Autodesk Introduces a New Way to Purchase your Products

Autodesk Introduces a New Way to Purchase your Products

by | Apr 30, 2024 | Autodesk

In this post, we would like to provide you with an important clarification regarding upcoming changes to the buying and renewing process for Autodesk subscriptions on June 10, 2024.

Recently you may have received email communications from Autodesk requesting to set them up as a vendor in your procurement system. We understand that this may have raised some questions or concerns, and we want to assure you that these actions are part of an effort to simplify the way for you to purchase Autodesk software. As it states in the email announcement: “You will still request quotes and access value-added services through your Autodesk Partner (Robotech).”

Starting June 10, 2024, a new streamlined buying process will start.

  1. You will still come to Robotech to initiate the buying or subscription renewal process, receive guidance on the products you need to buy or renew, pricing, timelines, services, support and other buying options.
  2. After scoping your needs within your budget, Robotech will submit a detailed quote through the Autodesk’s quoting system on your behalf.
  3. Once your quote is emailed to you from the Autodesk’s system, you can either accept or revise the quote, update your saved payment method, and complete payment to Autodesk, while Robotech continues to be your Autodesk partner advisor and support resource as done currently.

Once your software is purchased, your Robotech Account Rep will continue to be your go-to person for Autodesk products, services, training and support.

The new buying process will provide you with:

  • A simpler way for making purchase transactions on a single platform,
  • Consistent pricing for all your Autodesk products,
  • Self-service capabilities for added control and convenience,
  • Robotech as your supporting reseller and trusted advisor.

Action required before June 10, 2024: Set Autodesk up as a vendor in your organization’s procurement system in order to complete your next transaction or renewal.
You can also contact us to renew your subscription early, before June 10, to take advantage of Robotech’s current payment system and terms.

If you have questions or would like to talk to us directly, either email or call your sales rep, or the sales-team mailbox TheTeam@RobotechCAD.com
We value your business and look forward to continue supporting you through this transition and after.

The Future of NYC Apartments: Green, Sustainable, and Community-Focused

The Future of NYC Apartments: Green, Sustainable, and Community-Focused

by | Mar 7, 2024 | Architecture

With the growth of the urban population, apartment management companies in New York City face increasing pressure to provide both environmentally sustainable and community-focused accommodation.

In this article, we will explore emerging trends of green, sustainable, and community-focused housing that are reshaping NYC’s apartment scene.

Photo by Daryan Shamkhali on Unsplash

Sustainable Certifications are the New Standard

Rigorous green building certifications such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) have become the benchmark in New York City as developers embrace ecological design. LEED rates buildings on factors like energy use and water efficiency.

Another fast-growing certification is Germany’s Passive House standard. This focuses strictly on reducing energy consumption through high-performance insulation and ventilation. Top projects pursuing these elite certifications include The Visionaire and East Harlem’s Sendero Verde.

As global warming accelerates, the boom of green-rated apartments in New York City sparks hope that high-density populations can coexist responsibly with the planet.

How Are NYC’s LEED Ratings?

The straight answer to this question would be ‘pretty good’. As environmental standards tighten, NYC apartment landlords are racing to implement eco-friendly features. As a matter of fact, the state of New York ranked 5th in the nation for the most buildings with LEED certification, according to a report that came out in 2020.

New York City plays a huge role in that, with more than 40% of the residential buildings in the city now holding LEED green certifications. In addition, thousands more units tout Energy Star appliances, LED lighting as well as low-flow plumbing.

NYC Buildings Harness the Sun

NYC buildings are racing to integrate solar power into residential buildings for clean energy and long-term savings. Top projects include The Brighton in Brooklyn, which has rooftop photovoltaic panels that provide emissions-free electricity. Some even go beyond solar, leveraging geothermal energy for heating and cooling needs.

The sleek solar panels showcase sustainability and protection from electricity cost hikes. But the most important aspect is that these buildings serve as models for profitable real estate that supports larger zero-emission goals.

Green Roofs Bloom Across NYC

Although NYC has gained the title concrete jungle, buildings across NYC are incorporating nature by adding sustainable features such as living rooftop gardens.

