IT-stöd för industriellt byggande i trä

Delar av den svenska träbyggnadsindustrin har stora möjligheter att utveckla det industriella byggandet. Villor har lång tradition av att prefabriceras i fabriker för senare transport och montage på byggplats. Volymbyggnadsteknik där prefabriceringen även innefattar ytskikt och installationer har ökat prefabriceringsgraden avsevärt. Fortfarande är dock tillverkningen hantverksbetonad och genomförs med samma dokumentation och styrning som råder på ett platsbygge. Ett industriellt angreppssätt kräver en metodutveckling inom tillverkningen med styrning och kvalitetskontroll som nyckelord för att dra nytta av den upprepningseffekt som troheten till ett byggsystem skapar. Om ett IT-verktyg skall stötta en process, måste processen utformas och beskrivas på ett entydigt sätt som är repeterbart. Införandet av IT-verktyg betyder nästan alltid att processen förändras. Träbyggindustrin har en situation som definierar deras dilemma: man tillhör bygg-branschen och har anammat deras metoder och IT-verktyg, men tillverkningen är en indu-striell process som inte stöds av byggbranschens arbetssätt utan liknar tillverkningsindustrins serietillverkning. Flera företag har implementerat affärssystem och börjat utnyttja dess material- och planeringsfunktioner, en metod som är vanlig i tillverkningsindustrin. Data som skapas i projekteringen vore till nytta för affärssystemet, t.ex. mängder och antal komponenter. Tyvärr är inte byggbranschens IT-verktyg uppbyggda för att kommunicera med affärssystem via databaser. Tillverkningsindustrin har löst detta problem genom att arbeta med PDM-system, där data kring själva produkten hanteras (CAD-ritningar, komponenter). Affärssystemet kan sedan tanka av önskat data från PDM-systemet. Idag saknar träbyggindustrin en effektiv hantering av den egna produkten, byggsystemet. De beskrivningar som finns består av ritningar och endast 50- 70% av den information som behövs för att beskriva byggsystemet kan hämtas från ritningar. Den resterande delen är regler för systemet som sällan dokumenteras, utan existerar som arbetsmetoder inom varje företag. Byggsystemet förvaltas idag genom ett kontinuerligt användande i projekt efter projekt. Det betyder att överblicken över själva byggsystemet försvinner och möjligheterna till strategisk produktutveckling inte tas till vara. Som förvaltningsverktyg av byggsystem vore ett PDM-system lämpligt. Där förvaras och uppdateras data kring själva byggsystemet, som därifrån appliceras i olika projekt. Produktutveckling som idag sker i projekten, sker istället med byggsystemet som bas och informationen blir direkt tillgänglig för nästa projekt. Projekterings- och produktutvecklingsprocessen måste ändras från projektbaserad, upprepande projektering till strukturerad hantering av byggkomponenter i databas som kombineras på nya sätt i projekten. Inom föreliggande projekt har process och byggsystem hos 6 företag inom träbyggindustrin kartlagts. Baserat på företagens tolkade behov som beskrivits ovan utvecklades tre demon-stratorer (mjukvaror) för att utröna applicerbarheten av ett PDM-system inom träbygg-industrin. Intelligenta GDL- objekt skapades som utgjorde stommen i data för en PLCS-struktur som kan användas som ett PDM-system och kompletteras med ytterligare data. En koppling på databasnivå mellan CAD-data från träbyggindustrin och ett PDM- system testades också. Demonstratorerna visade att det är möjligt att utveckla dagens IT-verktyg till att stödja en industriell träbyggnadsprocess. Det kommer dock att kräva ett förändrat arbetssätt hos företagen. För att starta förändringen krävs att företagen dokumenterar sina processer och byggsystem. Högskolorna kan stötta med framtagning av metoder för processkartläggningar och beskrivning av byggsystem

The BIM Collaboration Hub : A model server based on IFC and PLCS for Virtual Enterprise Collaboration

