Steel is critical to the growth and success of both developed and developing economies. In the United States, the importance of a strong and viable steel industry is recognized as key to economic and infrastructure security. The Steel industry in the United States employs about 120,000 skilled, efficient workers who use cutting edge technology and produce over $58 billion worth of high quality carbon, alloy and specialty steel products annually.
As the world’s appetite for steel continues to grow, Steel fabricators across the world are finding it increasingly challenging to support the steel demands of the infrastructure and construction industries.
Steel fabricators purchase steel and fabricate steel members specific to the architectural and structural design requirements of projects. A key aspect of Steel fabrication is Steel Detailing. All steel members required to build the structure are fabricated and erected from shop and erection drawings created by the structural steel detailer.
Steel detailers work closely with architects, engineers, general contractors and steel fabricators. They usually find employment with steel fabricators, engineering firms, or independent steel detailing companies.
As steel based construction projects are on the increase, steel fabricators are finding it increasingly difficult to find steel detailing firms who can deliver good quality drawings on time and within budget. Furthermore, there is concern that a majority of the existing U.S based steel detailing firms are small businesses serving the local demand and therefore unable to increase their production output or invest in expensive technology to upgrade to next generation steel detailing applications like X-Steel and SDS-2.
In order to meet existing fabrication demands and secure detailing assets for the future, Steel Fabrication companies are outsourcing the steel detailing project work to established steel detailing companies overseas in countries like India where professionals speak good English and are highly trained and experiences in the field of Structural steel design and detailing.
Also the slowing down of the U.S economy is contributing to the surge towards outsourcing in general to reduce overall costs and meet financial goals. Steel Fabrication firms in particular are increasingly outsourcing functions like Steel Detailing to companies overseas who can offer produce quality shop drawings for a bargain price when compared to similar costs of production in the U.S. This trend to outsource Steel Detailing is also considered a competitive edge among many Steel Fabricators across the U.S.
