This is useful for when you are exploring your model in 3D and Sections/Elevations to check it. Once you find an element that needs further investigation, just select it and use the Shortcut to jump right to it in your Floorplan view.

In particular, if you want to Customise your Wall Plates, there’s plenty of control to do that.

Just look in the Combination Plates folder you’ll see for each region, and select the Plate type that you want.

For instance, I want a Powerpoint with 1 switch and 2 non-switched sockets. So in the Powerpoint settings, I set the number of points to 3, and then in the Individual Powerpoints section, I set 1 of them to have a switch beside, and the other 2 to be just powerpoints:

You can use roughly the same steps to produce all sorts of custom plates.

Right click on the rule, choose cursor projection

In a highly competitive global marketplace, businesses are searching for and adopting revolutionary technology and processes to stay relevant. According to the latest IDC Worldwide semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide[1], New Zealand shares the second highest position with Australia in APAC region when it comes to the IoT spenders per capita. The report further highlights that the top three industries spending most on IoT solutions in 2018 were discrete manufacturing ($43.9 billion), process manufacturing ($33.2 billion) and utilities ($20.1 billion).

With the advent of automation and analytics, manufacturing is moving from mass production to mass customisation. The immense growth of IoT in the industry has resulted in factories being able to extract critical data on operations. By using big data and machine learning they are achieving more efficiency in their workplace as well as enhancing customer experience.

Without a doubt, IoT is a clear investment area for the manufacturing industry particularly in the Asia Pacific Region which is among the world’s top regions for IoT adoption and usage[2]. To effectively work with new technologies, businesses must be prepared to think differently, adapt and invest to remain competitive.

According to the MBIE report[3], Industry 4.0 is seen both as a threat and an opportunity for New Zealand manufacturers. The ministry believes that Industry 4.0 technologies have the potential to make a type of short run, customised production that will enable more specialisation to become efficient and profitable. This would be especially important for the manufacturing industry where it currently accounts for 12 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP value. This means there is untapped potential for New Zealand businesses to stand out from their competitors in the race to transform their businesses.

Business productivity

The bottom-line when adopting new technology is that it will increase overall productivity of the workplace. The integration of IoT into smart devices enables industrialists to autonomously manage manufacturing and distribution operations. IoT also allows manufacturers, and their customers, to access critical, real-time data, which can be used to improve productivity and system performance and give customers data on the status of their product delivery.

The consistent information derived from processes of IoT can be used for preventative or predictive maintenance, resulting in reduced downtime by making more informed and targeted upkeep of equipment. Increased connectivity between pieces of equipment and machinery means improved collaboration and integration amongst stakeholders throughout the manufacturing value chain, which is crucial for the success of implementation.

Furthermore, IoT will continue to drive the future of factories. In the automotive industry, smart manufacturing will interconnect and better harmonise the individual stages of manufacturing production in order to advance plant-wide efficiency. From an engineering cycle standpoint, this means that manufacturers will be able to get new products to the market sooner and meet consumer demands more responsively. For example, medical device manufacturers can also leverage IoT to improve customer experiences and monitor patients more closely by managing everything from dosage through to the use and efficacy of devices. Regardless of industry, IoT will be beneficial to all businesses looking to improve their products and services amongst their competitors.

Renewed business models: Servitisation

Greater investment in IoT gives manufacturers an opportunity to diversify their services sector. The new buzzword in the manufacturing industry is ‘servitisation’ that refers to the aftermarket service work and is a huge growth area for the industry players.  This is driven by the data retrieved from IoT. The key advantage of adopting a full servitised model is in the continual relationship with the customer. A manufacturer delivers a piece of equipment as a service and is billed on basis of usage or through a revenue sharing model. By focusing on customer retention and loyalty through servitisation, manufacturers can stand out in the crowd with an enhanced customer experience.

According to IMCRC, less than 30 per cent of manufacturers are in the business of selling services, which implies there is a huge scope to use IoT to its advantage[4]. By introducing service offerings in addition to the sale of goods, IoT can give organisations competitive advantage in the saturated one-off market by increasing value differentiation. To remain competitive and increase the market share in the highly competitive manufacturing industry, IoT adoption is key.

