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This year’s North American Steel Construction Conference was held in Long Beach, California, from the 24th to 26th March, 2004.

Dowco Consultants, as usual, operated a booth to promote our detailing expertise and capabilities along with Tekla Structures and STAAD.PRO. This year unfortunately we did not have the Dowco race car there, to the apparent disappointment of many who came by!

Many interesting seminars were offered at this year’s Conference. One, which stood out and was well-attended was the forum on “Should Engineers hire Detailers?” There were 5 members on the Panel - 2 Fabricators (1 for, 1 against) 2 Engineers (1 for, 1 against) and 1 Detailer, Hugh Dobbie President of Dowco Consultants. This lively discussion which ran about 1-½ hours seemed to barely scratch the surface, with participants and attendees appearing quite polarized on this topic. A more appropriate title might have been “Should the detailer be hired at the Pre-Construction Stage?” It became evident from discussions that some detailers had been hired by General Contractors and owners as well as engineers. Although “Pre-detailing” or “Integrated Design Services” as it is branded by Putnam Collins Scott & Associates (PCSA), Seattle/Tacoma, may not be desirable on all projects, there appears to be a definite trend to pursue this initiative on projects of all shapes and sizes. After all 5 members had given a brief background of themselves and their opinions, questions were opened to the floor. There were so many that the allotted time was surpassed by 15 minutes and had to be adjourned for the next session.

This topic was particularly interesting because of the state of the construction Industry as a whole and the fact that engineering drawings are not always as complete as they used to be. The RFI procedure of going through the Fabricator slows down the construction process. The concept of detailers working directly with the engineer is becoming more common. In fact our Company has now completed over 35 different projects this way. The results are having a major impact on the drawing approval process. Having Detailers involved earlier on a project helps the engineer, especially if there are any dimensional clashes or connection problems. It also streamlines the RFIs process. We have found the waiting time for answers is usually down to a day or so, instead of 2 to 3 weeks. This makes the drawing approval process much smoother with a lot less changes.

I also attended a session on Liability issues (Liens, Extras and payment issues) conducted by Jeff Walsh, contract lawyer for Schuff Steel. This was a fascinating seminar. With the complexity of most projects now, it is imperative to review and only agree to Terms and Conditions that will suit your purposes and protect you against unforeseen problems that may arise during each of your projects.

The AISC offered a session on, “Most Frequently Asked Questions”. This session talked mostly about material specs, especially with implementation of A992 grade of material now as the industry standard and methods of fixing field problems (i.e.: Anchor Rod projection not long enough). Attendees were mostly engineers and fabricators, with a sprinkling of detailers. After a 30 minute talk on the accessibility of AISC -The Solution Center, the floor was opened to questions from attendees. It became apparent that The Solution Center is a great resource, not only for fabricators but for engineers, detailers and erectors. The website is continually upgraded and they will answer any question sent to them. The engineers in attendance seemed to acquire a better understanding of the types of connections being used in the different earthquake zones.

AISC’s 2004 T.R. Higgen’s Lectureship Award was presented to Lawrence A. Kloiber, P.E., Chief Engineer of LeJeune Steel Co., one of our clients. He presented an excellent paper on “Orthagonal & Skewed Shear Connections: Design & Detailing Requirements.” We have made several copies of this paper and it is available through our senior staff.

One of the highlights of the Conference was the lecture by Omer Blodgett on “Lessons I’ve learned in My Lifetime.” Any detailer worth his salt must be familiar with Dr. Blodgett’s book on welding, published by his employer, The Lincoln Electric Company. Few engineers have received the accolades Dr. Blodgett has: an AISC Higgens Lectureship Award (1983), AISC Lifetime Achievement Award (1999), Fellow with the ASME and AWS; Honorary Member of ASCE, and one of 125 people in the world recognized by Engineering News- Record for outstanding contribution to the construction industry during the past 125 years. The list could go on and on. Dr. Blodgett, now in his late 80s, regaled the audience with principles of engineering design, materials behaviour, problem-solving and other technical topics, interspersed with personal anecdotes. The session summarized the lessons of one of the steel industry’s living legends. Dr. Blodgett received a standing ovation.

The Conference Dinner was held at the Long Beach Aquarium, 3 blocks from the Convention site. People were able to pet the stingrays and sharks swimming outside in shallow pools. Indoors, you could wander through two different walkways, one for tropical fish and the other for northern Pacific Sea creatures – both fascinating. Later, dinner was served smorgasbord style in between and around the different fish tanks. The meal was excellent, featuring mostly seafood, with a baron of beef for those not partial to seafood. In one small corner, jellyfish slowly floated by, white, pale blue and neon-orange, surrounded diners, as the huge fish tanks were blended into the wall itself. An unforgettable evening!