Smartsourcing as it Relates to Sheet Metal Shop Drawings, Coordination Drawings, and BIM Drawings

U.S. entrepreneur Ross Perot is credited, among others, with creating the outsourcing industry in the 1960s. Outsourcing arises from the realization that no organization can excel at everything. Activities that are not associated with the core competencies of a company are best left to specialist companies. An outsourcing agreement allows the provider company to supply a customer with services or processes that the company is currently sourcing in-house and this removes the need for that company to keep non-core skills and capacity. This leaves a company with the flexibility to focus on innovation and increased profitability in their core competencies.

Mr. Perot's original concept was in reality close to what we now call Smartshoring. However, outsourcing decisions have now morphed and are primarily driven only by the need to reduce costs. Outsourcing, especially offshoring, has now become just a chase after the Holy Grail of cost cutting.

But Smartsourcing is not the same as simply outsourcing a process. Outsourcing is only one part of Smartsourcing. Outsourcing is designed to reduce costs and transfer the risks of a process to a third party. This process is called "lift and shift" by some. Smartsourcing requires greater synchronization and coordination. Smartsourcing is more of a trusted relationship between a company and its service provider. Smartsourcing is also a way for a company to add value to their service. Sometimes this is without ever having had an in-house capacity for a needed service.

Smartsourcing goes a step further by allowing companies to partner with service providers strategically - to not only cut costs but to increase their innovation as well. Rather than moving the work to where the least expensive workers are, Smartsourcing allows you to abandon the status quo and make outsourcing an opportunity to improve operations across the entire spectrum of your business. This method leverages the competencies of outside service providers so that you can achieve significant increases in total innovative capacity. You can provide expanded services to your customers while concentrating your efforts on what you do best and increase efficiencies in areas of your expertise.

So how does all of this apply to Sheet Metal Shop Drawings, Coordination Drawings, and BIM Drawings. The Corps of Engineers, some states, and many local entities - such as building owners, architects, engineering companies, and general contractors - are now requiring 3D drawings and BIM for their projects. This move is accelerating and will encompass most of the commercial construction industry within the next few years.

One way of keeping up with these new requirements will require contractors to purchase and maintain expensive computer hardware and computer software. Even more costly will be the training and retraining of employees or the hiring of these skills. This is simply not a core skill for most commercial contractors. This goes far beyond the paper based and 2D computer based shop drawings of the past.

However, there is a better way. By partnering with companies such as RanStan, this entire costly scenario is avoided. Our expertise is in computer systems, 3D drawings, and the BIM world. This coupled with employees who specialize in MEP drawings and BIM models allows us to partner with you to provide this service. This is our core competency. Yours is in construction. Together we can become the Smartsourcing team described above allowing you to pursue efficiencies and profits where you are the expert.