steel CIS/2 interface Advance Steel CIS/2 interface
Coke oven gas desulphurization done by
Hutni projekt Frydek-Mistek a.s with Advance Steel		 New Valenciennes stadium done by
ETI with Advance Steel
Advance Steel CIS/2 interface Advance Steel CIS/2 interface
U2 “360° concert” stage done by
Stageco with Advance Steel		 Steam cracking furnaces done by
Heurtey Petrochem with Advance Steel

GRAITEC will be exhibiting at NASCC 2012 in Dallas, Texas, April 18-20, 2012

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March 22nd, 2012. GRAITEC is pleased to announce that the GRAITEC North American team will be exhibiting at NASCC, the steel conference in Dallas, Texas, on April 18-20, 2012 at booth #610.

The GRAITEC team will be demonstrating Advance Steel 2012, the powerful and user-friendly 3D structural steel detailing and fabrication software that automatically creates drawings, BOMs and NC files, and that communicates with Autodesk® Revit® among other systems.

Version 2012 of Advance Steel provides the user with the choice of CAD platform, AutoCAD or the GRAITEC CAD platform. The team will be demonstrating Advance Steel with both platforms at the NASCC.

GRAITEC will also be demonstrating Advance Design 2012, a superior solution for the structural analysis and design of Reinforced Concrete, Steel and Timber structures according to the latest versions of Eurocodes and North American codes.

During the NASCC, GRAITEC is offering

3 workshops on Thursday, April 19:

More doors open to Advance Steel

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With the shocking Strucad announcement, Strucad users are now faced with a difficult decision – or is it?
For anyone involved in Structural Steelwork, the way GRAITEC UK sees it, there is a clear and easy choice, Advance Steel 2012!

Advance Steel 2012 offers:

– Proven track record with more than 10,000 seats worldwide

  •  Trusted market confidence

– Rapid adoption rate resulting in +50% growth in licenses in 2011 – 

  • Tried and tested solution

– Increased functionality / productivity 

  • New tools for all market sectors: BIM, Structures, Off-shore, Bridges, Architectural, Sheet-metalwork…

– Works as a standalone application or with AutoCAD – 

  • Flexibility for users to choose platform to that suits them – no need to have AutoCAD

– Low initial financial outlay 

  • A fantastic GRAITEC UK ‘Switch-offer’

– Quick and easy deployment

  • Set up company drawing borders in minutes

– Interoperability 

  • DSTv NC files in all versions, IFC, SDNF, CIS2, Graitec BIM, KISS, PSS…

– Support and Helpdesk service rated 98% excellent or good by users  

  • Dedicated team ready to help you by phone, email or remote assistance


The GRAITEC UK branch has never received so many phone calls and enquiries from people looking for an alternative solution to Strucad, and the feedback from those that have already moved to Advance Steel was “easy to use” and “very capable”.

If you have been affected and would like to see more about Advance Steel why not visit www.graitec.co.uk/advance_steel_2012.html or contact one of the Graitec UK team on 0844 543 8888 or email your enquiry to sales@graitec.co.uk

Movable overland tripper detailed with Advance Steel

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Clinton Dantu, the CEO of Dantu Drafting cc. (South Africa), explains why Advance Steel was the right tool to handle this complex project and for creating all detailed drawings.

“Dantu Drafting cc. is a registered company formed five years ago to meet the high demand for an independent drawing office not affiliated to any particular Consulting or Engineering firm. We entered the market with many years of experience in Materials Handling, Process plants and Heap Leach layouts. We added detailing to our résumé as we found managing the drawing work from layout to fabrication gives us the edge over any of our competitors and speeds up the completion time of the job as a whole. We have been using Advance Steel for the past four years and we are really impressed with its 3D modelling capabilities and the speed with which one can complete any project.”

Movable overland tripper successfully detailed with Advance Steel

“The Movable overland tripper (mot) is a hydraulic driven and steered machine. We used wheel mounted Bonfiglioli 713 c3b with brake and disengagement planetary 142:1 gearboxes. The mot will be used in Zambia at Luanshya copper mine, to feed a heap leach system. The total mass of the machine is 45 tons with a total length of 38 meters and a total height of 9 meters. The mot is needed to be an all-wheel drive machine, as it runs above a 900 wide overland conveyor over uneven terrain.“

