Industry Partners

by Jonathan McGaha | October 31, 2016 12:00 am

DBCI and NCI Building Systems collaborate to get motorized doors rolling

A motor is an essential component for large, commercial roll-up doors. These doors are used to keep industries moving, allowing building operators to lift and lower a literal doorway to business operations. It is unfortunately common, however, that this vital part is overlooked.

 

Problem

The contractor for a project may purchase the commercial door through either the metal building manufacturer or directly from the door supplier. However, even when the door is purchased from the building manufacturer, oftentimes the installation schematic does not include instructions for mounting the motor to the framing of the building. As a result, the hardware needed to attach the motor to the framing of the building is excluded from the bill of materials.

Additionally, as building designs vary-spacing between girts and angles must be field verified-there is not always a set pattern available to instruct erectors where to install the door motor. Without the parts or a set installation pattern, this results in confusion on site and erectors commonly contact both the door and building manufacturers mid-install about how to attach the motor. The greatest risk in these situations is delay in project schedule while waiting for additional parts, as well as leaving the building unsecure for a temporary period of time until the door can be installed.

 

Solution

Seeing this issue occur too often, Douglasville, Ga.-based DBCI[1] contacted engineers at Houston-based NCI Building Systems Inc.[2] to partner on a solution that would improve communication and facilitate installation of the door motor. Together, DBCI and NCI’s research and development teams created a schematic for framing that would connect between girts and provide a surface to mount the motor. The solution includes utilizing angles to create the needed mount, which accommodates for variation in design.

Additionally, NCI and DBCI partnered in providing a coordinated product to its customers, taking responsibility for providing the material. As an outcome of this partnership between manufacturers, NCI now includes the hardware for the motor installation and instructions for all building orders that include the purchase of a door motor.

 

Outcome

Working together at an industry level, this collaboration between door and building manufacturers resolved many of the field issues experienced by contractors and erectors related to door motor installation. By providing needed materials and schematics, DBCI and NCI prevented aggravating project delays for their customers. DBCI also achieved a significant decrease in recorded field issues with its customer service team.

“The strong working relationship between DBCI and NCI was instrumental in making such a fundamental change,” says Bray Allen, research and development manager for DBCI. “We were able to leverage our knowledge of doors and NCI’s knowledge of metal buildings to create a seamless solution for customers.”

“It’s essential for us to continue to work together to find some of these simple solutions that can make a world of difference for erectors. Working together at an industry level-through partnerships between industry organizations like [Metal Building Manufacturers Association[3] (MBMA) and Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association[4] (DASMA)]-can streamline solutions for metal building customers to help avoid construction delays,” explains Jerry Hatch, engineering development manager at NCI.

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Heather Hollis is marketing manager at DBCI, Douglasville, Ga. For more information, visit www.dbci.com[5].

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/industry-partners/

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