There are several benefits to rooftop gardens. For example, the rooftop oasis at 515 West 29th absorbs stormwater, cools the surrounding air, and nurtures wildlife. Besides these benefits, the rooftop gardens function as insulation, shrinking energy bills by reducing heating and cooling demand.

With the acceleration of climate change, rooftop gardens not only have critical environmental benefits but also bring unexpected beauty to this crowded concrete jungle. Finally, vibrant rooftop gardens spark hope that urban living can coexist with nature across global metropolises.

Sustainable Materials Build Green Future

Beyond simply adopting renewable technologies, New York’s green developers also employ recycled and responsibly sourced construction materials that curb ecological harm from sourcing and manufacturing. In addition, the organic textures also blend sustainability and aesthetics by using natural warmth in sleek minimalist designs.

As tenants increasingly seek sustainability, these eco-friendly materials also boost property value. In addition, reusing materials helps New York City take tangible steps toward a waste-free, eco-friendly urban living.

Eco Amenities Redefine Rental Living

Forward-looking apartment managers now integrate eco-friendly amenities, thus redefining modern rental lifestyles. Beyond gyms, communities entice conscious residents by offering electric car charging stations, curbside recycling pickup, and even on-site urban farms.

In addition, community gardens serve as a good way to connect the people and planet. These communal green spaces allow urbanites to reconnect with nature and neighbors either by yielding pesticide-free produce or simply nourishing the soul.

As climate consciousness grows among new generations, the purpose of such amenities can’t be overlooked as they serve to add value to people’s lives. This is done by fulfilling yearnings for belonging and environmental impact. Ultimately, even small habit shifts scaling holistic sustainability signal promising trends toward greener city living.

“Smart Homes” Think Green

Smart home technologies promote urban sustainability by optimizing performance through connectivity and automation. Landlords across the market deploy self-learning thermostats and LED lighting gadgets that respond to natural daylight and low-flow water fixtures.

Examples include flagship properties like The XI in Chelsea that interface these IoT devices into elaborate efficiency platforms like Lutron HomeWorks for granular lighting and shade control. By providing tenants with insights into their consumption, these smart systems reduce energy use.

As the technologies get cheaper, incorporating smart features into your home could help curb emissions even with more people living in New York City. Apartment management companies are racing to implement many types of smart building technology. Examples of smart building technology range from simple devices that regulate the temperature to more complex devices that can control even security.

Closing thoughts

In conclusion, as climate change accelerates alongside urban growth, New York City apartment management companies face escalating pressure to adopt sustainable building practices.

Fortunately, the city’s most innovative property management companies are rising to meet these modern challenges. Landlords across New York City are pioneering super-efficient and community-connected housing by incorporating renewable technologies, ecological materials, and smart automation.

With precedents ranging from LEED-certified towers to passive solar complexes blooming with rooftop gardens, New York real estate boldly blazes trails to harmonize high-density populations and the planet.

Use ETransmit to send files to AutoCAD files

Use ETransmit to send files to AutoCAD files

by | Feb 21, 2024 | Autodesk, Tutorial

If you need to send your AutoCAD drawings to someone else, use ETransmit to bundle up your files and include references (XREFs).

In AutoCAD with the drawing open that you want to ETransmit.

1. Save the drawing.
2. Enter ETRANSMIT at the command line and hit enter.
3. On the Create Transmittal dialog check or uncheck the items you do not need or want to package up.
4. Click to edit the “Transmittal setups…”
5. Click Modify.
6. On the Modify Transmittal Setup dialog insure it’s set to ZIP for a smaller file size
7. Click the ellipses “…” button the change the folder the .zip file will be saved into by default.
8. Click the dropdown so it will “Prompt for a filename” if desired.
9. Select the radio button to “Place all files in one folder”.

There are many other options too, however I do not recommend using the bind option as it can create one very large file that may be terribly slow.

Click Ok and close out of the dialogs and get back to the ETransmit dialog

 

Hybrid Work Continues to Benefit Organizations

Hybrid Work Continues to Benefit Organizations

by | Feb 20, 2024 | ARCHIBUS, Facilities Management

Lessons learned from a fully remote organization can help overcome the challenges of hybrid and improve organizational health.