As we head towards a hyper-personalised world, customer experience will be paramount to the success of a business. Staying relevant will come from rethinking revenue and business models. Servitisation reflects changing customer expectations, with consumers no longer satisfied with one-off purchases.

Ultimately, the right investments in IoT will enable businesses to tap into the potential of digital transformation that awaits. Whether it is through automatic retrieval of performance data, delivery tracking or equipment performance monitoring, an enhanced customer experience is supported by IoT and, in turn, increased competitiveness is delivered.

Reference: NZ Manufacturer – https://nzmanufacturer.co.nz/2019/04/transforming-the-manufacturing-industry-with-internet-of-things/

At Central Innovation, we offer the very best design technology to the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Where no solution exists, we create one.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between technology, and what you can get out of it.

We don’t just provide industry-leading software such as  SOLIDWORKS, ARCHICAD or Solibri: but the training, technical support and resources to transform the way you work.

We do more than provide the pieces of the puzzle: we help you integrate your hardware,  software and people to streamline processes. Replace manual process with system integration solutions. Remove inefficiencies. Improve collaboration.

It’s something we’ve been doing for almost 30 years. Our commitment to customer service is second to none: we help you get the best out of your technology.

For a truly unique solution to your unique challenges, please contact us. Or read about some of the great services and solutions we offer.

This can only be a successful journey when the technology partner is well-equipped to meet the company’s needs and align with the business goals. In a decision-making process, success is contingent on asking the right questions and it can be an overwhelming ordeal. Here are the key attributes that businesses should look for while choosing the right technology partner.

Trust

It is critical to ensure that you can trust your technology partner. Any lasting partnership is built on a foundation of trust, which your partner will need to earn. Key to earning this trust is ascertaining whether your partner delivers on its commitments from your own experiences and from the experiences of others who have worked with them.

Expertise and capability

Ensure that your technology partner has a depth of talent and expertise in the technology and a proven strong track record of delivery. They should have a portfolio of work that showcases their experience with companies with similar needs and demonstrate the value and results they drove for them. Broad knowledge about your industry and your clients will also help you get the right technology solution for your needs.

Risk profile

While in the right circumstances working with a new player in a market can be rewarding, it comes with some degree of risk. Some new players may not be there when things become difficult, while established players may offer more certainty, there’s a chance they may be complacent.

Consider the risk profile on the offered technology – is it a mature offering or a new offering? Sometimes newer is not better – in many cases getting the most out of a previous investment is the best business case.

Risk profile on the partner – do they have the capability and experience you need or do they offer something compelling that will give you a competitive advantage? If a prospective partner can’t objectively talk about the risk profile of themselves or their technology then that is likely to be a sign of unacceptable risk.

Cultural alignment

As you’ll need to work well with your partner, their values set and corporate culture is equally important. Culture can encompass many characteristics such as communication style, formality and expectations of documentation. Operating under the right expectations and aiming for the same results will reduce miscommunication which is the key to a successful partnership.

It can be a daunting process to select a technology partner, ticking away these key attributes can help to quickly figure out the best partner for a successful digital transformation journey.

Mike Russell, Managing Director, Central Innovation

Reference: https://insidesmallbusiness.com.au/planning-management/key-attributes-businesses-should-look-for-in-a-technology-partner

At Central Innovation, we offer the very best design technology to the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Where no solution exists, we create one.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between technology, and what you can get out of it.

We don’t just provide industry-leading software such as  SOLIDWORKS, ARCHICAD or Solibri: but the training, technical support and resources to transform the way you work.

We do more than provide the pieces of the puzzle: we help you integrate your hardware,  software and people to streamline processes. Replace manual process with system integration solutions. Remove inefficiencies. Improve collaboration.

It’s something we’ve been doing for almost 30 years. Our commitment to customer service is second to none: we help you get the best out of your technology.

For a truly unique solution to your unique challenges, please contact us. Or read about some of the great services and solutions we offer.