Movable overland tripper successfully detailed with Advance Steel

“We used Advance Steel for this project so we could do all our layout work in 3D and still easily supply the client and designers with 2D AutoCAD® drawings from which we could all sit around a table to discuss the concept. After our meetings we could update our 3D model to suit any comments and so update our 2D AutoCAD® drawings in time for the next meeting. Having the model proved to be a great tool in getting any new parties involved up to speed with the project, just by showing them the model they would get an immediate insight in to the project. Once the mot’s concept was approved and the design was complete we could continue with creating the connections and then the shop detail drawings. With a certain amount of input we could update our shop drawings to suit our fabricators requirements.“

Movable overland tripper successfully detailed with Advance Steel

“Using Advance Steel for this project helped us speed up the design time for the mot as we had a constantly updated model to keep all involved with the project informed of our progress and ideas. By using Advance Steel as the 3D steel detailing application, productivity gains of over 25% were realized, compared to using regular AutoCAD®.“

Movable overland tripper successfully detailed with Advance Steel

Engineering office: Dantu Drafting cc (South Africa) – http://dantudrafting.com/
Project: Heap leach project
Client: Luanshya copper mine
Location: Muliashi Copper Mine (Zambia)

Advance Steel 2011 compliant with AVEVA PDMS

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GRAITEC announces the compliancy of Advance Steel with AVEVA PDMS. This technology partnership will allow interoperability between the two software products and will increase productivity of engineers by offering an integrated solution from design to fabrication.

Advance Steel 2011 compliant with AVEVA PDMS

Advance Steel 2011 successfully completed the validation and testing with AVEVA PDMS through AVEVA’s OpenSteel interface. OpenSteel supports tightly integrated 2-way exchange of intelligent data with Advance Steel that includes modification and updating of the PDMS model. The combined solution reduces design time, rework and project cost by streamlining collaboration between 3D plant layout and steelwork detailing.

Part of the GRAITEC Advance BIM solution, Advance Steel is specifically designed for structural engineers and steel detailers who require professional and easy-to-use BIM software dedicated to structural detailing , miscellaneous steel modeling and automatic creation of drawings, BOMs and NC files. Advance Steel drastically increases productivity and drawing quality, while reducing the risk of errors.

AVEVA PDMS is the most powerful and productive 3D plant design software available, PDMS is the solution of choice in most of the world’s power and plant industries. It supports projects of all sizes, from the smallest upgrade to new-build installations of unlimited complexity, and offers valuable collaboration opportunities and an extensive pool of skilled users.

AVEVA PDMS                 Advance Steel 2011

Advance Steel 2011 compliant with AVEVA PDMSAdvance Steel 2011 compliant with AVEVA PDMS

Example of a pylon model shared between AVEVA PDMS and Advance Steel 2011.

For Paul Cooper, VP Partnerships and Strategic Alliances at AVEVA: “This agreement demonstrates AVEVA’s continued commitment to interoperability. The AVEVA OpenSteel interface has been developed to enable effective integration between PDMS and 3rd party steel detailing applications and we are delighted to welcome GRAITEC into our global partner network.“

For Manuel Liedot, Chief Technical Officer at GRAITEC SA: “The main benefits of this AVEVA PDMS / Advance Steel compliancy is the ability to identify and avoid collisions (e.g., identifying ductwork running into structural members or railings), and the creation of an interactive and complete 3D model which can produce detailed drawings for accurate fabrication and construction of the project.“

ParkerSteel highlights the benefits of using NC files in the steel industry

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Advance Steel automates the production of drawings, BOMs and NC filesParkerSteel, the largest privately owned steel stockholders in England, employing over 450 people, and one of the major firms bringing employment to the Canterbury area, is promoting ADVANCE Steel as one of the standard “100% error free” solutions used for producing NC files.

“[…]it has become apparent that all parts of the steel supply chain are benefiting from the increased use and speed of NC files to exchange information for quotation and production purposes.”

One of the main benefits of ADVANCE Steel is, automatically generating NC files from the model, used to directly control the CNC machinery. As a result, using NC files can improve productivity, minimize the cost of errors, speed up production and finally, make the business more competitive.

Advance Steel is compliant with Voortman machinery

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Advance Steel is compliant with Voortman machineryDuring the NASCC 2011 steel conference, GRAITEC and VOORTMAN specialists had the opportunity to run a test session of the DSTV-NC files created by Advance Steel.

After the test session ended, the team could conclude the full compliancy of Advance Steel DSTV-NC files with the VOORTMAN machines.

Advance Steel is specifically designed for structural engineers and steel detailers who require a professional and easy-to-use 3D structural steel detailing software that automates the creation of workshop drawings, general arrangement drawings, reports and files for CNC machines.

VOORTMAN has developed over more than 40 years to be one of the world’s leading single source supplier of CNC-controlled machinery for the steel processing industry.