Our work in organizational health suggests that a fully remote organization can demonstrate a level of health that rivals, if not exceeds, the performance of most traditional companies. Organizations encouraging moderate on-site presence can learn about overcoming the inherent challenges of hybrid work from the experiences and operating models of highly distributed and remote-first companies.

To better understand and assess the impact of these operating models on organizations today, McKinsey is re-examining and refreshing an important resource: the Organizational Health Index (OHI). Based on more than two decades of expertise, our approach to measuring and improving organizational health has helped more than 2,600 clients in 100-plus countries improve and sustain performance. Although we have researched and published extensively on hybrid and remote work, we had not yet directly leveraged the OHI to connect flexible work practices (i.e., when, where, and how work gets done) to organizational health.

Since much of the debate continues in the hybrid middle—where most organizations are operating and where individual employee experiences can vary wildly—we’ve partnered with technology organizations that have been fully remote since before the COVID pandemic to help quantify the impact of their operating models. All the companies we have studied achieved top-quartile scores on the OHI, and the largest and most mature of these organizations achieved top-decile health as compared to our benchmarks. This demonstrates that it is possible to reach an exceptional level of organizational health through clear values, transparent decision making, and intentional ways of working designed to overcome limits and coordination challenges across time and place.

There are also similarities in these organizations’ cultural profiles, notably top-decile scores on OHI outcomes for Work Environment and Motivation. They share common leadership styles with top-decile performance on Consultative Leadership and Supportive Leadership OHI practices as well.

We have learned from these studies that there are six priorities for companies that aspire to sustain a flexible or highly distributed workplace alongside top organizational health, each with a set of actionable practices:

  1. Remove ambiguity about working practices. Set expectations, emphasize clear and consistent meeting protocols, and incorporate asynchronous work practices—enabling collaboration without real-time communication—through role clarity and operational discipline.
  2. Reset performance expectations. Create an environment where on-site and offsite colleagues feel on equal footing, through performance goals and reviews.
  3. Be transparent. Have a single source of truth for all managers and employees (e.g., a regularly updated handbook that lays out the rules and norms), through knowledge sharing and process-based capabilities.
  4. Be purposeful about where people work. Hybrid organizations should encourage informed, intentional choices to work together in person—focusing on the moments that matter—by helping employees understand working norms and why they are asked to be onsite. A similar level of strategic intentionality should be applied to remote working decisions as well.
  5. Foster trust and a sense of support. Demonstrate a welcoming work environment, through inclusion and belonging, supportive leadership, and openness and trust.
  6. Test and learn. Make decisions quickly, regularly assess what is working and what needs to be improved, and share lessons learned—even the failures—through empowering leadership, tech enablement, and data-driven decision making.

These six priorities are deeply ingrained within the culture at the fully remote companies that we’ve assessed, helping their employees connect and collaborate across locations and time zones while enabling top quartile performance. Organizations that have adopted, or are considering, a hybrid or fully remote operating model should follow suit—our work suggests that doing so could prove an accelerator for their organizational health.

How Archibus can Help Promote Hybrid Organization

Space management and utilization is a concept that should be on every organizational leader’s mind. With rent and real estate prices skyrocketing in desirable cities, there’s never been a better time to figure out whether you’re using all the square footage you’re paying for to the best of its abilities. Even if you don’t operate in an expensive region, unused office space represents a massive point of waste that can easily be resolved when you use facility management software. Learn more about common areas of underutilization in office spaces and see what a smart workplace management software platform like Archibus can do for you as you work to make better use of the space you have.

The Best Way to Get Archibus

If you’re new to Archibus or want to get this software today, our team at Robotech can help. We offer comprehensive entry-level basics training, and we sell Archibus software directly to companies across the country. We are a gold partner of Archibus, and we’ll ensure your team is fully set up and comfortable with the software before we consider the job “done”.
We have a few Archibus packages that we offer, and we can provide a free trial for you to test it before you buy. Within a few minutes, you’ll see how helpful this software is in maintaining your healthcare compliance accreditation.

Schedule a call to get started today.

 

Use BIM to Make the Most out of Your Metal Building Designs

Use BIM to Make the Most out of Your Metal Building Designs

by | Feb 1, 2024 | BIM

Architecture tools have come a long way since the days of pencils and paper blueprints. Still, some of the field’s most advanced and helpful resources remain underutilized. If you want to make the most of your 3D metal building designs, you should use building information modeling (BIM).

