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Copper |
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Copper In 2011: A Beijing Opera
ICSG’s 2011 Copper Supply Forecast (1p PDF)
More Substitution?
Physical Copper ETFs May Soon Be A Reality
Tight Supply/Demand Picture |
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Electrical Construction |
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DC Power – Has Its Time Come (And Gone?) (Intel blog)
Electricians . . . Disappear?
Hospital IT Staffers Say Backup Power Is Chief Concern
‘How to Choose an Electrical Contractor’
GC Tutor Perini Buys Fisk Electric
Roundtable On Substations
Top Electrical Contractors in California, 2009
Top Subcontractors (including ECs) in Texas, 2009 |
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Energy Efficiency + Renewables |
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DOE Tries To Simplify Lighting Retrofits
ECs Need To Prepare For ‘Zero Carbon’ (from UK)
Free Online Course: Introduction To Renewable Energy
NEC + UL Provide NEC Solar Seminars
‘Pure-Play’ PV Developers & The Utility Market
Transformer Efficiencies: DOE Rules |
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Training Dates |
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Standard training classes set for
our Chandler, AZ offices are scheduled for April 27-29.
BY-HAND ESTIMATING: AZ classes are scheduled for March 10-11 and May 12-13.
Standard and Advanced pre-conference classes (see above) are set for Mon. & Tues., March 28 & 29, in Scottsdale AZ
An On-Screen Estimating and On-Screen Take-off class is set for Tues. March 29 in Scottsdale AZ.
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Hand Estimating Class in Maryland May 26th+27th.
Standard class dates for Columbia, MD is July 20th - 22nd.
Click here for the complete list of upcoming training classes 2011 training dates
Training can be "suit-cased" to your facility. We can tailor our training to your needs. Ask us about customized training at your site!
Call to register for any of the above classes, including those in Maryland: 1-800-444-4890.
We've posted training dates, directions to our training facilities, and registration forms on our Web page. Click the "Education" button on our home page, or go directly to this link: Education
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If we were meant to use the metric system, we would have been born with 10 fingers.
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March 30th Is Approaching Quickly –
Make Your Plans Now For The U.C.!
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Unfortunately, we can’t move the dates of McCormick Systems’ User’s Conference, set for March 30-April 2 in Scottsdale, AZ. We’d like you to be there – you’ll net “free software” as a result of your attendance, as we explained in the January newsletter.
You’ll need to register as soon as you can. Make your plans. Give us a call at 800-444-4890 to register, get more information, or ask any questions we’ve neglected to answer.
See last month’s newsletter and additional details added below (on our four guest speakers) for a full picture.
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PRE-CONFERENCE EVENTS
Monday, March 28
7AM Classes begin on Standard & Advanced Windows Training
(each runs two-days). End time: 4PM.
Tuesday, March 29
7AM 2nd day of 2-day Standard & Advanced Windows Training classes.
End time: 4PM
7AM Special new requested class on On-Screen Estimating.
End time: 4PM
Wednesday, March 30
7:30AM Tee-off time for McCormick Masters Golf Tournament
CONFERENCE EVENTS
Wednesday, March 30
7PM Welcoming Reception begins. End time: 8:30PM
Thursday March 31
7:30AM Registration for User’s Conference opens.
8:00AM Opening remarks
8:30AM Conference sessions begin. End time: 5PM
Friday April 1
7:00AM Conference sessions begin. End time: 4PM
6:00PM Conference dinner (location to be announced)
COMPUTER LAB OPEN HOURS
Thurs. March 31 8:30AM to 5PM
Fri. April 1 8:30AM to 4PM
Sat. April 2 7:30AM to 12NOON
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Powerful guest speaker topic: Productivity!
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McCormick Systems could easily host a 6-day User’s Conference – talking about our products for 48 hours in sessions and workshops. We wouldn’t duplicate a topic or repeat ourselves. There’s plenty to cover.
However, the 2011 User’s Conference is just two days of formal meetings. And we’ve cut into our own time – by inviting four Guest Speakers, from other companies, to speak to our customers within that time.
Why?
Simply put: Our history has been about helping electrical contractors improve the accuracy, profitability, and productivity of their electrical estimating and project management operations. That’s where we have lived since 1979; that’s what we hope to do when we come to work in the morning!
Others – software & technology suppliers that work with us – have ideas that can help you power up your productivity. This year, we’ve invited four of them to speak about what they offer:
- Trade Service
- Project Doc Control
- NetPricer
- BIM Solutions ( New this year )
Here’s a bit about what each will cover.
