For Immediate Release: January 23, 2019
BOISE, Idaho – Boise Cascade Company (Boise Cascade) (NYSE: BCC) will demonstrate the unique features of BC Connect®, BC Estimator® and BC FloorValue® during the 2019 International Builders’ Show (IBS), taking place Feb. 19-21 in Las Vegas, Nevada. These specialized software tools — developed by Boise Cascade to help builders, dealers and distributors work smarter, improve productivity and reduce costly errors — will be on showcase at booth C1825, among other new-and-improved product and service offerings.
BC Connect
BC Connect is a web-based platform of integrated tools that lets dealers and distributors manage their EWP (engineered wood product) workflow. It gives customers a central resource to manage projects, coordinate drawing services, import and manage material lists, create quotes, optimize job pack creation based on inventory, and store other project files conveniently using the Internet.
Improved quoting, job pack bundle management and project sharing are some of the newest upgrades to BC Connect. Quoting is now more flexible as a result of the addition of multiple price tiers, which allows users to create unique pricing schemes and apply them to a material list to create a quote. Individual line item pricing can now be adjusted within the quote for complete customization, and high-level summary information lets users quickly see price, cost and profit. What’s more, project sharing services automate the workload between locations by allowing users to share an individual project with other BC Connect dealers or distributors. With this new feature, a dealer can request design services from their distributor and have the resulting design files and material list saved to their BC Connect project for further processing. BC Connect’s new bundle management feature gives users the ability to identify where in the yard stored material bundles are waiting to be shipped, so that nothing gets left behind when it is time to load a truck for delivery.
BC Estimator
BC Estimator provides dealers with a fast and easy way to create accurate material lists and layout drawings for those instances when an engineering analysis is not required. Rather than building a 3D model for analysis, BC Estimator lets users import drawings and trace over members, which greatly reduces the amount of time it takes dealers to transition from plans to material lists. Conveniently, the service also integrates with BC Connect to transfer material lists automatically, which reduces the time and potential for mistakes from manually inputting data. With BC Connect, users can fully manage the project from quoting through to delivery. This tool is positively impacting the industry, particularly in the multifamily and highly specified markets where engineering analysis is often outsourced.
BC FloorValue
BC FloorValue software helps designers quickly identify floor performance issues early in the design process and find opportunities to efficiently resolve those issues. As an integral part of Boise Cascade’s BC Framer® design software — and coming soon to its BC FastPlan® design software — BC FloorValue offers a convenient way for designers to confirm that a floor plan has been fully optimized. The easy-to-use tool evaluates a floor plan for problems, suggests options to correct detected issues and provides a cost comparison for required upgrades. Designers now can evaluate different products or on-center spacing as well as verifying sheathing thickness options to achieve the optimum price/value relationship. What’s more, the tool also can be used to evaluate less-expensive framing without negatively impacting the floor.
In addition, BC FloorValue allows every space in a home to be designed with optimal floor characteristics. For example, stiffer structural members can be placed under tile floors in entryways and bathrooms, while more forgiving floors can be situated under carpeted areas, such as those typically found in bonus rooms, closets and other less-frequently used spaces.
“We developed BC FloorValue to ensure that every floor has the right level of performance for its intended use while also balancing the overall cost of the floor system,” said Tim Debelius, division marketing director for Boise Cascade Wood Products. “Floor system deflection, vibration and sheathing deflection are often afterthoughts, and in many cases, issues are discovered after the floor has already been installed. The ability to identify potential problem areas such as uneven floor deflection or vibration early in the design phase — rather than post-construction — is an opportunity we can provide to help avoid customer callbacks, costly repairs and damage to a builder’s reputation.”
Floor Deflection Heat Map Locates Deflection Problems
BC FloorValue utilizes a colorful, visual “heat map” to indicate areas of floor system deflection, a first in the industry. The tool analyzes the entire floor as a single system, taking into account how joist, sheathing and support stiffness impact overall system performance. By considering deflection across an entire floor system, BC FloorValue accurately pinpoints areas where a low spot may occur, finding areas that may go undetected during an analysis of individual members.
Vibration Analysis Mitigates “Bouncy” Floors
BC FloorValue also detects the potential for unwanted floor vibrations — identifying the overall vibration characteristics of the floor system and worst performing joist or beam, while ranking the system on an easy-to-understand, three-tier rating scale. If the analysis determines that the floor has a minimum rating, designers can easily review ways to boost the performance to a higher rating, often for little or no additional cost.
Sheathing-to-Joist Analysis Helps to Eliminate Soft Spots
Finally, BC FloorValue assesses the contribution of sheathing span between joists to help improve the overall ‘feel’ of the floor. The tool evaluates the worst-case sheathing span perpendicular to framing members — an often overlooked component of floor performance — helping to identify potential problem areas where soft spots occur between joists with flexible floor coverings.
For more information on Boise Cascade’s EWP software offerings, visit https://www.bc.com/software/.
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About Boise Cascade
Boise Cascade is one of the largest producers of engineered wood products and plywood in North America and a leading U.S. wholesale distributor of building products. For more information, please visit our website at www.bc.com.
Agency Contact: Hillary Zody Ph 770-298-5033
