Multifamily and repeat single-family
Repetitive walls and floors: the same panel is made many times under the same control. A plant repeats that work under tighter control than a job site.
Bearing walls
Level 2 — Pre-assembled
Pre-assembled structural panels: walls, floors, and trusses
NewCon Steel® frames walls, floor cassettes, and trusses in the plant from profiles CNC-cut to ±0.5 mm (±0.02 in). Framing moves off the job site and happens indoors, on a jig, against the shop drawing.
NewCon Steel structural panels are walls, floor cassettes, and roof trusses assembled in the plant from cold-formed LGS profiles under CNC dimensional control (±0.5 mm). They reach the site numbered and sequenced to the structural model and are lifted straight into place, with no piece-by-piece framing on the job site.
±0.5mmTolerance of the profile inside the panel
275g/m²Zn-Al-Mg coating
3typesWall, floor, and truss
What it is
What a pre-assembled structural panel is
A structural panel is an assembly of LGS profiles that is already framed: a bearing wall with its studs, tracks, and opening reinforcement, a floor cassette with its joists, or a complete truss. NewCon Steel frames it in the plant, not on the job site.
The panel is framed indoors on a jig from pieces CNC-cut and punched to a ±0.5 mm tolerance, then checked against the shop drawing before it is bundled. It arrives on site numbered and sequenced to the structural model, and the crew lifts, plumbs, and fastens it.
The material is the same LGS/CFS profile, 0.85 to 2.5 mm (0.033–0.098 in), with the same Zn-Al-Mg coating of 275 g/m² total across both faces (0.90 oz/ft²). The steel stays the same. What changes is where the framing happens and how it is controlled.
- Bearing walls and shear walls, with door and window openings already framed.
- Floor cassettes and light-gauge steel joists.
- Trusses and roof structure.
- Service penetrations for MEP, punched in the plant.
In the plant
Framed indoors, checked against the drawing
Framing in the plant is a quality-control decision. On a jig, square is verified, torque is repeated, and a wrong piece is caught before the panel is closed. The panel is designed to AISI S240-20, the standard for cold-formed steel structural framing.
Every panel is identified by lot and by its position in the model, and that is the identification the crew reads on site. Nobody has to interpret drawings in the field: each panel has a label and a position.
Framing and dimensional verification happen at the Centro Industrial PEB plant, Las Mañanitas, Panama City, under the same ±0.5 mm dimensional control as the roll-forming line.
- Square and frame dimensions checked against the shop drawing.
- Numbering and sequencing by position in the structural model.
- Bundling, lot identification, and securing for transport.
- Traceability from the panel to the pieces and to the originating steel coil.
On site
Tasks that come off the job site
A pre-assembled panel takes specific tasks off the job site: field cutting of profiles, hand layout of holes, framing openings flat on the slab, and touching up coating on edges cut with an angle grinder.
What is left on site is lifting, plumbing, and fastening. That is erection work rather than fabrication, and it changes the profile of the crew you need on site.
If you want the complete structure (connections, accessories, and calculations) to arrive with the panels on a single purchase order, order the whole structure as a kit. Erection and turnkey construction by SmartBrix Construction are contracted separately; if you already have a contractor, erection is theirs.
- No field cutting of profiles.
- No hand layout of service penetrations.
- No field welding: the panel is fastened with screws and bolts.
- No coating touch-up on field-cut edges.
NumberedSequencedReady to lift
Specification
Panel specification
Composition
- Profile
- Cold-formed LGS/CFS profiles, 0.85 to 2.5 mm
- Coating
- Zn-Al-Mg 275 g/m² total across both faces — ZM275 (EN 10346) / ZMM275 (ASTM A1046 Type 1)
- Panel types
- Bearing wall, shear wall, floor cassette / joist, truss, and roof structure
- Penetrations
- MEP service penetrations and connection holes punched in the plant
Fabrication
- Framing
- In the plant, on a jig, with dimensional verification against the shop drawing
- Piece tolerance
- ±0.5 mm (CNC cutting and punching)
- Identification
- Panel numbered and sequenced to the structural model
- Plant
- Centro Industrial PEB, Las Mañanitas, Panama City
Design and standards
- Members
- AISI S100-16 (R2020) with Supplement 3 (S3-22)
- Framing, shear walls, diaphragms, and trusses
- AISI S240-20
- Seismic design
- AISI S400-20
- Design loads
- ASCE/SEI 7-22
- Destination codes
- REP-2021 (Panama) · NSR-10 (Colombia) · IBC / ASCE 7 (Caribbean and US)
Supply
- Quoting unit
- m² of panel
- Delivery
- Bundled, secured, and shipped from the plant
- Documentation
- Shop drawing, mill certificate (mill test report, MTR), and Panamanian certificate of origin
Maximum panel dimensions depend on the transport and lifting equipment available at the destination. We set them with you during take-off engineering, before anything is fabricated.