For a long lasting effort and collaboration among several actors, there is a need for integration and consolidation of the building information in a common information hub, a model server. A standardized exchange format, like IFC today, in its own is not enough. If the standardized format is only used in point to point exchange situations, the project and building information will not be integrated neither consolidated. The IFC standard can manage snap-shots of the information, but to manage the whole life cycle, there is a need for a standard like PLCS, Product Life Cycle Support, ISO 10303-239, www.plcs-resources.org, which supports some critical business needs faced by companies as they seek to implement Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and other broad enterprise-based initiatives. The model servers shall secure collaboration both within an organization as well as throughout an extended enterprise and its various participants. One implementation of an open BIM based model server is the BIM Collaboration Hub based on the model server Share-A-space from Eurostep. The BIM Collaboration Hub was the foundation for the web-based Open ICT Platform in InPro, a 4 year European R&D project which finished in November 2010. At its core, Share-A-space is a standards-based data consolidation and exchange solution. It is built on PLCS, a standard which promises to become a key enabler for process improvements in several service-focused industries such as aerospace and defense. This paper presents the BIM Collaboration Hub, the technologies and how it was used as the web-based Open ICT platform in the InPro project. It presents the next paradigm in virtual collaboration in construction, where the full lifecycle is supported. The discipline specific definitions of objects and relations of the IFC standard are put into this framework and related to the extended functionality of PLCS.QC 2012012

A Sustainable Urban Collaboration Hub – SUCH

The challenge nationally and internationally, is to develop sustainable buildings and cities. To do that requires continuous information about the real estate and city properties. The information needs to be collected, stored, processed, integrated, extracted, visualized and interpreted. The proposal of this paper, the Sustainable Urban Collaboration Hub, SUCH, is based on the experience and results from the BIM Collaboration Hub and the research in the EU project InPro. It is expanding the scope of both CIC, Computer Integrated Construction, and BIM by defining the architecture and concepts of the virtual world. The development of SUCH is taking place at KTH in Stockholm, Sweden. With projects becoming more and more complex, and the focus changing from files to a multitude of objects, a need for BIM repositories or BIM servers will become a necessity for the ability to manage changes and consolidations/synchronizations of heterogeneous applications. In addition to heterogeneous applications the support of heterogeneous data models will be an additional requirement as the scope of the information management expands from the individual building to groups of buildings and also to the infrastructure and civil works in cities. A BIM standard like IFC can manage snap-shots of the information, but to manage the whole life cycle, there is a need for a standard like PLCS, Product Life Cycle Support, which supports some critical business needs faced by companies as they seek to implement Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and other broad enterprise-based initiatives. SUCH will extend the application of BIM to city blocks, cities and infrastructure. These domains have never had any sustainable support for data models and tools.QC 20131219</p