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Trade Service: Submittal Manager – as this product rolls out in early April, attendees at McCormick’s User’s Conference will be the first electrical contractors anywhere to get in-person demonstrations of Submittal Manager. Trade Service spent 18 months researching the product, and more than six months in development.
What it does: Mike Podoris, Director of Product Management for the company, observed that the task of putting together submittals can “cost” an electrical contractor a lot of valuable time – from 20 to 60 hours.
Submittal Manager will roll out with a database of more than 250,000 catalog pages (from 500-plus industry suppliers). It will also offer functions that can automate and speed production of a completed submittal document.
Here’s the unexpected kicker: Trade Service thinks the product potentially can help contractors bring that time down to five hours.
Yes, Trade Service says from 20/60 hours down to five; we did emphasize productivity gains for contractors in the intro above!
There are bells and whistles, which can make things go even faster and lead to higher-quality submittals. Examples: A submittal document table-of-contents can be automatically generated; page numbers can be automatically assigned; an Internet-based mark-up tool can be used; production of the completed document on paper can be accelerated (via a link to Fed Ex). You can easily add a header and footer to each page, automatically; your company logo can be integrated into the document. |
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Project Doc Control – President Jeff Burmeister of this three-year-old company actually has 12 years of experience with the 15-year-old Project Doc Control product (which once was known as Autodesk Subcontractor). Burmeister works with electrical contractors on a regular basis and is familiar with the McCormick audience; he has appeared previously at our events,
Burmeister will describe how contractors can automate their keeping and tracking of all the e-mails, RFIs, responses to the responses, and modified documents that each and every significant project generates. On occasion, perhaps you’ve found the 5th e-mail on a particular key item . . . but not the 3rd one on that specific issue; such missing information can hurt you.
With Project Doc Control, once you set up this system for your project, that won’t happen (not during the project and not later, should legal issues develop that make it vital that you locate specific documents).
According to Burmeister, take the proper action (turn on “archiving”) with his system, and – even if you clean out a file folder on your computer where you last saw a given important document . . . you’ll not only still have the item you suddenly find yourself needing, you’ll be able to find it (via a “link” created with one or another of the associated documents).
Project Doc Control now has 500-plus installations in North America; Burmeister estimates that roughly half are electrical, mechanical, or plumbing contractors; perhaps more than 100 ECs use this system.
Additionally, of course, his system works hand-in-hand with McCormick’s estimating software.
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NetPricer: Smart eCat – with the same organization behind NetPricer and ElectricSmarts.com, Sal Huerta of NetPricer told us, the next logical step is to give contractors more options for seeing – and using – manufacturer catalog information and pricing data.
With Smart eCat, due to roll out in early March, a given contractor will be able to give access to more people inside the company to manufacturer catalog information and the NetPricer system. Beyond the estimator, a contractor might want project managers and purchasing professionals to be able to access the catalog and pricing information (videos, too!).
Additionally, Smart eCat should be available on the iPad, Huerta said. That will mean a project manager can view product information on the jobsite, as well as the pricing info.
Why do this? Contractors have told Huerta (who is NetPricer’s VP of Business Development) that they would like to have broader and easier availability. “We all have the convenience of technology available to us in our personal lives, and we can access whatever information we need whenever we want – on a computer, or an iPad, or another device,” Huerta said.
“What I’ve heard from contractors is that it’s time to have information available in the same way in their business lives. That’s what they are looking for. That’s what we are trying to provide.”
Initially, Smart eCat will have catalog information from roughly 30 electrical manufacturers, Huerta said. But that’s March. By year’s end, the figure could easily be upwards of 100 to 150, he indicated.
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BIM Solutions – unlike the three suppliers above, this company – which offers expertise in CAD and BIM – will this year make its debut at a McCormick Systems’ User’s Conference.
[We learned about the company from one of our contractors, who works closely with BIM Solutions.]
“We work with electrical contractors, engineers, and others to help them learn to use BIM, and to work with them to integrate the technology into how they work on projects,” explained Bette Quan, partner and regional sales manager for the two-year-old company.
Essentially, as she explained it, BIM Solutions can become the strong right arm of an electrical contracting company that’s not yet thoroughly familiar – or even comfortable – with BIM. “We do production work for them. We can help them with building design. We can work with the contractor on scheduling. We can help them take BIM all the way through to the facility manager,” Quan said.
