Summary
• iPro software allows dealers to switch between I-joist brands.
• Masonite Beams, LP and some independents are current users.
• C4Ci intends iPro to be a global brand.
More change could be brewing in the engineered floor systems market.
After a busy couple of years which has seen the exit of market leader iLevel, the entrance of Steico, the relaunch of Masonite Beams and the prospect of Louisana-Pacific’s (LP) products about to come in, software developer C4Ci is setting the cat among the pigeons by releasing generic design, scheduling and costing and software – iPro – which is compatible with every I-joist brand.
It’s an interesting development which is designed to give floor system dealers more independence and flexibility. Until now, the established model has been to use the I-joist manufacturer’s own design software, which is, of course, set up for that manufacturer’s own product.
According to Luke Whale, C4Ci managing director, the lines are already being drawn in the sand, with several I-joist manufacturers electing to stay with their own software, and relaunched Masonite Beams and new entrant LP signing for iPro.
Key to this battle will be how dealers react to the availability of iPro version three (earlier versions did not have full generic ability), which will now be actively promoted to them after an initial concentration by C4Ci on the I-joist manufacturers. The software also caters for solid timber joists and the French corrugated steel web Nailweb product.
C4Ci bills its new model as a “radical departure” from existing practice and likened it to game-changing moves made by Dell and Ryan Air in their own respective sectors in the past.
If you think that may be an over-ambitious claim, it’s worth pointing out that the next phase will also see metal web and all-timber open joist products being added to the software in the second half of 2010, while promotion will also take place in North America as C4Ci looks to make iPro a global brand. iPro representatives are also in France and Sweden.
Commercial applications
Such generic software would seem to have obvious commercial implications for I-joist manufacturers, since customers are being given the ability to swap floor systems with other rivals.
“Tying companies down – the ‘golden handcuffs’ as we used to say, is OK as long as everybody is doing the same thing,” said Mr Whale. “But we’ve been in engineered wood products for a while and we know this has been coming. It’s happened in the US. It’s evolution, not a revolution.”
Generic I-joist software has a 20% market share in the US, with Keymark accounting for two-thirds of business. “It’s a well established market that does not cause any great angst,” Mr Whale added, with dealers usually reviewing system product suppliers and software annually.
While iPro may seem to have some of the attributes of Go Compare – allowing dealers to compare technical and commercial benefits of different I-joists on projects, Mr Whale does not expect them to hop from one floor system to another.
“I don’t think it’s practical for a joist designer to be switching to another joist brand on a project-by-project basis.”
He said in reality people will still use an I-joist brand for a period of time, or select two brands, review on an annual basis, and then they can avoid the hassle associated with switching to another systems supplier.
“There’s normally no cost when dealers change I-joist suppliers but there is a large cost if you change your design systems and that’s the biggest disincentive for dealers,”he said, adding that the biggest US dealers usually use two brands with dual stocking to give them the flexibility to change.
Freedom of choice
“We’re not encouraging people to change I-joist suppliers,” he said, “but are enabling freedom of choice”. He admitted though, that the freedom did allow dealers to exert commercial pressure on the systems suppliers.
“I think floor systems suppliers have to get back to what they’re good at – manufacturing system products, research and development and pull-through sales for dealers through talking to builders and developers,” added Mr Whale.
So far, IPro has 80 users in the UK, comprising Masonite Beams, LP and independents, with some also in Europe, including Wolseley in France. The market size is about 300 professional floor designers in Europe – 200 in UK and 100 on the Continent.
“We would like to think that in 2010 we can get into 50% of the UK market and 75% of Europe.”
But he emphasised that software development was very expensive and that it was the addition of business in the US and Canada which would propel iPro into the profit realm. Within the next four weeks, the software will be launched in North America. “We have written it for the world. We’ll be pushing iPro fairly hard now.”
iPro, which operates with other business software applications and architectural DWG files, also caters for floor cassettes and roofs and will have extended functionality added in 2010.
Software updates are automatically uploaded, with dealers paying for use on a monthly rental basis (about £140 for single use – £1,200-1,500 annually).
• C4Ci is a consultancy in software development, engineering and sustainable design and product engineering and a shareholder in the Building Performance Assessment Centre (BPAC) in Glenrothes.
