Robotic Shop
WHILE U.S.DEMAND FOR STRUCTURAL STEEL has increased significantly over the last five years, construction spending prospects have declined rapidly for the beginning of 2009 as the credit freeze recession spreads rapidly through most economies around the world. Now that the economic stimulus plan has passed, questions remain as to how soon we might begin to see the infrastructure projects moving, and whether they will be sufficient in sparking a turnaround for the economy…
Read More »It’s All About the Connection
ConXtech uses custom-developed technology to join structural steel design and manufacturing
In the world of structural steel, connections can make or break a project, both literally and metaphorically. Bob Simmons, a 30-year veteran of the structural concrete industry, developed an innovative system for connecting columns and beams. His patented invention, SMRSF (Simmons Moment Resisting Space Frame), uses standard HSS (hollow-structural section) columns and wide-flange beams with an interlocking connection. The custom-manufactured columns are welded with male-dovetailed inner-collar plates in the factory. The beams are robotically welded with female-dovetailed outer-collar plates on each end. At the construction site, the beams are lowered into place from above between the erected columns. The result is a stable steel structure that workers can assemble quickly. The method is the foundation of ConXtech, a design, manufacturing and construction service provider to the commercial residential housing industry…
Read More »Research and Design Is Changing the Shape of the Material World
An explosion of new materials, confusing and intriguing, lands on the designer’s palette
The construction industry prides itself in innovation, yet inventors like Li cite major problems in bringing new building materials and systems to market. Building codes that do not yet address new technology and risk-averse owners are partly to blame. “My theory on this [is that] the building industry lacks very much vertical integration,” says Bob Simmons, an inventor in Hayward, Calif…
Read More »Like its buildings, prefab rises quickly
Just last year, developer Alan Dones had plenty of reasons to worry about his $75 million-plus mixed-use development in Oakland.
He had locked his main tenant, Alameda County, into a 30-year office lease worth $140 million. But construction costs had escalated 15 percent in each of the two years since. And construction costs had just derailed another government-related project, the Port of Oakland’s 6,000-unit parking garage, which had been forecast to come in $52 million over projections…
Read More »Innovative Connections
ConXtech’s systemized approach to steel construction streamlines and transforms traditional design and construction processes.
ConXtech is a systemized approach to steel construction that encompasses a suite of standardized structural components, including boltless base plates, an exterior wall panel system, a stair system, a rooftop davit system, and a concrete floor system. ConXCAD™, a parametric modeling software suite, allows architects to easily adjust structural grid dimensions, even late in the design process…
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