BIM software offers a suite of tools for creating, refining and sharing digital building designs and other project information. This extensive functionality offers several benefits over more conventional approaches to architecture, especially when you know how to use them to their fullest.

BIM to desing metal building

Photo by Nao Triponez

Benefits of BIM in 3D Metal Building Design

Metal building projects can be challenging and expensive, but BIM tools make it easier. Here is a look at some of this technology’s most significant advantages.

Fewer Mistakes

One of the most critical features of any BIM solution is clash detection. This technology automatically recognizes and highlights errors so you can address them before starting the construction process. Considering how large projects can have between 2,000 and 3,000 clashes, that can save a lot of time and money.

Some structures may take up more room than they seem at first, making them impractical or impossible in practice. Alternatively, some designs may block entry from needed machines during later parts of construction. BIM clash detection lets you find and fix these mistakes before they arise, preventing costly rework.

These features can also detect “4D” or workflow clashes like scheduling conflicts. That way, you can avoid complications later on when they’re harder to fix.

Optimizing Building Designs

BIM can also improve 3D metal building design by improving project visibility. This software lets you view plans from multiple angles, run simulations and easily compare alternatives. This level of insight enables you to find the best way forward for your specific project.

Having an easily accessible view of all the materials in a project can help make more informed decisions, too. For example, aluminum is one-third the weight of steel and more corrosion-resistant, but steel is stronger, making them ideal for different applications. With BIM, you can look at how each would impact your metal building design to optimize your project.

These optimizations apply to project workflows as well. BIM models provide a consolidated view of all relevant project information, helping schedule teams across various phases more efficiently.

Easier Collaboration

Another benefit of BIM is it enables more collaboration on your metal building projects. Because these tools are entirely digital, you can send them to collaborators via a simple file attachment in an email. Some cloud-based platforms may even let multiple parties simultaneously access and modify BIM models.

This remote access and sharing lets you work with other stakeholders regardless of where you are. Because everyone will be working off the same file, it also helps minimize confusion. Many of the most common project management problems arise from miscommunication and a lack of clarity, so these collaborative features are essential.

In the design phase, this collaboration lets everyone offer their expertise in the areas they’re most experienced. In later stages, it helps avoid conflict by providing a single source of truth for the project.

Streamlined Project Timelines

These advantages work together to produce another valuable benefit — shorter project timelines. The construction sector is notorious for running behind schedule, with 85.5% of large-scale projects finishing late, often by at least two months. BIM’s clash detection and collaboration tools can reverse that trend.

Rework is a common source of delays and BIM prevents it through clash detection. When you fix these clashes before the construction phase, you minimize the risk of an unexpected setback arising and taking time to undo them. Avoiding workflow clashes further reduces timelines.

Using BIM models as a single, easily accessible source of truth helps, too. When everyone involved uses these resources, it’s easier to stay on the same page and prevent miscommunication. Teams will finish faster as a result, boosting client relationships and minimizing costs.

Making the Most of BIM

It’s hard to ignore BIM’s potential in 3D metal building design. If you want to experience that potential to its fullest, here are some steps and considerations to keep in mind.

First, define what you want from your BIM software, then look for solutions that meet those goals. Keep compatibility with other apps you use in mind. The same goes for any sources you use for ready-made 3D BIM models. Only use content from companies that meet the highest industry standards to avoid complications down the road.

Look for a solution with cloud support. If it runs on the cloud, it’ll be easier to share models with remote collaborators or access them remotely. This accessibility will help further improve communication and project timelines.

While BIM will save money in the long run, upfront costs are the most common barrier to BIM adoption today. You can minimize these concerns through slow, thoughtful implementation. Start with a relatively simple solution, using it on projects with the most potential to improve. As you learn to use it and start to reap its benefits, you can hire more professionals to use it and buy more extensions for the software.

BIM Revolutionizes 3D Metal Building Design

BIM is a crucial tool for 3D metal building design, especially given frequent delays and high costs. When you know how to benefit from these tools, you can use them effectively.

As with any new tool, it can take time to get used to BIM. However, if you start today, you can boost your organization’s performance and ensure success in the future.