PWI

About PWI

PWI, founded in 1979 in Nappanee, Indiana, specializes in structural steel fabrication and has become a trusted partner for industries requiring mezzanines, crane systems, and fall protection solutions. Initially focused on agricultural equipment repair, the company has grown to serve a wide range of manufacturers, particularly in the industrial sector.

PWI works with both local and national manufacturers, offering customized structural systems designed to enhance efficiency and productivity. For example, the company partners with RV manufacturers like Grand Design RV and Keystone RV, helping them optimize plant layouts by designing mezzanines, cranes, and other structural components that fit their specific workflows.

We sat down with Noah Diaz, an Engineering Design Coordinator at PWI, to understand how Calcs.com helps companies like PWI streamline their operations.

The challenge

Before adopting Calcs.com, PWI's engineering team relied on a mix of disparate tools and platforms to perform structural calculations. Each tool handled a specific aspect of their projects - headers, columns, or load-bearing beams - requiring engineers to manually transfer data between different systems. This process was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors.

"We had a lot of different tools - we were using this website and that website - and it wasn't very effective for making things efficient. We needed a solution to bring all these tools into one package."

This lack of integration created several challenges:

Slower turnaround times: Engineers spent unnecessary time switching between platforms and verifying calculations.
Inconsistent designs: Without standardized templates or centralized calculations, ensuring consistency across projects became difficult.
Increased complexity: Managing unique combinations of calculators and spreadsheets for each project added an extra layer of complexity.

Streamlined calculations in one platform

Calcs.com eliminated the need for multiple external platforms and spreadsheets, enabling PWI's engineers to perform all calculations in a single tool.

"We can do our headers, we do our cross members, we do our columns all in one package, which is just three different calculators out there."

Calcs.com plays a unique role in PWI's workflow by facilitating close collaboration between the engineering and sales teams. A key component of this workflow is PWI's Traveler System, which tracks project details as they move between departments.

"The traveler goes from sales to engineering, where managers size the project using Calcs.com. Then it goes to draftsmen who model it in CAD."

At least seven or eight members - roughly half the team - actively use the platform. By centralizing calculations and standardizing outputs, Calcs.com enables smoother transitions between sales, engineering, and production.

Standardized templates for seamless collaboration

One of Calcs.com's most impactful benefits is its ability to help PWI create standardized design templates, improving efficiency and ensuring consistency across projects.

Noah leverages Calcs.com to produce detailed charts and templates that streamline collaboration between the sales and engineering teams. This allows the sales team to provide accurate quotes quickly, while the engineering team benefits from consistent and reliable calculations.

This not only accelerates the quoting process but also minimizes errors and improves profitability by reducing lead times.

Time savings with load linking and professional reports

Calcs.com's load linking functionality has significantly sped up PWI's design process by automating the connection between different elements in a structure.

"The load linking feature is huge for us. Before, we had to use separate calculators and manually input data. Now, it's as simple as clicking and selecting the element to link."

Noah Diaz, Engineering Design Coordinator

Additionally, Calcs.com's professional report generation has proven invaluable for both internal and external use. These reports are cleanly formatted, making them easy to share with customers, Professional Engineers (PEs), and other stakeholders.

"The reports are very clean and show everything a customer or engineer needs to see. It saves us time when we need to share our calculations."

Conclusion

Calcs.com has become an integral part of PWI's workflow, simplifying complex calculations and improving collaboration between teams. By centralizing tools and creating standardized processes, Calcs.com helps PWI deliver precise, reliable solutions to their customers.

For Noah, success in his role is about enabling efficiency and simplifying challenges:

"I think going back to what success means to me is having calculators in order to do my job proficiently and efficiently."