Edmonton's SketchDeck.ai launches SketchDeck 3.0, adding connection material and drawing-revision automation to its AI steel takeoff tool
SketchDeck.ai, an Edmonton company that makes AI estimating software for structural steel fabricators and erectors, launched SketchDeck 3.0 on October 15. The rebuilt platform adds takeoff tools for connection material like plates and clips, drawing markup, links that jump from a section cut to its detail, and bid management dashboards with roles and permissions. It also automates matching revised drawings, pulling schedules out of tables and identifying drawing scales, with 3D modeling, column takeoff and page stitching in beta. The company says more than 500 estimators use it and estimators stay in control of the final estimate; one customer, Steelworks of the Carolinas, says it has more than tripled their takeoff throughput. SketchDeck will show 3.0 at FABTECH (booth C7044) and the CISC Canadian Steel Conference in Vancouver, November 3-4.
What it means for manufacturers and fabricators
Takeoff is exactly the kind of busy work AI should be doing: the software counts the steel and your estimator checks it and makes the calls. With steel prices and lead times moving, getting a bid out faster is worth real money, so if you're at FABTECH or CISC, bring one of your own drawing sets and see how much it gets right without fixing.
Source: SketchDeck.ai (PR Newswire)
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