What Impact Does Building Information Modelling Have on the Design, Innovation and Development of an Industrial Design Company

What Impact Does Building Information Modelling have on the Design, Innovation and Development of an Industrial Design Company.

Relating Specifically to Troax Lee 

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the effects Building Information Modelling (BIM) could have on a company, specifically assessing the impact on the Design, Development and Modernisation within a company. Computer aided design models have been a common practice in the manufacturing industry for years. It is well known that all types of software have barriers and limitations. In this paper I will research and explore the positive and negative effects of BIM, as well as reviewing its applications in real life situations. As part of my placement scope, I have had some training on how to maintain and add to the BIM library as required.

What Impact Does Building Information Modelling have on the Design, Innovation and Development of an Industrial Design Company.

Referring Specifically to Troax Lee 

1. INTRODUCTION
2. WHAT IS BIM?
   

1. Defining BIM
2. BIM’s Functions

1. MAKING DESIGN EASIER – INVESTIGATING DESIGN
   

1. Clash Detection
2. Multiple Design Option
3. Energy Analysis

1. THE REAL-WORLD BENEFITS OF BIM

1. Better Information
2. Data Exchange Across The Project
3. New Efficiency
4. Health & Safety

1. LIMITATIONS OF BIM

1. Cost of Software and Hardware
2. Cost of Training
3. Transition from Drafting to Modelling  
4. Innovation

1. THE INCENTIVES FOR COMPANIES TO USE BIM

1. Improved Understanding
2. Lower Costs
3. Safety
4. Reduced Rework
5. Increased Speed of Delivery
6. Better Outcomes

1. CONCLUSION

1. INTRODUCTION

Troax is a global supplier of area protection for indoor use within the machine guarding, warehouse partitioning and property protection market segments. Troax Lee Manufacturing Ltd and Troax UK are two branches that are a part of The Troax Group. Troax Lee Manufacturing Ltd. comes under the category of Commercial Partitioning. It is  a company that manufacturer steel partitioning, specifically designed for factories, offices, warehouses, security cages and cleanrooms (depending on the range). The four main ranges are Sigma, Bastion (Single Skin Ranges), Elan and Titan (Double Skin Ranges).

Design, innovation and modernisation tend to be key elements in the development of a company and its products. BIM has been in development for over the last 25 years and has only recently become more recognised and established by businesses becoming keen to develop their plans more efficiently. It has become highly used by architectural companies and in theory it is an easy way to design and create 3D Models that will allow design and manufacturing teams to continually stay up to date and gain access to all component and material information. Troax have begun using BIM and uploading a portion of their partitioning onto the BIM Library, which can be viewed by anyone with a RIBA account. In theory this is a good way to advertise Troax products and also improving them if required. This paper will cover what BIM is, its benefits and limitations, and the effect BIM has specifically to the design, innovation, manufacturing elements. Through practice and training at Troax, this paper will also relate back to how it has been used or could be used within the company.  

1. WHAT IS BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM)?

Beyond the 3D modelling, BIM is emerging as a new powerful piece of technology. Firstly, it has all the functions of 3D CAD software. Whereas 3D CAD modelling is merely collections of points, lines, 2D shapes and 3D volumes (Damian, 2013). BIM has the ability to carry the data of a product, system or device in real life situations and how the product is affected by its environment.

1. DEFINING BIM

The primary function of BIM is to generate a simple, high quality, structural 3D model and then store the information of each component in its database. BIM helps Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) service providers by applying the same approach to building and infrastructure projects. (Stefan Mordue, 2016)

Referring to the design aspect of BIM, traditional design was largely reliant upon two dimensional technical drawing. BIM extends this beyond 3D, enhancing the three primary dimensions (width, height and depth) with time as the fourth dimension and cost as the fifth (ASHRAE Introduction to BIM, 4D and 5D, 2009) . BIM therefore covers more than just geometry. It enables a digital information model to be handed from the design team to the architect, building engineers and contractors. Each professional adds different pieces of specific data to a single shared model. Models are constantly being changed and updated; therefore reducing information losses and provides more widespread information to owners of complex structures (Sharif) (Eastman, 2009) (Edwards, 2016)  (Stefan Mordue, 2016).

Using BIM, we’re able to overlap information from all of the different disciplines to come up with an integrated solution. – Robert Forest (Autodesk, 2011) (Forest, Robert)

BIM enables AEC service providers to apply a similar approach to building and infrastructure projects. General CAD software use digital tools/features to create 2D and/or 3D drawings and models. BIM allows for a new way of working to create designs with intellectual objects. Regardless of how many times the design is amended or who amends it, the data remains consistent, coordinated, and accurate across every file connected to the model that has been modified. Multi-functional teams in the building and infrastructure industries use these model-based designs as the basis for new, more efficient models. This gives all those that are involved a clearer understanding and vision for the project, increasing the customers’ ability to make a more knowledgeable and concise decision at a greater speed. Models created using software for BIM are considered to be ‘intelligent’ because of its ability to create relationships between all the components within the model. This is accomplished by using the information given by designers which can be calculated and built into the model. (Autodesk, 2011) (AutoDesk, 2015)

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