The Tekla PowerFab Connector workflow enables seamless and easy cooperation between steel detailers and fabricators who are using Tekla PowerFab.

Tekla PowerFab Connector workflow is designed to reduce phone calls and RFIs and to speed up approvals for detailers servicing fabricators using Tekla PowerFab.

To start with, the fabricator using Tekla PowerFab shares their up-to-date catalog of profiles, materials, and finishes and real-time fabricator statuses to the detailer via a cloud storage.

Your settings are not overwritten by the fabricator settings, the system only compares your model to the fabricator settings and informs if you are using something that is not matching.

As a detailer, you can do the following steps in Tekla PowerFab Connector:

• To get access to this data, select the fabricator in Tekla Structures.

  See Fabricator settings.

• Validate your model against the fabricator settings and production content to ensure the accuracy of information being submitted. See Validate Tekla PowerFab submittal.

• Modify the settings for each submittal type. See the following:

  • Estimating settings
  • Procurement settings
  • Drawings for external approval settings
  • Fabrication settings

• Submit packages related to estimating, purchasing, drawings, and fabrication from Tekla Structures directly to Tekla PowerFab at any stage of the project. To enable seamless collaboration, you need to have a Trimble Connect project selected to which both you and the fabricator are connected. See Submit to fabricator.

  You can either export the packages locally to check the data or submit it to the fabricator.

• View all the submittals and their status for the current model and upload local packages to the cloud. See View submittal history.

• Manage the procurement process with the Procurement control tool. See Procurement control.

The Status Sharing tool on the Trimble Connect ribbon tab has the Show only actions from Tekla PowerFab switch for quickly displaying the fabricator status. Status Sharing records the status of actions in a cloud service and shares them with the project collaborators without any manual actions. See Set and share the statuses of model objects using Status Sharing.

You do not need to have Tekla PowerFab fabricators in your region for your Tekla Structures detailers to benefit from this workflow.

For an end-to-end quick guide comprising both Tekla Structures and Tekla PowerFab steps to set up the workflow, see Tekla Connector.

For videos describing the end-to-end workflow, see:

• Enhancing Production Workflows: Structures to PowerFab with the Tekla Connector
• Using Tekla Connector between Tekla PowerFab and Tekla Structures