A proposal for best practice in design, detailing and fabrication of steel structures in developing countries based on worldwide experience

Based on worldwide practical experiences, a fully automated CAD/CAM system covering the process of design and fabrication for a complete spectrum of steel structures is presented in this paper. The system also supports co-operative planning for geographically distributed engineering offices and fabricators. A number of advantageous aspects of such system are also presented. It is believed that the very limited capacity of the building industry in some developing countries is mainly due to its undeveloped planning process, including distributed design and detailing, as well as limitatioins in the fabrication procedures. Therefore, as the best solution, the paper proposes adaptation of a customized and localized version of the new technology. It is finally concluded that civil and structural engineers must particularly gear up to use such tools for a chance to make a successful transitional move to global markets and to make the local building industry strong enough for the challenges of the near future.