Bosch Commercial & Industrial, from the Thermotechnics division of the Bosch Group, offers medium and high power air conditioning equipment for large installations to provide solutions for heating, domestic hot water, solar thermal energy, air conditioning and heat for industrial processes. As part of the launch of their latest products in BIM format, the BIM&CO teams interviewed João Lisboa, head of the Pre-Sales and Dimensioning Department.
BIM&CO: What was the trigger that convinced you to move to BIM?
João Lisboa: As a leading company in the sector, we move with the needs of the market while innovating and providing solutions to professionals to speed up and improve their work.
After decades of declining productivity, the construction sector is in the midst of change. Thanks to the BIM methodology, architects, planners, consultants, integrators and contractors can now share information more easily, consult design specifications at any stage of a project and collaborate more efficiently. In this sense, BIM plays a role from the beginning of the design of any architectural work to the demolition of an infrastructure. In effect, everything about the construction design is registered in the computerised BIM model.
BIM&CO: What route did you take when focusing your project?
João Lisboa: As a first stage, we verified all the drawings and information that already existed internally, such as 2D and 3D CAD drawings. Based on this verification and being aware of the products that designers and architects demand the most, we created a list of products to that needed to be modelled, with all the necessary information.
BIM&CO: What obstacles have you faced with the transition to BIM?
João Lisboa: At Bosch, we are firmly committed to innovation and therefore to the use of the BIM model. Today we can be sure that, thanks to the company’s commitment, its implementation has been relatively easy. Bosch can now manage all technical data and product catalogues to ensure that our customers have official information on all products that are already integrated into the BIM software.
BIM&CO: How did you choose your BIM data and object dissemination platform?
João Lisboa: The advantages that BIM&CO offers us today coincide with the needs of an increasingly competitive market, and is the reason we have decided to start working in this way. BIM&CO allows us to work with content in a collaborative environment, with both customers and suppliers, since the data we work with in the software becomes instantly available for all BIM software applications on the market. Based on this, and given that our company has extensive experience in the sector, starting to work with BIM&CO for the management of our BIM library was the most reasonable option.
The experience has been very positive and we are sure that as we continue to advance we will find new synergies that will allow us to grow our business, while at the same time benefitting the work of our collaborators and improving the development of all professions involved in the architectural processes.
BIM&CO: What are the benefits of offering your BIM library?
João Lisboa: For Bosch, the new integration of products into BIM&CO allows fundamental information to be obtained on how the market behaves, since its statistical product download system allows us to study in depth what customers need and look for at a particular moment. The interest of the construction industry in BIM, and more specifically for Bosch Building Technologies, is more than understandable, as this methodology could help bring an end to missed deadlines and budgets and, moreover, an end to lack of transparency that, in many cases, undermines complex, large-scale projects.
In addition, it is important to note that this software allows products to be implemented with legal compliance in the different markets or countries where it operates, as well as recreating realistic 3D simulation experiences for a better vision of the final result of the project.
It also allows us to offer a range of HVAC solutions, covering all the needs for commercial and industrial buildings, providing the design engineer with all the BIM elements in a single library.
BIM&CO: What do you expect from this digitalisation and how are you going to take advantage of it?
João Lisboa: Integrating our products in BIM&CO is another step in the digitalisation process of the Bosch Group, a process that is a consequence of the demands of the sector. The unification of the working model between all parties involved is another step forward in the efficiency and optimisation of the projects in which the Bosch Group is involved worldwide.
As the use of BIM becomes established and begins to transform the construction sector and increase its transparency, Bosch’s goal is to work with industry to make these benefits a reality. In the coming months, we expect Bosch’s BIM strategy to continue to grow to accommodate all phases and parties involved in a construction project.
Furthermore, taking into account the situation we are in as a result of the spread of COVID 19, which makes it more difficult to exchange information, it becomes essential for professionals to be able to access all the necessary information through the web, and to be able to work at the same time from their homes collaboratively via the cloud.
See the latest BIM objects from Bosch now:
• RT Condens 5000 W – BASIC
• RT Condens 5000 W – TOP
• Solar pump station AGS