Company Opts For Recycled Steel Frame Panels Over Wood
A solar array will power a Rohnert Park, Calif., manufacturing facility that will trade trees for old cars to make steel frame panels used in commercial and residential construction.
A solar array will power a Rohnert Park, Calif., manufacturing facility that will trade trees for old cars to make steel frame panels used in commercial and residential construction.
Codding Steel Frame Solutions will produce panelized frames using steel made with significant amounts of recycled content. To do this, the company will use software it claims will help reduce waste and dramatically cut delivery time for a product that will cost about as much as traditional wood framing.
"What used to take six to 10 weeks we can do in one week," Geof Syphers, Codding's chief sustainability officer, told GreenBiz.
Codding Steel Frame Solutions, created and funded by several principals of Codding Enterprises, a development and property management group, buys formed recycled steel studs to make the panels. Steel, unlike wood, can resist termites and mold, and poses a lower fire risk, Syphers said.
It has a larger environmental benefit, the company said. Traditional wood framing for a 2,000 square-foot house would require 40 trees, while its technology would use steel from eight recycled cars, according to company literature.
Codding uses software leased from Canada's Genesis TP to make, sell and install the steel panels. It can calculate the amount of steel needed for each project, as well as order the replacement of steel kept on-site before it is used up. This allows Codding to keep only a small inventory.
CEO Tom Chambers called the software's FrameBuilder application the "horsepower" behind the system. It creates a draft set of drawings to generate the structural engineering drawings, which helps streamline the process.
The software can also send an alert to the delivery company to pick up the steel panels immediately after completion. It is loaded in reverse order onto trucks so they can be unloaded and installed directly on the building, never touching the ground.
The company has hired 10 workers so far, with plans for more as production ramps up. Now still in the process of establishing its infrastructure, Chambers predicts the company will begin filling orders in early September.
The company plans to supply recycled steel panels to Sonoma Mountain Village, the mixed-use project at the site of the former Agilent Technologies campus that is being redeveloped by Codding Enterprises. It also is the location of Codding Steel Frame Solutions.
"We do not have any (other) firm orders but we are in the process of working on that," Chambers said.
A 1.14 megawatt solar array, enough to power 1,000 houses, will satisfy all of manufacturing facility's energy needs, Syphers said.
The company also may look beyond steel as it explores other materials for construction use, Syphers said.
"Now we can try bio-material like wheat board as a nailer board," Syphers said.
Codding Steel Frame Solutions will produce panelized frames using steel made with significant amounts of recycled content. To do this, the company will use software it claims will help reduce waste and dramatically cut delivery time for a product that will cost about as much as traditional wood framing.
"What used to take six to 10 weeks we can do in one week," Geof Syphers, Codding's chief sustainability officer, told GreenBiz.
Codding Steel Frame Solutions, created and funded by several principals of Codding Enterprises, a development and property management group, buys formed recycled steel studs to make the panels. Steel, unlike wood, can resist termites and mold, and poses a lower fire risk, Syphers said.
It has a larger environmental benefit, the company said. Traditional wood framing for a 2,000 square-foot house would require 40 trees, while its technology would use steel from eight recycled cars, according to company literature.
Codding uses software leased from Canada's Genesis TP to make, sell and install the steel panels. It can calculate the amount of steel needed for each project, as well as order the replacement of steel kept on-site before it is used up. This allows Codding to keep only a small inventory.
CEO Tom Chambers called the software's FrameBuilder application the "horsepower" behind the system. It creates a draft set of drawings to generate the structural engineering drawings, which helps streamline the process.
The software can also send an alert to the delivery company to pick up the steel panels immediately after completion. It is loaded in reverse order onto trucks so they can be unloaded and installed directly on the building, never touching the ground.
The company has hired 10 workers so far, with plans for more as production ramps up. Now still in the process of establishing its infrastructure, Chambers predicts the company will begin filling orders in early September.
The company plans to supply recycled steel panels to Sonoma Mountain Village, the mixed-use project at the site of the former Agilent Technologies campus that is being redeveloped by Codding Enterprises. It also is the location of Codding Steel Frame Solutions.
"We do not have any (other) firm orders but we are in the process of working on that," Chambers said.
A 1.14 megawatt solar array, enough to power 1,000 houses, will satisfy all of manufacturing facility's energy needs, Syphers said.
The company also may look beyond steel as it explores other materials for construction use, Syphers said.
"Now we can try bio-material like wheat board as a nailer board," Syphers said.
