Estimating
with TankGenii© software will give you -
Dependability. It is expertly designed and verified software
that produces the same result
repeatedly. All quoting will be consistent. Doubt will no longer be an ingredient in any
discussion; instead you will have a solid basis for any judgment calls.
Speed. Alternative
design solutions can be checked almost instantaneously. You will
know, when you need to, that your submission will be the best of your best.
It frees any fabricator to select and
proceed only those contract opportunities that are best
suited to their particular workshop.
More profit.
TankGenii©
is formulated to encourage design efficiency.
The Help sheet includes notes about the various inter-relating factors that
effect the costs and how to fine tune them. One part reads:
"Don't however, spend too much time trying for perfection. Remember that very few things are absolute, including
even the required capacity. Unless this program was available at the time, it is unlikely that
such detailed and instant cost information was included in the decisions when
anything (volume, diameter, end style, support type etc) was first
decided. (They might appreciate being offered the information now though)
Project Managers use it to establish current market
values for project costing and the consequent feasibility of new processing
facilities.
For Engineers, TankGenii© is a design evaluation
program. It will contribute significantly to the design efficiency by instantly
translating the variables into real time costs. It integrates design code
results, workshop experience and the availability of materials. It automatically
performs a seismic analysis to ensure that the support system is adequate for
any installation at risk and reports the results. You can thus fine tune options
against costs.
Workshop owners and estimators use it to determine
authoritative, and reliable costs for their particular workshop and hence as the
basis for negotiating contracts. Total man-hours, consumables, material costs
and profit per man-hour are all reported separately. You can vary all parameters
such as the applied margin to observe the effect on overall profit and profit
per man-hour for 'fine tuning' purposes.
However, although consistency, speed and
cost effective design all help, the essential ingredient
must first be accuracy. A truly professional estimating program must be reliably
accurate, without need of any
outside reference.
Estimating that depends on
historical information has three fundamental flaws. It needs a lot of data,
properly categorised, which is of little use unless available where and when required and
is reliably up-to-date. Unfortunately, it seldom is, and being "internally"
focused, it disregards the reality that something is worth only what
somebody else is prepared to pay. Simple, rate-based calculations are better
for that purpose and possibly adequate for similar types of construction
such as atmospheric mild steel storage tanks, but they are not appropriate for
stainless steel ones. Stainless steel tanks are used for such a diverse
range of conditions and purpose, that simple rates, on their own, are not
sufficiently detailed for estimating with enough certainty of accuracy. They
serve as a rough check. Not good enough for the foundation of
future business.
To illustrate with a simple example, consider an open topped tank with a
75x75x6mm rolled angle, top edge reinforcement. It is difficult if not
impossible to form the curve right to the end of the section, so allowance
must be made to trim the remaining straight ends to waste. Say we wanted a
5000 litre tank. A nice tidy size would be 1840mm diameter by 2000mm high,
giving us 10% ullage with a 25mm bottom knuckle. The circumference is
5780mm. so the barrel cuts nicely from a 2000 x 6000mm sheet and the top
edge reinforcer can be formed from one 6 meter stock length. Then without
checking what the effect might be, someone says "Let's have a full 2000mm
diameter, thank you" Suddenly nothing cuts from stock
material. The top edge reinforcer now requires two full strength butt welds and
unless coil stock is available, the barrel requires an extra full vertical
weld. How
does simple rate costing or for that matter, most historical data costing
deal with that? What usually happens is somebody finds out later,
"wears" it, then tries to make it up elsewhere.
TankGenii is a fully functional,
analytical program for estimating and quoting custom built, workshop fabricated,
industrial tanks
from 10 litres to 750 m3 or 2½ gals US) to about 26,500 ft3
capacity and optimising their design, both structurally and conceptually. It
is not just another historical data or simple rate-based calculator, but
uses multi level analysis, firstly of the design parameters as they apply to
the tank's architecture, then to each separate function of the fabrication
process to determine labour hours.
To evaluate a tank, you can start with three basic parameters. Capacity, preferred diameter, and bottom shape (conical, flat or domed). The
program calculates the required barrel height and offers a range of close
height/diameter ratios that utilise standard sheet or coil widths.
Alternatively, you may input a specific diameter and barrel height.
TankGenii© analyses
the basic information that you enter into its fundamental
components from which it calculates separate results. It then re-assembles those results,
checks the answer against various parameters, and delivers an appropriate
response. Sometimes that may be a "Sorry, try again please" but
it always tells you why and suggests your probable best solution. For
material costs, it has a 'smart' database, which uses
international base rates as its reference and allows you the option of using
those or inputting your own. It is a stand-alone program that
comes ready for immediate use.
TankGenii©
includes QuoteGenii©
a separate worksheet for analysing other fabricated components. It
calculates material weights, automatically performs the extension
arithmetic, suggests fabrication times and checks the material/labour ratio
against expected parameters to ensure there are no major errors or
omissions. This worksheet may be used on its own as a very useful general
quotation work sheet.
It can be used immediately with
no learning time, each input step is a logical progression,
and once verified for a particular site, any staff member can
use it to produce reliable and accurate quotations. Disregarding its
inbuilt designing feature, this reliability alone can save hundreds of thousands of dollars
in a short space of time.
A typical tank, insulated, with a manway, nozzles, a vent, an agitator, access ladder and a special fitting takes
only minutes to quote,
allowing adequate time to compare the cost effect of different diameter to height ratios, support legs versus a skirt etc.
Finally, if you're wondering about the name. It
grew like topsy. Originally it was Tank Genie but some of my colleagues
pronounced that Tank Jenny. I'm no sexist but that didn't seem to fit and I said
so. We debated the issue for some time, and then one of the more lateral thinkers
suggested Tank Genius. Hmmm... well to be honest I felt good about that for some
reason and teased it out with him. The result, TankGenii was his stroke of
genius I thought. There's no such word as Genii but it sounded better than
geniuses. Now who could resist the suggestion that the child of their brain
displayed the characteristics of such multiple talents? Well I couldn't.
Click to read what other
fabricators have to say about having reliably accurate, stainless steel tank estimating
software or here for more
information.
