This year's fourth annual SteelDay is expected to be celebrated at about 170 event locations all over the country. Taking place on September 28, 2012 and hosted by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), its members and partners, SteelDay is a national event featuring free educational and networking opportunities for the design and construction community and the public. Guests can find and register for a free event in their area at www.SteelDay.org/events.
SteelDay events range from tours of steel facilities and job sites to educational presentations and special events in major cities. It allows architects, engineers, contractors, owners, students and others to see the industry's latest technologies and processes in action and learn directly from industry experts who are opening the doors to their facilities.
Here is what you can expect to see at some of this year's events:
- Structural steel fabricators: Learn how structural steel is prepared for a building or bridge using off-site, controlled conditions, which ensures a consistently high-quality product while reducing errors and costly fixes at the job site. Also see why most steel fabricators use 3D models/BIM to streamline production and increase efficiency.
- Steel mills/producers: Steel is the most recycled material on earth, and today's modern mills produce steel containing an average of 90% recycled material. Witness steel recycling capabilities and procedures at scrap metal recycling and steel production facilities, and develop an understanding of rolling schedules and steel availability.
- Steel service centers: See what thousands of tons of steel looks like! And learn about the crucial role these facilities play in the industry.
- HSS producers: Watch the fascinating process of manufacturing top-quality hollow structural sections (HSS), and learn about shape availability.
- Bender-rollers: Curved steel doesn't just happen; precision instruments and experts are responsible for these increasingly popular architectural and structural elements. Observe the very specialized and skilled process of bending and rolling steel shapes.
- Galvanizers: View the Hot-Dip Galvanizing (HDG) process, from staging the material through to its receiving a full protective coating against corrosion.
In addition to connecting the design and construction community with local structural steel experts across the country, this year's SteelDay also offers special events in major cities including New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston.
For example, on SteelDay Eve (September 27) at the McGraw-Hill building in the Big Apple, AISC is offering a luncheon and panel presentation by movers and shakers on NYC's construction scene. The panel discussion will focus on steel plate shear walls and how they can be incorporated into your next building project. Complimentary copies of AISC's Steel Design Guide 20: Steel Plate Shear Walls, will be given to all registered attendees.
Another special event that isn't taking place in a big city but is expected to draw a large crowd is a pre-SteelDay celebration on September 22 at PKM Steel Service, Inc., an AISC member/AISC certified fabricator in Salina, Kan. In addition to tours of PKM's facility and shuttle service to other major festivals happening in the area, the event will feature several high-profile speakers including Nolan Bushnell, founder of the Atari Corporation, known as the "father of the video game industry" and one of the few people to have hired the late Steve Jobs.
SteelDay also engages local dignitaries and government officials who recognize the structural steel industry's contributions to the nation's architecture and economy, its continuing progress and the dedication of everyone involved. In recognition of this year's SteelDay, government proclamations have been signed in the states of Colo., Idaho, Ill., Nev., Ore., and W.Va.
Click here to watch AISC's SteelDay video on YouTube that shows highlights from previous years' events and gives a glimpse of what you can expect to see this year.
For additional information on SteelDay and to find out what's happening in your vicinity, visit www.SteelDay.org. +
Related Stories
| Sep 27, 2011
Steel Joist Institute announces October webinar on Open Web Steel Joists
Webinar participants can earn 0.15 CEUs or 1.5 PDHs.
| Sep 14, 2011
More than 200 events planned for third annual SteelDay September 23
Special events in major cities including New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and more.
| May 10, 2011
AISC honors top steel industry professionals
Roberto Leon, William Segui, Atorod Azizinamini, David Platten, Reidar Bjorhovde, Karl Frank, David I. Ruby, and Jon Magnusson are honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) for their great contributions to the advancement of the structural steel design and construction industry. The award recipients will be recognized on May 11 at the 2011 NASCC: The Steel Conference in Pittsburgh.
| May 3, 2011
Demand for steel grows, led by developing economies
According to the World Steel Association's short range outlook for 2011 and 2012, steel use will increase by 5.9% in 2011, and an additional 6% in 2012. This forecast suggests that by 2012, steel use in the developed world will still be 14% below 2007 levels, whereas in the emerging and developing economies, it will be 38% above. In 2012, emerging and developing economies will account for 72% of world steel demand in contrast to 61% in 2007.
| Apr 5, 2011
SSPC, AISC announce joint standard for paint shop certification
SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) are pleased to announce a joint certification standard for shop application of protective coatings. The standard, "Certification Standard for Shop Application of Complex Protective Coating Systems," describes requirements for certification of firms that shop apply complex painting systems.
| Mar 10, 2011
Steel Joists Clean Up a Car Wash’s Carbon Footprint
Open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists give a Utah car wash architectural interest, reduce its construction costs, and help green a building type with a reputation for being wasteful.
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 5, 2010
New Millennium’s Gary Heasley on BIM, LEED, and the nonresidential market
Gary Heasley, president of New Millennium Building Systems, Fort Wayne, Ind., and EVP of its parent company, Steel Dynamics, Inc., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the Steel Joist Manufacturer’s westward expansion, its push to create BIM tools for its products, LEED, and the outlook for the nonresidential construction market.
| Nov 3, 2010
Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating
Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.
