Dear reader,
 Tekla is fully committed to delivering our software users new and improved functionality every year, no matter the economic situation. With the help of new interactive videos you can easily see what important features we have to offer. Now is the time to start preparing for the next upturn by reviewing your work processes and learning how to use Tekla Structures even more effectively!


Every spring brings the latest version update: Tekla Structures 15 will be launched very soon, at the end of March.

The new features in Tekla Structures 15 will let you model and detail more intuitively, enhance your drawings and other output, as well as improve project collaboration through enhanced interoperability and visualization.

See for yourself and learn your reasons to update at www.teklastructures.com

Tekla Structures 15 release notes and installation downloads are available at the Tekla Extranet.

The new Tekla Extranet published soon is meant for all customers who have purchased software maintenance. This new online dimension provides you with professional online support, useful tips and answers to your questions, a chance to meet other users in the global Tekla network, as well as a smoother way to download the latest version updates and releases.

Extranet content is structured in a more logical way than before. In addition to English, the new extranet is available in French, German, Japanese and Chinese. All customers have access to content in every language.

The old hints & tips have now been moved to Questions & answers, and there is some new content, too, from the Tekla global helpdesk. Extensions to Tekla Structures (both custom components and extended applications) can now be found under Product menu with informative pop-ups describing their functionality. The Installation Troubleshooting Guide and version Release Notes you can find under Version downloads. The License Borrowing Guide and Quick and User Guides to FLEXnet are all under Licensing, and Task Manager User Guide as well as Keyboard Shortcuts, for example, can be found under Manuals.

Remember that the latest version of Tekla Structures software is available from the Tekla Extranet. Login or register to benefit from this value-added service!

In recent years, the Tekla terminology group has compiled the key concepts related to Tekla Structures software into one glossary. The glossary’s aim is to facilitate all our users’ project communications by clarifying the concepts and terms they need in their work.

The glossary clarifies the contents of more than 450 Tekla Structures related concepts. The relations between concepts are illustrated by means of concept diagrams, and the definitions and supplementary notes offer an effortless way to familiarize oneself with Tekla Structures terminology. The glossary also gives recommendations on the usage of certain English terms. Login or create a My Tekla account to browse through the glossary!

Tekla’s solution for construction management supports contractors, sub-contractors, and project management professionals by helping them to centralise and visualise project data in the 3D structural model. Scheduling and cost estimation and control can be carried out by an effective communication and decision-making process that results from managing the fragmented nature of both project planning and performance.

Tekla Structures, Construction Management configuration will include a tool called Task Manager that allows incorporating time-sensitive data into the Tekla model to control the schedule at various stages and levels of detail throughout the construction project. It can be used to create, store and manage scheduled tasks, and to link the tasks to their corresponding model objects. The tasks help in creating customisable model views and comprehensive 4D simulations of how the project is proceeding. What’s particularly great about the tasks is that they can be imported from external project management tools, such as Microsoft Office Project or Primavera P6. This import functionality allows preserving any schedules that have been created outside the model environment, thereby maintaining schedule intelligence and organisation.
 
More information on the solution at Tekla website
Did you miss our interactive web presentation last year? See it here


Aarbee is one of the major Tekla software users in india having state of art infrastructure detailing facility at their Bangalore office with strength of 150 highly experience engineers using more than 100 tekla work stations & providing offshore structural steel design and detailing services to its clients. 

Using Tekla, Aarbee delivers high quality and precision detailing, drawings and 3D models with stringent delivery schedules. Aarbee’s review of Contract drawings, 3D modeling and engineering drawing covers perfection and consistency of engineering, design, practicability of fabrication and ease of erection. Commitment to schedules and economy in fabrication and erection are our underlying factors.

 With the strength of Tekla Structure and highly profound engineers Aarbee demands the capability of undertaking large-scale projects with tight delivery schedules.

More information at http://www.aarbeesteeldetail.com/

 

The annual Tekla customer satisfaction survey was conducted last December – many thanks for your participation and feedback! The results are based on the responses of 1,726 respondents, who were asked to evaluate Tekla B&C’s product and services. The response rate was 23%.

Technical support was considered the most important and Tekla Structures deliveries as the most successful service fields in 2008. Satisfaction with Tekla customer relations and Tekla Structures software was at the highest level ever. There is still some room for improvement in the speed of technical support, however. In 2008, altogether 74 percent of the survey respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall performance of Tekla. On a scale from 1 to 5, the satisfaction with overall performance of Tekla has increased from 3.6 to 3.8 since 2007.

The most important benefits gained from the business relationship with Tekla are seen to be higher design quality with less errors, increased accuracy and efficiency, and increased productivity. Our customers are also the most satisfied with the realization of these issues.

Tekla Structures Model Reviewer Released on 31st March 2009

What is it?

Tekla Structures Model Reviewer is a web viewer based application. It is a free tool that you can use for:

  • Better and easier collaboration and sharing of information with all project stakeholders
  • Creating comments and mark ups in a Tekla Structures Web Viewer model
  • Delivering Tekla Structures Web Viewer models more easily via email than with the current Web Viewer tool
  • Creating presentations for sales purposes

Main features

With the tool you can:

  • Easily Pan, Rotate, Zoom, Fly in and around the model
  • Use mark up view points to quickly present specific areas of the project or fly through set of locations as so that the audience will quickly get an understanding of the whole project.
  • Create mark ups with descriptions and redlining
  • Use clip planes to slice your project to provide perfect views in congested areas
  • Take snapshots from any angle of the model
    Change colors so that you can see the model structure easier

Tekla Model Reviewer  www.tekla.com/modelreviewer

Despite the downturn in the world economic situation, G2G has made a strategic decision to expand the use of Tekla Structures BIM (Building Information Modeling) software in the whole corporation. G2G has made a commitment for over 40 licenses & expected to add more licenses as they are able to diversify their business in different segment.

