Zamil Steel and Trimble to transform steel fabrication globally

Global construction technology leader Trimble has announced that Zamil Steel, a global leader in engineering and manufacturing of various high-quality steel products and the Middle East’s premier supplier of pre-engineered steel buildings and structural steel products, has chosen its software, including Tekla PowerFab, to transform steel fabrication in its factories in India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Vietnam.

Headquartered in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Zamil Steel operates a group of manufacturing, fabrication, and construction companies worldwide. It is also the largest manufacturer and supplier of pre-engineered buildings in all of Asia, Africa, and Europe, with a total production capacity of more than 10 million sq m per annum.

In India, Zamil Steel Buildings India has a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Maharashtra’s Ranjangaon MIDC-Shirur, near Pune, spread over 87,000 sq m, and a further 3,500 sq m of corporate and engineering office space in Kharadi, Pune.

Zamil Steel has been one of the early adopters of steel construction technology in its factories around the world. The company has deployed Tekla PowerFab to streamline its fabrication workflows by taking advantage of the advanced communication and collaboration features built into the software solution.

“We welcome Trimble as our technology partner and look forward to their support as we undertake an ambitious digitalisation programme to serve our customers with better quality products and faster turnaround times. We chose Trimble’s Tekla PowerFab for its industry- leading capabilities and comprehensive applications that dovetail perfectly with our requirements at every step of our digitalisation journey,” said Vasudev Rao, Director-Engineering, Zamil Steel Buildings India. In the past, Zamil Steel has used Trimble’s technology in various marquee projects, consisting of a production facility for pharmaceuticals and automobiles, an indoor stadium for education, a coal shed for the cement industry, hangars for aviation, warehouses, and many more across the globe.

The scale of these projects varied from 2,500 MT to 12,000 MT, with an estimated cost varying from US$ 4 million to US$ 20 million. The execution time, which was tightly scheduled, spanned between 6 to 15 months. The major challenges in executing these projects ranged from precision designing and detailing of complex buildings and connections to logistics due to component size restrictions, and erection feasibility at the site.

By using Trimble’s solutions, Zamil Steel was able to undertake smooth and seamless fabrication with minimal wastage while working with real-time visibility, even on mobile devices. This helped restrict material wastage to a great extent and reduce overall costs.

As Tekla PowerFab provided a streamlined fabrication workflow and easy collaboration, it increased efficiency to a large extent and helped finish the project much ahead of schedule with no hassles. Paul Wallett, Regional Director, Middle East and India, Trimble Solutions, said, “We are proud to be associated with Zamil Steel as their technology partner as they undertake the digital transformation journey in steel fabrication and PEB construction. We are also thrilled to note that Tekla has already been instrumental in driving their digitalisation across projects.

This partnership also underlines the trust that we have built with our customers in Asia over the past decade, and we are confident that with our new subscription offering, more companies will be able to leverage the power of technology and build more efficient construction processes.” Tekla PowerFab was explicitly designed for the steel industry to streamline fabrication workflows and provides an open interface for easy integration with other software such as ERP, machinery, bar-coding, nesting, and others.