This piece was written and provided by FTMA Principal Partner, Pryda.
In this FTMA Principal Partner article, Pryda’s Software Portfolio Manager, Jay Griggs shares how Pryda is striving to drive more efficiency through truss and frame manufacture.
Jay has worked in the frame and truss industry for over 25 years as a software user and timber frame designer. He has trained designers and estimators ranging from small businesses to large businesses in Australia and offshore.
How is Pryda pushing the industry forward when it comes to improving frame and truss manufacturing efficiency?
We’re constantly looking at where housing is going and what that means for fabricators, now and into the future.
We know from the statistics that we’ve got to build more with less and we’re looking at different angles to achieve this. For example, thinking about how we get more repeatability into our manufacture and design or how we look for more standardisation.
Part of our software vision is helping fabricators provide smart structural solutions from that initial concept phase, in a way they couldn’t before. From when the builder has a concept, we want fabricators to provide a complete structural solution that’s designed to ensure optimised manufacture up stream.
How does Pryda develop its software with its customers?
We’re always listening. Our team of Product Owners and Software Support work hand in glove with our customers to ensure their requests and requirements are being heard and funnelled through to our local Development team.
We’re currently doing some development work on an enhanced module within our software framework, in which we’re inviting our fabricators to trial some of the new functionality and provide their feedback.
Our doors are always open so customers can come and spend time with us, meet our team and see our development first hand. Bringing them into that environment and giving them an opportunity to contribute to that process helps them feel like they’re in the driver’s seat. This collaborative approach results in a true value-added software product.
One of the main differences is that we’re very local. We have a team and resources that you can reach out to wherever you are.
Pryda’s local Software Development team
How does Pryda walk the talk when it comes to its software delivery?
We have a structured roadmap, which we stick to.
But we also look for the opportunities along the way through an agile approach. A good example of this is our consistent involvement with industry safety and supplier forums. Pryda was informed to promptly implement improved production safety and add new timber species into the next version of our software alongside our other feature and roadmap commitments.
We’ve never been more transparent about sharing our roadmap and process with our customers. We hold bi-annual virtual software showcases where we share new features that our customers can expect to make a difference to their business. We’ve found it to be a beneficial way to connect with our customers, elicit more feedback and explore more opportunities.
What is Pryda doing to ensure that their customers have the cutting-edge software they need now and in the long term?
We’re positioning our customers to win. Central to that is achieving end-to-end optimisation and making sure we’ve got software solutions that enable our customers to achieve more with less, across our full suite.
There are a few key areas we’re focusing on. The first is intelligent structural design – reducing the reliance on highly skilled users and getting the software to make more of the critical decision making.
Another focus is intelligent workflow management solutions. We constantly hear that it’s challenging to understand how fabrication businesses and their teams are performing until after the fact, so we’re providing more real time data and analytics, empowering fabricators to make better decisions.
The last key focus is enabling more repeatable and standardised manufacture. This is highly suited to automation, and obtaining the full benefits of an intelligent structural design process that starts at the concept stage and flows through to design and manufacture. We want to ensure that the builder is attracted to a Pryda fabricator who’s going provide them with the most cost effective and optimised structure. This is going to result in them being able to build more houses as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Find out more
For more information, you can listen to the first episode of the Pryda Pod, featuring Pryda’s Software Product Owner (Design) Nicky Woodward. Access the full library of episodes and subscribe using the QR code below.
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