BIM&COTransair® is a brand of Parker Low Pressure Connectors Europe (formerly Legris), who specialise in modular piping systems used in transporting industrial fluids.
For a hundred years, Parker has been engineering solutions for clients across various industries, from metallurgy and electronics to pharmaceuticals and aerospace. The Transair® range of products (manufactured across four sites in the Rennes region of Britanny) provides a comprehensive solution for transporting compressed air and industrial fluids from production site to place of use.
"Our state-of-the-art parts and fittings are the most technically innovative, long-lasting and energy-efficient of their kind. If, on one hand, our products are defined by these qualities, then our business is defined by the outstanding service we offer our clients. In fact, it is this desire to offer our customers more and more ready-to-use solutions that has driven us to invest in BIM technology. Currently, we are the only manufacturer in our field to offer a product library in REVIT format. At every stage, from design to installation of our products, our aim is to make life easier for professionals wherever we operate, and to provide clear added value." explains Nicolas MAUPILLE, Division Support Office Manager at Transair® France.
Parker Transair® uses BIM&CO technology to create its high-quality BIM objects, but it also benefits from their expertise, too. BIM&CO provides manufacturers a dedicated, private space in which they can submit a prototype object for evaluation by trade experts, which allows design departments to test and discuss findings in a discussion forum. After receiving feedback, they can then submit amendments to their object until it has been approved unanimously by the experts. It is a step-by-step process by which prototype objects with consistently high added value have been created.
After having approved of this testing phase, which they trialled with the hope of guaranteeing that their BIM objects successfully met their clients' specifications, Transair® decided to entrust BIM&CO with modelling, managing and distributing its range of BIM products. "This partnership is the crowning achievement of close collaboration with BIM&CO, who have been extremely attentive and receptive to our need to fulfill our clients' demands" emphasised Nicolas MAUPILLE.
Transair® products are available in REVIT format. These BIM models include rich technical data and several levels of detail (LOD 200 & 400) so as to ensure that engineers working with these products can use BIM technology effectively. A template including the entire range of object models is also available, which simplifies the process of implementing Transair® products when designing piping networks. On the whole, this reduces the time spent designing as well as the costs of building, all while improving coordination between everyone involved in a project.
"BIM&CO's policy is to offer manufacturers easy access to BIM via an object management and distribution platform, as well as personalised guidance in using it. We have a range of tools available that let manufacturers structure and distribute their product data in the form of BIM objects. As such, their objects are adapted to work at any phase of the process, from the initial design to maintenance, and even construction. Our aim is to help guide our clients until such a stage that they can competently use our tools on their own. This autonomy, as well as the guarantee that Transair® would keep control of its BIM data, is what motivated this partnership, and we are proud to be working with them" stated Baptiste MULLIE, Director General of BIM&CO
Transair®-brand BIM objects are available through this link.
With more than 50 years of experience in the design of insulation systems for conduction cables in electrical and telecommunication installations, such as non-metallic cable trays, the European group Unex, based in Spain, publishes BIM objects for BIM&CO.
In response to requests from clients about BIM objects, in 2010 it decided to move to BIM by integrating two of its projects into the construction project of a medical centre. Jaime Esteve, Industrial Technical Engineer, said: “The more we knew about the potential of BIM, the clearer it became that there was no going back and that we were faced with a new way of designing, building and maintaining that would end up imposing itself on the conventional method."
Despite the challenges related to the application of this new methodology:
- Speaking about BIM at a time when it was still unknown to many people.
- The way clients work in many cases does not follow the recommendations of the BIM standards and uses the libraries in a different manner to that for which they were created.
- Translation of families/objects.
- Details related to the behaviour of certain objects.
Unex maintained the development of the BIM libraries, looking to meet the wishes of its clients.
In order to facilitate access to its BIM objects, Unex incorporates the BIM&CO platform into its dissemination plan, finding the automatic translation of the parameters of the BIM objects particularly useful.
The catalogues of Unex products, in Revit format, are available here.
About Unex
Unex is an independent European group which specialises in insulating and flexible systems for the channelling, assembly, fixing and signalling of cables and tubes in electrical installations, telecommunications, air conditioning and auxiliary services.
For 50 years, Unex has put its efforts into constant research, technological innovation and commercial expansion, whilst remaining true to its values and committed to the environment.
