StruCad and the competitive advantages it delivers to ACL Structural Group

Last week the President of ACL Structural Group, Mr. Cory LePage, visited AceCad Software's UK headquarters in Derby and underlined his commitment and belief in StruCad as being the World’s leading 3D Structural Steel Detailing System.  ACL Structural Group provides quality Structural Steel Detailing and Design Services for the North American Steel Fabrication Industry. Currently employing over 20 experienced technical staff across three sites in North America, ACL has established a firm reputation for quality, reliability and maintaining project schedules.  Established by Cory LePage and Alden Prier and incorporated in 1998, ACL has most recently opened a new office in Eastern Canada in January of 2007 and is now able to conveniently service customers across six time zones.

The business has always been built around StruCad from AceCad Software and we have benefited from the advantages that the software brings to both our business and the entire structural supply chain, states Mr. LePage. Our choice of StruCad was initially down to the similarities and familiarity of the system compared with generic modeling or 2D drafting tools. The ease, with which we ourselves could convert and can now teach StruCad to new members of staff, is a significant and continual benefit to our business. We recruit graduates with an engineering or technology background and within 2 to 3 weeks they are already productive and within 6 to 8 weeks of detailing our regular jobs, have entirely covered the competitive cost of their StruCad license.  On a number of occasions we have actually been able to fully recover the capital costs of new Strucad licenses within 4 weeks when converting experiences detailers from other 3D detailing packages to Strucad.                                   

The quantum leap that we realized when we invested in 3D modeling software with StruCad nearly 10 years ago was dramatic and we haven’t looked back since. We would always recommend that any detailer that is using a 2D or generic modeling tool consider StruCad, which they will adopt and familiarize themselves with, far quicker than with other systems on the market.  We have looked at and even been swayed to invest in other well known 3D modeling systems. However, we are in business to provide high speed, quality detailing services at competitive prices and we know of no other system that can better help us achieve our aims than StruCad. We could not continue to remain competitive if we were to solely use other systems that we have tried. This is because it is our experience that with other systems we realize a far greater increase in detailing time, even using similarly skilled draftsmen with equivalent experience in all systems. With StruCad we have completed detailing jobs two to three times faster than with these other systems and the larger the project, the greater the advantage StruCad gives us.  

ACL regularly completes projects up to 10,000 tons and has an average project range up to 1,000 tons with up to  90% of the output from StruCad ending up as CNC or KISS files for our customers automated production facilities.  The reliability of output is critical for us and the consistency of 2D drawing output automatically produced by StruCad is the best that we have seen and we spend very little time editing and re-checking, which substantially increases our productivity.

With significant time savings and therefore productivity and organizational advantages connected with StruCad from learning, detailing and fabrication output perspectives, our entire process is optimized. This leads to advantages not just for us, but our clients also. We can expand our operation faster and complete jobs more rapidly than many of our competitors and at competitive rates. This means that we have access to more jobs by maintaining project schedules and generally supplying fabrication data ahead of schedule.  Strucad data output is first class and with StruCad freeware available to all in a project team, fabrication not only progresses sooner, but with fewer queries. 

As a direct result of the success that we attribute largely to the benefits of using StruCad we are already well advanced with plans to open a significant drafting facility overseas. The global detailing business is competitive and worldwide market forces mean that we must develop our business to meet the future demands of the industry for the next 20 to 30 years. We would always recommend StruCad for any organization large or small that is serious about structural steel detailing and is looking for a significant competitive advantage with the best 3D steel detailing tool available.

http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/pg/2007e0972pg.htm

Population Growth Secretariat / Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour

Province supports ACL Structural Group to help retain post-secondary graduates (07/07/31)

NB 972

July 31, 2007

FREDERICTON (CNB) - Keeping post-secondary graduates in the province to do work for an Alberta-based company was the focus of the funding provided to the ACL Structural Group through a special component of the Workforce Expansion Program.

Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne, Minister responsible for the Population Growth Secretariat made the announcement today on behalf of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Ed Doherty.

"By building strategic partnerships with internationally recognized companies, such as the ACL Structural Group, there is increased potential to retain our recent post-secondary graduates and bring former New Brunswickers back to the province," Byrne said. "Retention and repatriation are both essential in order to reverse New Brunswick's population trends and achieve self-sufficiency by 2026, as stated in the Charter for Change."

After performing a nationwide search for a location to open a new office, ACL chose Moncton because of its availability of post-secondary graduates and the opportunity to attract a bilingual workforce. Currently, ACL's Moncton office employs nine people, nearly all of whom are graduates from New Brunswick Community College's (NBCC) Civil Engineering program. The company plans to meet with NBCC Moncton to discuss training needs for their business and establish a partnership to help meet their human resource needs.

"Our company is very satisfied with the decision to expand our operations in Moncton New Brunswick," said Cory LePage, president of ACL Structural Group. "We have found a young, eager and well educated workforce. All of the NBCC graduates we have met are very happy to find good quality employment in New Brunswick."

The funding provided through the Department of Post-Secondary Education Training and Labour will go toward the training of individuals in the new Structural Steel Detailer positions. The contract with the company is for training two individuals, but they have a goal of expanding their workforce to 20 employees.

"We are pleased to provide $24,000 in funding through the Workforce Expansion Program to help ACL meet their workforce needs. As they expand their activity in New Brunswick there may be more opportunities to help fund the training of individuals as they grow other positions in the future," Byrne said. "This program is just one of many examples of how we are working to help increase our workforce and prosperity for our businesses. I am especially pleased that our graduates are able to stay here at home to continue to build their career and help shape the future of our province."

Byrne said the government will continue to partner with companies in Alberta and firms from other parts of the country to build a strong engineering supply chain.

Incorporated in 1998 by co-founders Alden Prier and Cory LePage, the ACL Structural Group provides structural steel detailing and design services for the North American Steel Fabrication Industry.

The Workforce Expansion program is designed to assist employers in meeting human resource requirements as they train and expand their workforce. The rate and duration of the wage reimbursement depends on the type of employment that is created and individual employed. For employers who hire recent post-secondary graduates, Workforce Expansion provides an extended duration of funding which translates into 70 percent of the employee's hourly wage to a maximum of $8.00 an hour for a period of 40 weeks.

This initiative is funded by the Government of Canada and the Province of New Brunswick through the Canada-New Brunswick Labour Market Development Agreement.

For more information on the department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour's Workforce Expansion program, visit the www.gnb.ca or call 506-453-2597.

07/07/31

MEDIA CONTACTS: Brendan Langille, communications, Population Growth Secretariat, 506-444-5070; Tyler Campbell, communications, Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, 506-453-2568.