Masonry Magazine June 1994 Page. 38
Computer Speed
The amount of computer speed needed depends on the amount of data on the screen. There is a drastic difference in the maximum characters which can fit on the screen between DOS character mode, 80X252,000, and Windows graphic mode, 1024 X 768-786,432. Obviously, it takes much more speed for Windows graphic mode.
Each incremental increase in speed costs more. Cost increases disproportional to speed as it approaches the top end. speed is relative to purpose. How will your computer most often be used?
Business Accounting Software requires moderate computation speed. A 386/25 should be sufficient for most business software; a 486/33 is MORE than adequate; and anything more in computation speed would be overkill. Data retrieval speed is critical, disk access must be 12 ms or less. Be aware of what you are getting for disks and disk controllers! Print speed and quality should be average and speed important. Display speed is unimportant under DOS and some concern if Windows is used. Although not a speed item, you must have a tape backup. We will discuss why backup is necessary in our next column.
Spread Sheets are compute intensive. About all you do with spread sheets is calculate. Look for a CPU that won't be strained, a 486-33 is real nice. Disks and printing are not factors.
Word Processing is print intensive. The quality of the print is the most important, followed by print speed. Any old 286 or better processor will work and even the slowest disk drives are fine. Displays can be a factor, after all, that is what you look at the whole time.
WINDOWS is popular and thought of as "user friendly" but it has to be considered as a graphics application. As such, it puts much heavier demands on the processor, disks, and display functions. A 486 is recommended and a local-bus video is a big help.
CAD-Computer Aided Design is perhaps the only application which requires the maximum capability in all areas. It is compute and data intensive, needs the maximum in display speed often even requiring extra large sized screens, and has complicated printer demands which can only be met by lasers or plotters.
Recreation, a nice word for playing around on the computer, requires both fast computation and display. The computer must "think" fast to play against you and the "neater" the graphics, the better. Games are all graphics and computation.
Remote Services, like Prodigy and Compuserve, require an additional piece of equipment called a modem. The speed of the modem, usually 2400 or 9600 baud will determine its efficiency.
Conclusion: The typical Masonry Contractor will use his system for job cost reports, financial statements, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, estimating, and word processing with little spread sheet use. A good system would be:
486/33 with a 4 MB of memory-fast enough for Dos/Windows
200+ MB Local-bus IDE drive with <12 ms-disks are important
24 pin dot matrix printer 350 Cps-good multi-purpose printer
VGA color monitor with a dot pitch of 28-fine for business applications
JAMES N. MEIDL graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin
Non-Stop
SCAFFOLDING
Increase Production 20% - 35%
When the wall is waist high to the bricklayer, he will produce more. Government studies, the experience of our customers, and our own experience have proven that point most convincingly. Actually, it's basic human nature. When the bending, reaching, and stooping are eliminated, a mason will fall into a fast, comfortable side-to-side rhythm when laying brick and block. He'll put in more units and be less tired at the end of the day. How much more production depends on the type of work. Production increases of 20% are common, while 35% is typical for blank walls like warehouses. Our users have reported production increases as high as 47% on 12" Mocks.
When you calculate the labor savings from this feature alone, you will see that Non-Stop can easily pay for itself in the first 10 10 20 werks. Some masonry contractors say that their scaffolding paid for itself on the fint job.
Never Run Scaffold-High Again
Building a wall from the ground to scaffold-high and then moving your men is another unnecessary expense to eliminate from your operation. It tends to scamer your men, creates extra work for the laborers, and it wastes ten to fifteen minutes of production time gening the crew started again.
Using Non-Stop, you will set your scaffolding in place first, before any work begins. Stock it with materials and your masons start the wall right off the scaffold. Once they have reached a comfortable working height, their walkboards can be dropped in place in about 30 seconds and they continue working uninterrupted umil the wall is topped out. Non-Stop gives you the ablity to put your masons' walkboards as low as 4 off the ground.
Another standard feature Non-Stop provides is the ability to add an extra walkboard for the masons. In many situations, like brick vencer with block back-up you must run the block up fint. Using Non-Stop, you can run the block with 3 planks for the masons, let the scaffold down, and then run the brick with 2 planks, without moving or seplumbing the scaffolding. The Fastes
38 MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1994