Photo: Wall-tech’s eight-man used panelized cold-formed steel (CFS) framing to erect the steel walls and flooring systems in this eight-story apartment building in 14 weeks.
Hanging, taping and finishing drywall is hard work. And drywall finishing tools have remained unchanged for decades.
New automation technologies, such as a new, worker-controlled, robotic machine from Canvas, make drywall finishing safer and easier for a shrinking pool of skilled labor. Steel framing contractors are taking note and are including more tech in the field.
Robot Handles Mudding and Sanding
The drywall installation and finishing trade needs skilled workers to get quality results, says Engineering News-Record. But a fair amount of the work is repetitive. That’s where the Canvas robot comes in. The system automates two parts of the drywall finishing process: mudding and sanding.
Daley’s Drywall & Taping, an SFIA member and steel framing contractor based in Campbell, Calif., is part of Canvas’s Innovation Partner Program.
“We see this as potentially revolutionizing the way we work,” says Jonathan Hughes, vice president of sales and estimating at Daley’s Drywall & Taping.
With about 900 employees, the Bay Area wall contractor sees plenty of work on Silicon Valley tech campuses where installation demands are exacting demands, says Engineering News-Record. Daley’s crews are training to operate the Canvas robot, and Hughes can already see its potential.
“We could quickly integrate it into our workflow,” Hughes says.
Hughes isn’t focused on the robot replacing workers, but about the crews’ health and safety.
“We see a hopeful aspect for us in this to reduce injuries,” Hughes says. “All that sanding and repetitive motion adds up.”
Steel Framing Automation Saves Time, Cuts Waste
The renewed interest in automation technologies for construction, says Scientific American, derives from recent construction developments that include skilled labor shortages, the increasing scarcity of building resources and the a need for enhanced performance on projects.
Fortunately, there are commercially available solutions to automate the production of cold-formed steel framing (CFS) on job sites and in off-site fabrication facilities, according to Nathan King, senior industry engagement manager at Autodesk Technology Centers.
Veev, an SFIA member, technology-driven approach to classic homebuilding difficulties focuses on simplifying design, material selection, modular prefabrication and technological processes in order to construct homes up to 4 times faster than the industry standard.
The interior framing of a high-rise building is a prime example. Such projects can involve hundreds of thousands of square feet of CFS-framed walls. Typically, steel studs are delivered to the construction site and manually cut to length by workers — a lengthy, laborious and often wasteful process.
Steel framing automation, however, leads to precut, pre-drilled and pre-punched systems that can accommodate plumbing and electrical runs and enable faster assembly and installation. King says such techniques have been shown to significantly reduce the waste associated with interior framing.
The Steel Framing Advantage
Cold-formed steel (CFS) leads the way as the preferred framing material for prefabricated structures for multiple reasons.
CFS is:
- A pre-engineered material that can be cut to exact lengths
- Dimensionally stable and does not expand or contract with changes in moisture content
- Lightweight compared to wood and concrete
- Resilient and will not warp, split, crack or creep when exposed to the elements
- Sustainable and 100% recyclable
- Durable and has a high tensile strength
- Non-combustible and is a safeguard against fire accidents
Additional Resources
- Steel Framing Addresses Challenges Detailed in Construction Tech Report
- Navy Looks to the Future with Steel Framing
- Cold-Formed Steel Enhances Smart Building Construction