The future of construction is digital. Digitalisation enables efficiency in the construction industry to be improved beyond the complex value chain and despite an increasing shortage of skilled workers. Schüco recognised the potential of digitalisation early on. The Bielefeld-based building envelope specialist has been shaping the digital transformation of the construction industry for 50 years.
Today, Schüco offers by far the largest portfolio of digital solutions in the industry, all from a single source. This ensures holistic networking and greater cost-effectiveness, reliability and convenience in the day-to-day work of planners and customers.
Digital progress has been part of our DNA from the start. Our mission for 50 years has been to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by digitalisation, both for ourselves and our partners. Blazing a trail in the construction industry is like running a marathon. It requires perseverance and stamina. We are and will remain at the front of the race – says Christian Glatte, one of the two Managing Directors of Schüco Digital GmbH.
Stefan Kobes, fellow Director at Schüco Digital GmbH as of February 2022, adds: Our goal is to network value added processes in construction to create consistent flows of information and data. This is ultimately the only way to save time and money.
Schüco offers a digital product portfolio for the entire value chain. From planning through to operation, Schüco digital solutions provide support for every stage of the value added process. The products and services interact seamlessly at interface points, thereby ensuring end-to-end digitalisation. This includes diverse software solutions and digital start-ups which simplify and optimise the daily work of planners and customers. One of the company's core products is SchüCal, a piece of calculation software for processing quotations and orders as well as for job planning. The software has been continuously developed over the years with the introduction of the SchüCal app for quick, mobile access to data and SchüCal MES, a system for efficient fabrication control.
With its many interfaces, SchüCal also allows users to connect to other software solutions. One of these software solutions is offered by the Schüco start-up PlanToBuild. PlanToBuild is a cross-trade, web-based software solution for effective construction project management. It bridges the gap between the construction site and the office, bringing all those involved in the building process together. The planning and fabrication of building units can be digitally monitored from the very start and managed right through to on-site acceptance. With its digital solutions and digital start-ups, Schüco sees no end in sight for digitalisation. All this had small beginnings, when the first computer program for partners was launched 50 years ago.
Schüco goes digital
In 1972, Schüco presented the benefits of digital working to its customers for the first time with the Olivetti P602 super microcomputer. Demand was already high in the early 1970s, as customers realised the limits of manually processing customer orders when it comes to time and quality. Schüco responded by paving the way to the digital world of electronic job planning for its customers in 1972. For the first time, Schüco offered its partner companies a window construction program in combination with the Olivetti desktop computer for calculating profile lengths, glass dimensions and item prices. Schüco Service GmbH was founded as a subsidiary of Schüco International KG in the same year to support customers and partner companies with digital solutions and services.
In order to make the $10,000 computers and the software accessible to partner companies, Schüco Service GmbH introduced a leasing model the following year, which remains successful today. This opened up the possibilities of electronic data processing to many partners. The subsidiary also developed a no-hassle package for its partners consisting of software, hardware, advice, training and support to make the journey into digitalisation as easy and convenient as possible for metal fabrication companies.
A digital win
As a pioneer for digitalisation in the construction industry, Schüco Service GmbH continued to offer digital innovations for its customers and partners in the 1980s and 1990s. These included high-performance solutions for computer-aided design (CAD), the first CNC processing machine directly controlled by the software, and a 3D CAD solution for metal fabricators, all of which opened up entirely new possibilities and advanced digitalisation in the construction industry.
Schüco took another huge step towards digital working at the start of the 2000s with the new SchüCal and SchüCad generation of software. With a convenient Windows user interface and interfaces to MS Office and AutoCAD, both programs provide time and cost-saving calculation software for processing quotations and orders, and enable 2D and complex 3D constructions to be made from different profile systems. The two programs digitalise planning and calculation, both central components of the value chain, for quick, cost-effective and efficient processing.
A digital marathon
In 2014, Schüco successfully bridged the digital gap in fabrication. The new Schüco Fabrication Data Center, with its touch screen and PC, brings together the order and fabrication information from Docu Center and the SchüCal FDC calculation program. This significantly increases and simplifies the flow of information in our partner companies' workshops. Over 1500 Schüco Fabrication Data Centers are currently used worldwide to make the working day easier for companies. In 2017, Schüco Service GmbH changed its name to Schüco Digital GmbH.
The new name marks the transition of Schüco Digital GmbH to a provider of holistic digital solutions, working continuously to increase efficiency for Schüco partners across the globe through digitalisation. The company has pursued and will continue to pursue its aim of an almost complete digitalisation of all the processes in the construction industry, by networking everything from the design and planning of a building project right through to its fabrication, installation, use, maintenance and recycling.
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