The quality of its solutions is guaranteed by European and international standards, as well as the most demanding quality brands.
Presto, the program that integrates the management and control of costs for construction and civil engineering that is most widely used in Spanish-speaking countries, and BIM&CO, the BIM content management platform, agree to guarantee all its users an easy connection between both tools.
All the information contained in the BIM&CO product catalogues is readable and perfectly incorporated in Presto, according to users’ needs.
In this way, the standard workflow involves entering the object in the BIM model from the BIM&CO platform, selecting the properties and the level of detail that you want through the App, exporting with Cost-It to Presto to manage the information and selected parameters and finally obtain the budget.
If changes are required, the traceability between the Revit model and Presto's budget is bidirectional, in the same way that "Smart Download" from BIM&CO enables easy synchronisation of modifications of manufacturers’ objects.
Through its OMPS technology, the BIM&CO platform works for the structuring of the data, and Presto, with more than 40,000 users, provides a working interface and data visualisation specially created for the large amount of information coming from the BIM models.
"Since BIM is modelling data, this collaboration with Presto is aligned with our lines of work and with the intention of always offering more features that serve the user's project processes." Muriel Bourgeay, BIM&CO Country Manager, Spain.
"Thanks to this agreement, Presto and Cost-It users can extract information from the objects provided by BIM&CO to generate more complete budgets and improve their projects." Gabriel Cerrada, CEO of RIB Spain.
About RIB Spain S.A.
RIB Spain is the Spanish headquarters of RIB Software SE, an innovative company in the construction IT sector. Based in Madrid, it has more than 38 years in the sector and more than 40,000 users worldwide. It develops and markets Presto, the first BIM-oriented program for budgets and measurements and the most widely used in Spanish-speaking countries. It also offers the iTWO business platform -New thinking, New work and New technology- for the integral digital management of construction projects, civil engineering and industrial plant.
RIB Software SE, based in Stuttgart, Germany, is a pioneer in transforming the construction sector into a more advanced and digitised 21st century industry. With more than 30 offices and almost 900 employees around the world, it has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDAX) since 2011.
Viewing BIM objects in VR and AR is now a reality.
A strategic partnership has been announced between BIM&CO, the publisher of BIM object management solutions for the construction industry, and VT-Lab, a pioneer in integrating VR functionality into the BIM sector.
Thanks to this far-reaching agreement, VT-Lab is now a software partner to BIM&CO, giving it access to private APIs that will allow it to bring the possibilities of VR to the world of BIM.
Meanwhile, the integration of VT-Lab’s technologies will allow all objects on BIM&CO’s platform to be viewable in VR. This means that every single manufacturer and company that has published a BIM object on the platform will have their content automatically optimised for VR viewing, which will allow them to better show off and sell their products to their clients digitally.
It will be a considerable asset for businesses in the construction industry to be able to privately manage their own BIM libraries, whilst equally having an openly available digital twin that can be freely accessed to serve a number of practical applications: from assisting firms during the sales process via product testing to using augmented reality to integrate virtual BIM objects into a real construction site. The financial return on VR/AR technology is optimal, too: all that is needed is a headset and a VR-compatible browser.
Of the agreement, Baptiste Mullie, CEO of BIM&CO remarked: “I am particularly happy to be able to work with pioneers in VR such as VT-Lab. The integration of VT-Labs technology into our ecosystem of trusted partners is a real asset, but this is just the first step. We have many opportunities and practical applications for VR technology that we would like explore with our clients, and these are all possible with VT-Lab’s expertise”.
Virtual reality allows for the most realistic view [of an object] before or during a project, and it opens up many new possibilities for BIM. Iván Gómez, CEO of VT-Lab comments: “Virtual reality really enhances the potential of a BIM object’s three dimensions: it helps a user easily understand how a virtual model looks and works. Adding BIM&CO’s object management capabilities to the world of VR brings BIM as a whole to new heights, opening up an infinite number of new possibilities, and not just for BIM professionals.”
About VT-Lab
VT-Lab is a Spanish firm based in Madrid that specialises in innovative solutions for trades in AEC. Its technology is based on representing BIM models in virtual & augmented reality and integrating this functionality throughout each phase of a project’s lifecycle, from conception to construction and utilisation.
VT-Lab takes particular care in crafting solutions that create simple and user-friendly tools for all those involved in BIM projects, from the first architect to the final operator tasked with maintenance.
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