D20 Open Web-based ICT Platform : InPro Publications

Requirements The final objective of the NMP-project InPro is to develop an „Open Information Environ-ment (OIE)‟ supporting the Early Design Phase for the construction life cycle of a Build-ing. Work Package 4 – „Open ICT Platform‟, led by TNO, provided the technical ICT infrastruc-ture for the integration of the „early design‟ and „project management‟ software applica-tions (and their associated structured/unstructured information) determined in Work Package 3. One outcome is the definition of the „Open ICT Platform‟ (OIP). Work Package 4 - Task T4.2 – „Open Standards for Interoperability between Applications in Early Design‟, led by AEC3, provided the short term and long term requirements for the Open ICT Platform. The main outcome of task T4.2, the deliverable D6, specifies the Open ICT Platform ac-cording to the OIP requirements described in the deliverable D1 [Nummelin 2007] of the preceding task T4.1 and the seven key processes described in the deliverable D5 of task T2.1 [Outters &amp; Verhofstad 2007]. The strong focus on the key processes has been iden-tified as an important and necessary addition to the original scope of work. Solution The Open web-based ICT Platform – the BIM Collaboration Hub – is available for the in-dustry as a test environment, as a "sandbox", for the users to play with. It is "reset" fre-quently, to enable repetition of tests etc. This sandbox will then also contain the parts/extensions for InPro. The Open web-based ICT platform is to be seen as a technical solution how to map the information available in the different applications, key processes and also the demonstra-tions. The mapping of this information is in the context of the platform, in this case the PLCS standard as being the bases for Share-A-space (the model server). The prototypes of the applications around the server will be publicly available and de-scriptions of the mappings can be seen as a platform definition. The Open web-based ICT Platform shows the principal idea or way of working, not neces-sarily the exact way of industry today. It is a kind of a proof of concept in a laboratory environment. In terms of Technology Readiness Level, the platform is on level 3 or 4. The main part of the Open Web-based ICT Platform for InPro is the BIM Collaboration Hub, which is based on the model server Share-A-space. For viewing and linking the Solibri Model Server is used, and for model checking the Solibri Model Checker. Share-A-space is a commercial software in use at a number of industries and organiza-tions. Share-A-space has all the functions required for the manufacturing industry for PDM and PLM collaboration and information consolidation. With the InPro additions and modifications, these generic functions are now available also for the construction indus-try. The BIM Collaboration Hub is designed using Share-A-space and is further developed and integrated with "IFC to PLCS" and "PLCS to IFC" mapping to fulfil the requirements of InPro. The PLCS and IFC toolboxes are commercial software products and used for inte-gration of the software applications used in the InPro Key Processes. Result The current prototype fulfils most of the requirements and specifications in D1 and D6. During the Key Process demonstration developments during the last year of InPro, the remaining functionality required for the demonstrations will be implemented.Qc 2012020

Is The Age of Facility Managers’ Paper Boxes Over?

Seamless and accurate hand-over of building information is a major bottleneck in promoting an automated facilities management (FM) practice and an integrated and life-cycle-oriented construction. Few Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools have so far been developed specifically for facility managers. Current data input methods applied for conventional Computerized Maintenance and Management Systems (CMMS) are prone to duplicate information entries and information loss. Such an approach to data management builds up additional costs and seriously hampers fulfilment of environmental goals. In search of a thorough acknowledgement of both technical and process-based requirements for dealing with the aforementioned deficiencies, this descriptive theoretical study takes a qualitative approach and focuses on status quo and potentials for migration of building information and analytical capabilities from AEC-centric BIM tools to facility managers, owners, and users. Data has been collected mainly through literature and workshops. It has been complemented by a number of exploratory studies on existing technologies. This is a basic research aimed at illuminating the path for further applied research activities. Results show that the bulk of the FM sector still confronts substantial challenges regarding appropriate access to building information that is often caused by deficiencies with current workflows, contracts, and IT infrastructure. Thorough implementation of established and developing standards such as IFC and COBie to be used in BIM-enabled FM systems entails a complete shift from as-designed and as-built documents to their as-commissioned and as-operated successors. In an interoperable FM information system based on or closely connected to post-constructional BIM technologies, performance data, and sensor data from Building Automation Systems (BAS’s) will be cycled back to inform both better design and better operation.QC 20131217</p

Requirements transformation in construction design

Transformation of performance requirements to technical solutions and production parameters is central for architects and engineers in the design process. Construction industry suffers from low efficiency in design, and the information flow creating bottlenecks for the production process. Tracing and managing information through design process needs standards both for requirements and Building Information Models in a life cycle perspective. Structuring functional requirements is of great interest for the construction industry and especially for companies developing industrialised housing system that often have control over the whole manufacturing process. The delivery of a new low-carbon economy in Europe puts pressure on the construction industry to reduce the energy consumption for buildings. Therefore is one national standard for energy requirements tested on a building system and evaluated in an Information and Communication Technology-environment (ICT) that supports the design process for industrialised construction. The result of the research shows that the transformation of requirements to technical solutions needs functionality that supports the design process by using standards for requirements. A rigid building system based on well defined design tasks together with a technical platform, both for spaces and physical elements, work as a backbone for development of ICT support systems. Product Life Cycle Support (PLCS), as a standard that enables flexibility in categorisation of information through the construction design. Keywords: Requirements transformation, energy standards, BIM support, PLCS, construction designGodkänd; 2010; 20101215 (gusjan