TECHFLOW: Achieving detailing success through strength, experience and technology Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature Techflow Inc. has achieved success in steel detailing through its strength, ex- pertise and technology, says Birming- ham, Alabama based executive vice president Joel Hicks. “Strength is in the numbers – we have more than 350 detailers in five offices in India along with our U.S. office in Trussville, AL (a suburb of Birmingham),” Hicks says. “Our detailers go through rigorous 32 – March 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report training, continuing education and certi- fication and are backed by experienced team leaders and managers in India and our project and management support staff in the U.S.” Hicks is president of the National In- stitute of Steel Detailing (NISD) and says he has been working with other organi- zations to develop new training tools for BIM certification and detailer training to improve the industry. He says that over the past few years, the industry has shifted to an environ- ment where many fabricators are using overseas detailers. “There is a need for the manpower and lower labour costs, but this has its inherent challenges of communication barriers, non-familiarity with U.S. and AISC standards, as well as time differences. Our business model al- leviates these challenges and allows for better communication with fewer prob- lems and faster turn around, while still taking advantage of the lower prices.” “Our U.S. office handles all customer contact and job setup and management to ensure adherence to customer and in- dustry standards,” Hicks said. “We are always on call for our clients, with a high level of experience both in our overseas offices and here.” “Our project managers average well over 20 years experience in detailing and engineering. We utilize the latest tech- nology on the leading software platforms with dedicated crews using Tekla Struc- tures, SDS/2 and BoCad.” The business has achieved NISD certification and ac- tively participates in AISC and ISD com- mittee work and programs. Hicks says Techflow also contributes effectively in new work flows, including Building Information Modeling and Inte- grated Project Delivery (IPD). “We are working to revolutionize the way projects are done,” he said. “We can work with the design team during the design phase and develop the detailing model inte- grated with the design model. This elim- inates any of the issues that come up when the detailing is done as a follow- on trade.”