Most companies today face growing pressure from the underlying business environment and are calling for alternative long-term growth strategies to improve business results. More and more business models consider partnering as a
fundamental corner pillar for success. In more than one industry one can observe the emergence of network-based competition models. To play along and persist in this competition between entire networks, adequate partnering competence is evident.

G2G’s different outsourcing models give a greater degree of flexibility in choosing partnership. Traditional partnering, often referred to as strategic alliances, joint ventures, franchises, networks and alike, takes into account that no partner is dominated by another and that technological and financial risks are taken and managed jointly while G2G’s objective is to build and sustain competitive advantage besides expanding service offerings, accessing new markets and enhancing business for themselves and their customers jointly.

G2G also assist corporations worldwide, outsource, incubate and project manage to deliver total value by building long-term relationships for organizations to harness the power of outsourcing efficiently.

G2G helps companies create outsourcing strategies and outsourcing relationships that deliver total value improving performance and results throughout their client’s organizations by establishing and constantly refining a broad base of high quality, economic resources that can cater to their special needs.

G2G’s flexible, collaborative approach analyzes the specifics of each sourcing challenge and encourages collaboration between customers and offshore team to spark creativity and lay the groundwork for long-term outsourcing success.

More information at - http://gen2global.com/

Tekla has started to arrange online webinars on building information modeling (BIM) for structural engineering. The first webinar in February illustrated how engineers and detailers can benefit using the same Tekla model, how the information created in the general design phase by engineers is useful downstream in the process, and how to confirm RFIs electronically as well as manage liability issues.

Aimed mainly at engineering offices, Wednesday Webinars also serve other building and construction disciplines. The first webinar on 4 February attracted about 150 attendants. Excellent feedback  included several further questions about the process. The topic for the March webinar was passing an engineer’s design downstream in the BIM process.

The webinars are held on the first Wednesday of every month, twice a day at 12:00 CET and 12:00 EST. There are nine more webinar days planned for 2009. The webinars use Webex technology and last about 30 minutes. All webinars are recorded and posted on our Wednesday Webinar page. Their attendance is growing steadily session by session and has already reached almost 1000 visitors. Go check out previous webinars or register to attend the next one!

STRUCON Consulting is an Indian consulting firm started in early 2003 with strength of two engineers and 5 detailers.  Since inception, Strucon has executed civil/structural design and detailing work for various prestigious work e.g. Power Plants, Cement Plants, Material Handling plants, institutional, commercial and residential Buildings.

STRUCON has become one of the top Tekla Detailers in terms of licenses in Northern India and in future it will give competitive benefit as well.

Using Tekla Structures, Strucon provides the highest quality drawings and 3D models for fabricators and detailing firms. Company has become a major Tekla Structures user and has added to its competence with some more licenses for steel detailing.

STRUCON offer civil & Structural Engineering services in Power plant, Cement plant, Steel plant, Petrochemical Refineries, Material Handling structures and other Industrial Structures, Commercial/Institutional buildings and Tekla structure Modeling & Detailing.

More information at - http://strucon.net/

Tekla and HGG started cooperation on developing a standardized software solution for the steel tube industry in the fall of 2007. As a result, Tekla Structures 15 introduces the production of required control data for CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machinery in standard open XML format. Tekla Structures is the only solution on the market to cover all 3D tubular structures from design and detailing to automatic fabrication.

Up until today, data transfer with tubular sections has been possible but it has required several manual operations and editing of data to complete the process. By completing the 3D building information model (BIM) with a wide range of tubular connections, it is now possible to export information to tube profiling machines by using open XML as the new industry standard. Read more

BPDL, Canada
Last fall we introduced you to BPDL, Bétons Préfabriqués du Lac, of Canada, who have rapidly succeeded with the implementation of Tekla Structures in their operations.

Click this link to read more about the company and their Essex County Veterans Courthouse project.

Tekla hosted annual buildingSMART Implementer Support Group (ISG) meeting in Espoo, Finland, between 10 and 12 March 2009. The meeting focused on the framework for the continuous development of IFC-based communication between software solutions for structural engineering as well as presented successful BIM projects carried through in Finland.
 
Meeting participants represented software vendors and organizations from several countries, including aec3, Forschungscentrum Karlsruhe, iabi and Nemetschek (Germany), Graphisoft (Netherlands), Gehry Technologies (US), DDS, EPM and Nosyko (Norway), SCIA (Czech Republic), Granlund, Progman, Solibri and Tekla (Finland).

In connection with the meeting, Finnish BIM pioneers Senate Properties, Skanska and Pöyry presented their outlines for establishing more standardized design and construction processes to both local and international projects. Read more

Cad has been modeling so hard that he is starting to have weird dreams… How can he survive in the wild west of 3D modeling? What’s wrong with pioneer Bim these days? Will we ever see Cad again...?

Buildign Buddies Cad and Bim go west