Forum member, Mike Russell, Chief Operating Officer of Central Innovation discusses how the evolution of manufacturing, is driving engineering 4.0. The manufacturing industry has come a long way starting from the Industrial Age, through the information age up until the digital age.

As we steadily approach 2019, we are now in the Automation age popularly known as the Engineering 4.0 era. Engineering 4.0, characterised by automation and the internet of things (IoT), is propelling digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. The intersect of mechanical and electrical design engineering, alongside simulation and data management, has seen conventional document-centric design and production process evolve to model-centric smart manufacturing.

Evidently, the manufacturing industry is undergoing a dramatic change with increasing demand for the delivery of quality products with minimum go-to market time. According to Statista, the industrial manufacturing industry is expected to invest more than US$175 billion in Industry 4.0 by 2020. Therefore, it is important the latest technological advancements ensure efficiency and remain competitive.

Big Data, IoT, engineering simulation and additive manufacturing are the key factors that are driving the fourth Industrial revolution. IoT is pivotal in the evolution of Engineering 4.0 as it helps connect the entire manufacturing ecosystem with real-time data from interconnected devices optimising the manufacturing process. With Big data and analytics, companies can better organise, analyse and successfully streamline information on every stage of production.

Engineering simulation allows workers to create realistic, three-dimensional images through virtual and augmented reality, which speeds up the product design process and reduce the time to market. Additive manufacturing that includes both 3D and 4D printing allows engineers to design while CAD software makes any changes a mouse click away. Leveraging IoT and automation to undergo predictive maintenance can accurately predict failure and reduce downtime for maintenance.

With the changing paradigm, new age technologies such as CAD and BIM are critical to keep up with the changing demands of the industry. Businesses are lagging behind industry standards driven by faster engineering time and more complex product design process.

According to a Deloitte report, only 2 percent of Australian leaders are highly confident that they are ready for the changes associated with Engineering 4.0, in comparison to 14 percent of their global counterparts. On the other hand, 71 percent of Australian executives (compared with 40 percent globally) say they have people in place with the right skills to maximise their potential—the highest percentage of any country surveyed.

In the current digitised and connected industry, it is imperative to increase customisation capabilities and improve production of bespoke goods at small volumes using solutions like CAD and BIM. As customers constantly look for high-quality products and quick turnaround time, businesses that integrate the next generation manufacturing technologies can leverage from the efficiencies of new processes to allow product customisation.

To keep up with digitisation in Engineering 4.0, current employees will need to prepare for more value-added responsibilities with proficiencies in fields such as augmented reality, big data and robotics. It is important to invest in up-skilling the faculty to be able to leverage the new technology and adapt to its implications.

Using collaboration platforms and tools will make it easy for employees to access data remotely and enable organisations to attract potential global talent in the future. With new advanced technologies in place and demand to adapt to the market changes, Engineering 4.0 offers opportunities to optimise the production cycle and be efficient. For those who want to keep up with the rapid advances in technology, it’s time to embrace the change and the huge opportunities that the digital revolution has to offer.

Mike Russell is Managing Director of Central Innovation. Central Innovation provides software, hardware, systems and people solutions to architectural, construction and manufacturing industries.

Reference: https://www.aumanufacturing.com.au/the-rise-and-rise-of-engineering-4-0

At Central Innovation, we offer the very best design technology to the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Where no solution exists, we create one.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between technology, and what you can get out of it.

We don’t just provide industry-leading software such as  SOLIDWORKS, ARCHICAD or Solibri: but the training, technical support and resources to transform the way you work.

We do more than provide the pieces of the puzzle: we help you integrate your hardware, software and people to streamline processes. Replace manual process with system integration solutions. Remove inefficiencies. Improve collaboration.

It’s something we’ve been doing for almost 30 years. Our commitment to customer service is second to none: we help you get the best out of your technology.

For a truly unique solution to your unique challenges, please contact us. Or read about some of the great services and solutions we offer.

From envisioning a building using sketches, physical models and drawings to current practices with technology such as building information modelling (BIM), innovation is now a key element for the architectural services sector to meet the challenges of digital transformation.

