Structural Steel Detailing, Our Proud New Service

We are pleased to announce our entry into the service area of structural steel detailing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, structural steel detailing is the design and drafting of the connections between the steel beams and columns in the massive steel frameworks that form the skeleton of most multi-story buildings in the western hemisphere.

The design of these connections is naturally very critical, since the decoupling of any beams from columns could result in collapse of the steel framework as well as the building, and the consequent deaths of thousands of people.

For that reason there are very exacting standards which are followed for structural steel detailing. These standards are different for every country, and are compiled by recognized industry associations of the concerned country.

Examples of such associations are:

American Institute of Steel Construction
Canadian Institute of Steel Construction
SBI Swedish Institute of Steel Construction
EUROFER, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries
African Iron & Steel Association
Arab Iron & Steel Union [AISU]
World Steel Association (formerly IISI)
Brazilian Steel Institute (IBS)
British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA)
Iron & Steel Institute of Japan
Korean Iron & Steel Association
Malaysian Structural Steel Association (MSSA)
Norwegian Steel Association
Steel Construction Institute (SCI- UK)
Taiwan Steel and Iron Industry Association (TSIIA)
Japanese Society of Steel Construction
The Steel Construction Institute
The Southern African Institute of Steel Construction
China Steel Construction Society

Structural steel detailing starts after the design of the structural framework has been completed. Using the properties of the steel material in question, the steel detailer calculates the forces acting on the connection he is designing. He then consults design tables to arrive at the specific design details of the connection.

These design details would include the material and dimension of the brackets, nuts and bolts. He expresses these in the form of an erection drawing, which is a drawing that people working on the site follow to assemble the actual connections.

Structural steel detailing typically involves the use of one or more very specialized software programs, such as STAAD, RISA, SAP2000, RAM, PCA, SAFE, and ETABS with the erection drawing usually being created with AutoCAD or MicroStation.

TMG has employed highly qualified, skilled engineers with considerable experience in designing western structures to perform its steel detailing and is proud to offer this new service to the international engineering and construction communities.

If you have a steel detailing the requirement and are interested in a no-obligation quotation, please click here.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Outsourcing: Onshore Call Centers Are Viable

Business Week, dated August 25^th 2009, published an article on US-based call-center jobs that pay $100K a year.

Though it is popular opinion that the US workforce is not competitive in the fields of information technology, web development and graphic design, some companies have proved otherwise. Even with globalization changing the economic front and knowing that outsourcing is here to stay, smaller US firms feel that the jobs can be retained within the country with the right planning and incentives. They feel it can work better for the company and its employees if the jobs are not outsourced.

Take for example iQor, a call center and business outsourcing company based in Columbus, Ohio. iQor has grown revenues at the rate of 40% in the last four years and they have done this by expanding their base throughout the US. They have given their workers better health insurance and almost 50% more on salaries and bonuses than normal industry standards.

iQor handles customer management, call center work, financial services and other industry-specific tasks. Some of their clients are Capital One, the BBC, Direct TV and MetroPCS Communications.

Though they do have some operations outside the US, iQor has been successful within the US with 12 locations and about 11,000 employees. Their call center workers in the US make more than $ 100,000 annually. The company has added almost 3000 jobs in the US alone and their turnover rate is about 45% which is less than half the industry average.

Studies have always shown that paying employees well and taking care of them pays rich dividends. iQor’s USP is that it values its employees above all and allows them to grow within the company with its in-house promotion policy. Employees have a chance to grow from the lowest job rung to the management level. Of course it goes without saying that the highest level of performance is called for. In addition, they have created career path programs for employees so they have better opportunities for growth.

What works in iQor’s favor is that they go that extra mile to increase employee efficiency by investing in advanced technology. Workers have to go through a screening process and an aptitude test before being hired. One other thing which worked for iQor was when they decided to cut costs to head-hunters who were bringing in prospective employees. They went on to pay their own workers high referral fees to bring in potential workforce which acted as a very good incentive.

iQor’s success lies in the fact that they work towards making call-center jobs more reputable by bringing in improved facilities and technology.

Outsourcing to India: the Other Side

Silicon.com has published an article on August 25^th, 2009 on how Indian outsourcing workers are being stressed to their limits.

Though it has been hailed as the key to India’s economic growth, the inside story of its the outsourcing industry is one of sheer drudgery, with punishing deadlines, long night shifts, irate customers a thousand miles away a the sheer, mind-numbing tedium of writing code.

With young employees in the outsourcing industry already suffering from acute physical stress due to over-work and lack of adequate sleep, matters are being compounded because of the recession and anxieties about losing ones job. This is on top of occupational illnesses like obesity, migraines and depression which fracture relationships and significantly increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Young, enthusiastic, just-out-of-college students struggle to keep apace with the frenetic work culture. Initial job euphoria is high, with non-stop partying and reckless spending during weekends. Bingeing on junk food and alcohol is the norm of the day. Peer pressure adds to the situation until youngsters end up totally stressed and unable to work.

Industry sources say that they end up losing a large portion of their employees solely due to stress. People on night shifts are the main casualties.

With healthcare being not being given due importance, the industry could be facing a severe crisis. Counseling centers say that they are seeing a lot more youngsters in the age group of 19-30 years who are unable to take the stress. The centers tell them to ease up and start managing job stress easily so they are able to take care of their relationships better.

Though some of the bigger companies are trying their best to provide facilities like an in-house gym, medical insurance, better work options, doctors, nutritionists and healthy food, their efforts are ignored by many of the younger employees. They are unable to get out of the groove.

Only time will tell whether there is a solution to this  perplexing sociological problem.