Standard Supplies is a Maryland-based fabricator of structural steel for mid-sized construction companies, providing the building blocks for projects such as schools, libraries, and shopping malls. The RFID system the company is planning should enable their customers to better track supplies throughout the construction process, saving money and time by providing instant information about each steel piece’s status and enabling just-in-time fabrication.

The company will use Vela Systems’ Material Tracker software to track RFID-tagged steel pieces throughout production. During the production process, the data compiled by Vela System’s software will be integrated into Tekla Structure’s building information modeling (BIM) solution. The BIM covers the entire structural design process from conceptual design to detailing, fabrication and construction, enabling more effective management of a building project.

With the new integrated solution, called Field BIM, Standard Supplies customers will have a view of the supply chain and be able to visualize the status of each piece of the project in the BIM system using up-to-date information from the field.