A PwC report has revealed that New Zealand’s design sector contributes approximately $10.1 billion in a year to the country’s economy and is equivalent to 4.2% of New Zealand’s GDP, meaning innovation in the architecture and design industry is a priority for the nation. Driven by specialised design software solutions supported by BIM, the building and architecture industry is undergoing significant change. Architectural design has transformed from paper sketches into a digital representation of a building with physical and functional characteristics that are communicated to all agents of the project using BIM.

As a major driver in the transformation of architectural processes, BIM is an intelligent 3D methodology that allows architects to envisage what a completed design will perform in detail ahead of time. Virtual models of buildings are digitally designed and can be altered throughout the development phases using intelligent capabilities. Across all stages of planning, designing, constructing and managing buildings, BIM increases efficiency and cross-discipline integration.

ARCHITECTURE DESIGN PROCESSES

In an architectural design project, the complexity of the process lends from the plethora of interactions between multiple agents throughout the lifecycle. To intelligently manage information, BIM incorporates time and costs into the drawings for transparency across all agents. Projects modelled in BIM can include the real products and materials that will be used to build them, incorporating physical properties, characteristics and costs into the model.

This streamlines the process of design and communicates complicated information accurately to everyone involved. Considering that 38% of the survey respondents mentioned that BIM use allows for better coordination between parties, BIM has a clear advantage which lies in allowing the joint work of architects, clients, builders, engineers and other stakeholders to occur within a single intelligent and shared process. These advantages make BIM a critical tool for the digital age.

THE ROAD AHEAD

The current state of BIM adoption in New Zealand has plateaued and is reaching a general sense of maturation, reflecting the greater role the government should be playing to drive growth in adoption or develop national standards. The 2017 BIM survey results found that BIM was only used in 2% more projects in 2017 compared to 2016, indicating a need for greater government support through setting standards and training. However, the establishment of the BIM Acceleration Committee (BAC) since 2014 means there has been greater effort to develop more efficient work processes through the application of BIM and open standards.

In the New Zealand practice of architecture and design, the workforce needs to reflect industry transformation by adopting BIM in their daily practices to prepare for the future. Currently, 25% of survey respondents in 2017 BIM benchmark survey found that further education was needed for clients to understand BIM and 23% mentioned that there needs to be an increase in the quantity of BIM operators and staff. Clearly, training is a crucial element in the approach of improving adoption and driving change in the design industry.

For instance, Ctrl_Space, a New Zealand business, has reacted to the demand for these critical skills by effectively implementing BIM training programmes. By adopting this methodology, there is a clear increase in capabilities when delivering high-quality design to current date standards as projects are completed with greater integration and efficiency. This shows how crucial the expertise of design tools is for the growth and development of the industry. To achieve sustained growth, a key priority for businesses is to adopt BIM as part of their design process and drive innovation in the architecture industry.

MAXIMISING POTENTIAL

While BIM is an invaluable process offering an abundance of benefits to the architecture and design industry, the adoption rate in the New Zealand market has plateaued as it is reaching maturity in the market.
New Zealand’s current design and architecture landscape can maximise BIM’s potential when businesses are investing in training, knowledge and skilled resources to utilise the software. From the example of Ctrl_Space in their adoption of BIM to reap the benefits of integration, cost-efficiency and flexibility, New Zealand’s design industry can definitely drive sustained innovation using technology.

Reference: NZ Construction News Magazine, Feb-Mar 2019, page 22. “How BIM is changing the face of the New Zealand architecture industry”

Reference: www.amtil.com.au/amt/

At Central Innovation, we offer the very best design technology to the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Where no solution exists, we create one.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between technology, and what you can get out of it.

We don’t just provide industry-leading software such as  SOLIDWORKS, ARCHICAD or Solibri: but the training, technical support and resources to transform the way you work.

We do more than provide the pieces of the puzzle: we help you integrate your hardware,  software and people to streamline processes. Replace manual process with system integration solutions. Remove inefficiencies. Improve collaboration.

It’s something we’ve been doing for almost 30 years. Our commitment to customer service is second to none: we help you get the best out of your technology.

For a truly unique solution to your unique challenges, please contact us. Or read about some of the great services and solutions we offer.