As of a recent conversation, BIM Solutions had worked with “at least 10” electrical contractors, she said. “At the McCormick Systems conference, we’ll explain to the electrical contractors how they can get into BIM. They’ll learn how they can integrate their needs, using BIM, into a given project.”
Scott Elliott, also a partner at the company, will explain how BIM Solutions does “media work” for contractors. That’s about using the 3D models – animated, so to speak – to demonstrate (to owners, for example) how the contractor will do the electrical work and what it will mean for the completed building.
“We work with contractors on how to use BIM to construct winning bids,” Quan said. “We can help a contractor use the BIM model to save money, and to reduce the amount of re-work that might be needed.”
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Booking your room has never been easier!
Click on this link to book your room
Group Name: |
McCormick Systems Users Conference |
Check-in: |
27-MAR-2011 |
Check-out: |
02-APR-2011 |
Hotel Name: |
Hilton Scottsdale Resort & Villas |
Hotel Address: |
6333 North Scottsdale Road |
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Scottsdale, Arizona |
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85250-5428 |
Phone Number: |
(480) 948-7750 |
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By Hand Estimating Course
We have scheduled an Estimating by Hand class for Arizona for March 10-11th.
. . . see you there!
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For Your 2011 Calendar |
The 2011 User's
Conference is set for March 30-April 2, in Scottsdale, AZ.
See www.mccormicksys.com for
details!
See us in Booth #1106 of the ABC EdCon and Expo , April 12-15 in San Antonio, TX
See www.abc.com for more info.
BICSI Fall, September 18-22, 2011
Las Vegas, NV
See www.bicsi.org for more information
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Solar Advice: Hire A ‘Really Good’ E.C
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I came across this 1,100-word piece under the headline Solar projects not for everyone.
It’s on the site of a Canadian publication, Today’s Farmer. It quotes Ted Cowan, “energy specialist” with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
Pay attention now, everyone:
Anyone interested in getting a solar system installed on their land should begin by finding a supplier, and Cowan said this where most people make their first mistake.
“You want to deal with someone who was in business at least five years before the (Feed-in Tariff) program started.
“Almost everyone else is a Johnny-come-lately, a fly-by-night operator.”
Cowan told farmers that while it might seem scandalous to refer to some operators in that way, he said the tag, in a broad sense, remains true.
The one exception is a “really good electrical contractor” who comes highly recommended with good references.
“These are the people who will be doing the job, so you want somebody who will be around for a while.”
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From GreentechMedia comes a piece under this headline: “AC or DC? Should We Switch Our Electric Current?”
EleBlog thinks YES, of course. A coupla sentences from the thing:
- A recent Duke University test showed that DC data centers consume 15 percent less power. Others peg the potential savings at closer to 30 percent.
- A 380-volt DC charger can charge an electric car in 10 minutes, said Liang Downey, director of digital applications [at Nextek Power Systems, it appears]. A 220-volt AC charger needs five hours.
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The Grid Becomes Less Reliable
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The U.S. electrical grid has been plagued by ever more and ever worse blackouts over the past 15 years. In an average year, outages total 92 minutes per year in the Midwest and 214 minutes in the Northeast. Japan, by contrast, averages only 4 minutes of interrupted service each year. |
What happened? Starting in 1995, the amortization and depreciation rate has exceeded utility construction expenditures. In other words, for the past 15 years, utilities have harvested more than they have planted. The result is an increasingly stressed grid. Indeed, grid operators should be praised for keeping the lights on, while managing a system with diminished shock absorbers.
R&D spending for the electric power sector dropped 74 percent, from a high in 1993 of US $741 million to $193 million in 2000. R&D represented a meager 0.3 percent of revenue in the six-year period from 1995 to 2000, before declining even further to 0.17 percent from 2001 to 2006. Even the hotel industry put more into R&D. cont.. |
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EV Batteries (From Peterson)
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John Peterson posted a piece just after Xmas on energy storage items for electric vehicles. I’ve read it 3x now (and glanced at it maybe a few more). The gist is this table and the words he penned + posted just below it: For the average consumer, the only reason to consider vehicle electrification alternatives is to save money. The Ricardo table leaves little room for doubt on the question of which energy storage technology wins the cost efficiency crown.
You really can’t argue with the first sentence. I’m not deeply enough into the other battery options to argue with the table.
Bottom line: If the table has got it right, it’s gonna be tough to beat Lead-Acid.
WHO BE RICARDO? Read Peterson’s piece — it’s Ricardo PLC, “a global leader in engineering solutions for low-carbon, fuel-efficient transportation.”
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