KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM BUTLER’S ANNUAL SALES CONFERENCE

In March, our CEO, Bob France, spent three days in St. Louis at Butler Manufacturing’s annual sales conference. Senate is a certified Butler Builder and we’re continually looking to learn more about their products and services so we can better serve our clients. With a jam-packed schedule full of networking, motivational speeches, product updates, and plans for the coming year, Bob brought back a lot of great information. Here are his key takeaways from the meeting:

1. Butler can provide BIM (Building Information Modeling) services for projects by supplying BIM structural drawings to be incorporated into project design. A BIM model is a 3-D drawing of a building’s design that contains pertinent components, including the layout of all MEP and HVAC piping. A BIM model is particularly useful for large projects where the systems are complex because it will digitally lay out the building in preconstruction to determine if there are any clashes or potential for problems in the field – allowing the project team to fix these issues before a shovel ever hits the ground.

2. Value-Added Services for Butler Partners:

• Order-Trac – this digital app is a huge time saver for field erection and inventory control. Available to all Senate employees and field crew, this tool allows them to track the status of deliveries, including up-to-date locations and real-time updates on delivery times. It also verifies that the orders are complete and each order component is accounted for as they are unloaded. The bar scan identifies the part and indicates its location on the plan, allowing you to track the part location on the ground where it was last scanned on the site.

3. Butler’s building systems are state-of-the-art and the best the market has to offer, but the advantages of being a Butler Builder don’t stop there. Bluescope Properties is their development group and they offer several additional services:

a. Bluescope Properties – for this partnership, Senate and Bluescope Properties team together to create build-to-suit project. This could work in one of two ways:

i. Senate brings a credit-worthy tenant to Bluescope for a build-to-suit building and they will perform the development while we perform the construction

ii. Bluescope will invest in identified vacant land parcels and provide tenants for build-to-suit occupancy

b. Bluescope Conventional Steel Services-Bluescope will design and build conventional steel structures acting as a subsidiary of the Butler Builders ie, Senate Construction. Essentially, this will be like having our own structural steel company. Their Heavy Structures Division differentiates them for unique construction opportunities such as sports arenas or large facilities where a pre-engineered system is not practical.

4. There are also several exciting new products that are in the research and development phase that we’re eager to learn more about as they come to fruition.

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