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Electrical - Best Practices
Why you can’t afford to be without Amtech ProDesign
03 May 2016
Read Time: 9 Mins
Whatever the size of your business, counting the cost of challenges faced on site can leave you out of pocket and clients feeling short changed. With this in mind, the team behind the software explain it’s time to ask yourself: “Can I afford not to use a product like Amtech ProDesign?”
All too often a litigious culture clouds relationships between clients, consultants, designers and contractors. Inevitably this exposes parties to financial risk if the project delivered is found to be non-compliant with standards and codes, either at the time or when things go wrong.
On a smaller scale, this can be something as seemingly minor as being forced to make a change to the initial design or – for major projects – a catastrophe such as the New Year’s Eve fire at the Downtown Hotel in Dubai.
Happily, all such headaches can be avoided by using a software like Amtech ProDesign. The product rigorously calculates the electrical distribution requirements to comply with BS7671 and goes further in not allowing users to select inappropriate permutations. It also flags up errors, transgressions and non-conformances at calculation time.
In addition to saving you time and money, these features can make a real difference to the quality, efficiency and accuracy of your work and help build and strengthen client relationships. Whether your business is small, medium or large, we’ve put together some examples of a few of the reasons why using the UK’s leading electrical design software, will make an enormous contribution to the continued growth and success of your operations and reputation.
Small Business – Rules of thumb are made to be broken
Rules of thumb are an inherent facet of the industry. People continue to set a lot of store by them as well as sometimes relying solely on what they think worked in the past. While sticking with what seems to be a reliable formula and setting a lot of store by experience might be understandable, it doesn’t take into account the immeasurable differences between the regulations and standards today and how systems were designed and implemented 50 years ago.
In short, rules of thumb don’t work because every project is different. Electrical systems are complex and, if you’re using rules of thumb or simply sticking with what you know, you’re letting yourself and your customers down. Furthermore, there is no legal defence for rule of thumb. Imagine standing in a court of law trying to defend yourself by simply saying: “But, your Honour, I’ve done it this way for years!
Instead, Amtech ProDesign will immediately identify if a design is not compliant with BS7671 and with its speed and ease of use help to ensure that ‘Rule of thumb’ design is not the first solution to resolve a design issue.
Medium Business – Professional, compliant and measurable results guaranteed
As your business develops and you’re fulfilling additional and more complex projects, it’s essential that you’re able to demonstrate to new and existing clients that your work is accurate and conforms precisely to regulations. Increasingly clients are expecting companies to demonstrate that work will be completed to a recognised standard and this can be difficult to show in hard and fast terms if you’re not working with software capable of making this easier for you.
When you use ProDesign, interlocking within the program ensures that the design should be compliant with BS7671. Where engineers can override an interlock, this is still identified in calculations and output. The reporting outputs of ProDesign provide a more professional presentation of results which can be scrutinised and audited.
As well as ensuring your business can operate seamlessly, efficiently and accurately on a day-to-day basis, this enables you to show how the quality of your work makes you the best and most cost-effective person for the job.
Larger Business – Improved navigation to help guide you to success
Sometimes software might have the capacity to achieve great things but, if it’s not user-friendly and simple for everyone to use, those benefits can be wiped out by the need for costly operative time and training. ProDesign, however, now features brand-new navigation that’s literally as easy to use as a Windows device or desktop.
Intuitive and so simple to master from the very first use, the new navigation will help to speed up the process of producing an electrical design from initial scheme for tendering through to the final design. As well as saving man-hours and cost, the usability of the software means training for new users is minimal.
In addition, because ProDesign is always updated with amendments to the Wiring regulations before they come into force, you can ensure engineers are working to the latest version of BS7671.
Reap the rewards whoever you are
Across the board, for small to large businesses, the benefits of ProDesign far out way the costs and risks of ‘rule of thumb’ and ‘custom and practice’.
Throughout the industry, ProDesign is trusted by users and clients alike. The interlocking within the software assists the user during the design process and ensures compliance with BS7671 whilst saving considerable time and the probability of errors during manual calculation. The professional standard of the output give confidence to both clients and customers. The quality of results will stand up to close scrutiny and audit.
In short, it’s an investment that pays dividends that add up time and time again whatever the size of your business and however small or large the project.
