Spantec managing director and founder Roy Beaumont said STEELbuilder would assist the company to improve its already strong growth rate. "It would be true to say that the major limitation to our growth has been our design capacity," he said.

"It takes us three months to get a new detailer up to speed with floor framing. Once they are experienced, it doesn’t take too long for them to work out what they want to do, but it does take them a long time to actually do it. The advanced tools provided by STEELbuilder will help them carry out this work much quicker.

"We have the production capacity and we are aiming to address the design constraints with this software. I’m hoping that we can reduce our quote design and project management turnaround times by more than 60 per cent. Spantec will also improve efficiency by combining our current three software systems into one. STEELbuilder is a fully integrated system from inquiry and quote to order and then through to production and invoicing."

Founded in 1991, Spantec is a successful lightweight structural steel beam manufacturer, specialising in flooring systems and architectural beams for domestic buildings and commercial construction. The company, employs 20 people and services steel-framers and kit home builders throughout Australia.

Mr Beaumont, who is also NSW Chairman of NASH (the National Association of Steel-framed Housing), said STEELbuilder was a major development for the Australian steel-framing industry. "One of the biggest problems facing the steel industry for some time has been the limitations of available design software," he said.

"We compete against the timber industry, which has sophisticated software developed over many years and paid for by a large number of users. The timber-framing industry doesn’t need many highly skilled design people because the software is so good.

"By contrast, steel-framers generally use either a design package they have developed themselves or a design system provided by the roll former manufacturer. Both of these invariably have limitations due to the small scale of investment.

"I was pleased when I heard ESS was developing a software system for the steel frame industry. No one else has attempted to produce a system like STEELbuilder.

"There’s the potential for STEELbuilder to become an even more sophisticated package as it gets more customers using it. Despite its sophistication, the cost to steel framers is a fraction of the cost of paying for the entire development themselves."

As well as using STEELbuilder to speed up its design process, Spantec will provide its customers with a tailored version of the software to make it easy for them to quote Spantec’s flooring system. The standard STEELbuilder package will also include Spantec flooring systems.

"Our customers who already use STEELbuilder will be able to incorporate our flooring system into their frame design seamlessly," said Mr Beaumont. He said ESS was a very professional organisation to work with. "To date, ESS is exceeding our expectations," he said. "We are confident that ESS will deliver what they promise and when they do, STEELbuilder will be a major achievement."