Sectors
Where panelizing pays
Panelization pays where there is repetition, where skilled labor is scarce, or where the job site is far from the plant.
Education and healthcare
Classrooms, clinics, and expansions with hard deadlines in buildings that stay in operation, where less site work means less interference with the running facility.
FloorsTrusses
Caribbean and remote projects
Panels pay off when bringing a skilled crew and cutting equipment to the site costs more than shipping the framed panel. The panel travels assembled, and the skilled work stays in Panama.
IBC / ASCE 7
How to order
How to order a run of panels
01
Send the model or the drawings
Send the structural drawings or the project model, with the destination country and port. From that, we set the panel take-off and the size limits imposed by transport and lifting.
m²02
Take-off and validation
We turn the structure into walls, floors, and trusses, numbered and sequenced. You sign off on the take-off before it enters production.
AISI S240-2003
Formal quote
Within 48 hours, you get a quote by m² of panel, with scope, quantities, fabrication time, and shipping terms.
48 h04
Fabrication, framing, and shipment
CNC roll-forming and punching, framing on the jig, verification against the drawing, bundling, and lot identification. The shipment goes out with the mill certificate and certificate of origin.
±0.5 mmFAQ
Structural panels: field questions
What exactly shows up when you buy structural panels from NewCon Steel?
When you buy structural panels from NewCon Steel, you receive walls, floor cassettes, and trusses already framed in cold-formed LGS profiles, with openings framed and MEP service penetrations already punched. Every panel arrives numbered and sequenced to the structural model, bundled, and identified by lot. The crew lifts, plumbs, and fastens instead of framing piece by piece on the slab.
Are NewCon Steel panels welded or bolted on site?
NewCon Steel panels are not welded on site: they are fastened with screws and bolts. This matters because of the coating. Welding destroys the metallic coating in the heat-affected zone and forces a field repair that does not match the factory coating. With screws and bolts, the Zn-Al-Mg coating of 275 g/m² applied to the coil reaches the finished building intact.
How big can a NewCon Steel structural panel be?
The size of a NewCon Steel structural panel is set by the transport and lifting equipment available at the destination, not by the plant. The panel take-off is therefore defined with the client in up-front engineering, before fabrication, based on the transport mode, the port of entry, and the lifting equipment on site. This avoids fabricating a panel that cannot be unloaded at the site.
How much labor does panelizing with NewCon Steel actually save?
NewCon Steel does not publish a labor-savings percentage, because the real saving depends on the crew, the project, and the site. What can be verified is which tasks disappear from the job site: field cutting of profiles, hand layout of penetrations, framing openings flat on the slab, and touching up coating on cut edges. The work left on site is erection, not fabrication.
What is the difference between buying panels and buying a structural kit from NewCon Steel?
Buying panels from NewCon Steel means buying the framed elements (walls, floors, and trusses) so your team completes the rest of the structure. Buying a structural kit means buying the building's entire structure on a single purchase order: panels, loose profiles, connections, accessories, and the structural calculations signed by a licensed engineer for the code of the destination country.
Plant
Framing, bundling, and shipping panels
Related guide: Pre-assembled structural panels vs. stick-built CFS framing →
Colombia
Need profiles, panels or kits for Colombia?
Review supply options from our Panama plant, information needed for a quote and delivery responsibilities for your Colombian project.
Steel framing profiles for ColombiaTechnical library
Documents to prepare your supply
Read public information and use the available templates to request a quote and record receiving.
Quote your structural panels
Reply within 24 business hours · technical proposal / quote in 48 h. Send quantities (lm, m², or metric tons), profile thickness, and destination country.