In 2017 Datacomp signed an agreement with the Swiss company SENN AG. The company is a leader in the Swiss market of steel and metal construction services, metal industry, support for the business unit in the field of transport and logistics. The agreement concerned the development and extension of the functionality of the BIMvision browser with a module called PreFab, used to manage the flow of data from IFC files in the prefabrication industry (steel structures, wooden structures, prefabricated concrete structures). The cooperation of both companies in the creation of the above solution was exemplary, and the solution created at the end of 2018 by Datacomp is unique on the steel construction software market.
Prefabricated industry is a classic “on-time delivery“ industry. Therefore, transport planning (time and date) is a basic information to be defined. In PreFab, each component can be assigned to a specific vehicle and vehicle identifier. You can create your own standard library for your used truck fleet (maximum payload, trailer width, maximum part length, etc.).
The module is based on IFC data and offers the following functions:
- Many easy-to-use filtering, colouring, component selection and grouping functions with the option to define custom filters that simplify logistical planning;
- Transport logistics and planning, including:
- Transport planning;
- Exporting BOM to Excel – components with identifier, length, width, height, weight per truck, total and partial payload (to avoid penalties due to overloading);
- Export to Excel with a general list of all planned shipments;
- The above data can be used for production planning and control, component identification and tracking with barcodes or QR codes.
- 3D quality control and quality management (using the comment / note tool);
- Multiple animation options for the assembly process (e.g. per phase, per truck, per component and mixture or any sequence thereof);
- Component status visualisation (with MTS plug-in by William van der Waal);
- Integration with any ERP system, production planning and management system (e.g. Plan-de-CAMpagne), logistics systems, etc.
Bernhard von Mühlenen – Head of Steel Construction / Civil Engineer at Senn AG presented BIMvision together with the PreFab module during his presentation at the BIM FORUM 2019 in Lucerne on 23-24 January 2019.
The forum discussed the use of BIM in construction based on practical projects. The participants were able to test the possibilities offered by BIM technology and exchange experiences with more than 100 experts who implement and participate in all aspects of the construction process on a daily basis.
PreFab and BIMvision were presented at the BIM forum as a comprehensive tool with high configuration flexibility and necessary in the process of designing, creation, control, logistics and execution of construction projects.
The participants of the forum were: customers, architects, engineers, contractors, general contractors, construction technicians, public authorities, specialists, software specialists, product suppliers, users, managers.
Selected partners of the event: AIA, Vectorworks, holo|one, ALLPLAN, Solibri, HP, Trimble, Cubus, ORACLE, cadwork, GRAPHISOFT, STRABAG, ComputerWorks.
More about the forums can be found on the website: http://openbim.ch/forum/info/