With considerable experience in developing products for the garden market, industrial designer Shoji Sinclair was a natural choice to work in collaboration with Pope when the company wanted a new design for its Handy Hose Reel and Cart range, for sale in Australian mass merchant outlets.

As with many modern CAD projects, product design for Pope is typically a collaborative process, using multiple teams at different stages and requiring seamless sharing of data across platforms. As the industry standard CAD software package, SOLIDWORKS has been designed to optimise such functionality – making it easy for Sinclair to work from his desk at Sinclair Product Design while also collaborating closely with Chris Appleton, Lead Designer at Toro Australia, which owns the Pope brand.

Having converted to SOLIDWORKS some 15 years ago, Toro Australia is a long-time Central Innovation customer.

“We’ve had relationships with several different Central Innovation team members over that time, and during that journey the communication and service has always been there when we need it,” Appleton confirms.

Appleton and his team have expanded their use of SOLIDWORKS over the years, with the development of the Pope Handy Reel and Cart using not only the standard Solidworks package but also SOLIDWORKS Plastics for the injection moulding phase of the design and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation to model fluid flow.

“SOLIDWORKS has the capabilities our design teams need, we’re able to source it locally from Central Innovation, and over the years it’s become more refined and user-friendly,” Appleton says. “It’s certainly a very useful tool.”

 

He adds that Central Innovation has been invaluable in upskilling staff in its use: “When we assign new staffers to SOLIDWORKS, we’ll typically send them off to Central Innovation for training so that they’ll be right across the intricacies of the software prior to the pressure being on to do the top-down assembly. Particularly when you’re dealing with Flow Simulation and Plastics, it’s essential to have that knowledge and the team at Central Innovation have the necessary expertise to impart it.”

Customer support has played a key role in the longevity of the relationship. “When we do have an issue, we know that all we have to do is phone up Central Innovation and the person at the other end of the line will always understand what’s going on. I don’t think we have ever had to wait more than a few hours to get a fix that works,” Appleton says.

“The team at Central Innovation are not only highly professional, they’re also very results-oriented and they provide us with efficient and personalised service. With those qualities, they tick all the relevant boxes for us.”

 

Shoji Sinclair’s relationship with Central Innovation is a more recent one. Thanks to Central Innovation’s in-house hardware division, where laptops, PCs and workstations are custom-built and repurposed to optimise software use prior to shipping, Shoji was able to avail himself of a turnkey solution – a high powered mobile workstation preloaded with SOLIDWORKS. Since purchasing it three years ago, his business has gone from strength to strength.

“Central Innovation has always been very proactive in terms of providing IT support,” says Sinclair. “Their help desk is able to solve most issues remotely via team viewer which is a great advantage because it saves so much time.”

 

Sinclair also praises Central Innovation’s regular networking events as a great opportunity to share ideas. “They make you feel part of the SOLIDWORKS community – you’re not just using the software in isolation,” he explains.

Now sharing an office with Adelaide entrepreneur Scott Boocock, who shot to fame when he won Shark Tank and has carved out his own niche in the garden market with his innovative Heg’s Peg product, Sinclair is collaborating with Boocock on a number of products still in the conceptual stage.

In the case of the Handy Reel and Cart for Pope, the impetus for the new design was the market-driven imperative of a product refresh. “Pope supplies products across a wide range of categories, and as such there’s an ongoing need to facelift products and find opportunities for a point of difference,” Chris Appleton explains. “Otherwise, there’s a danger of products looking too generic.”

“In this case, we undertook a major category review and decided we needed to change the product presentation of our Pope Handy range – we wanted it to represent our brand more strongly, and based on that thinking we asked a number of designers to come up with concepts which would highlight the Pope ‘leaf’ logo in the products – as brand recognition generates customer engagement.

“That led to us to working with Shoji and we asked him to create seven uniquely different concepts – from there we chose several of them to move forward through our design concepts using all the tools of SOLIDWORKS.”

“This was an opportunity to start with a blank slate and create a completely new and unique product that was exclusively and unmistakably Pope,” says Sinclair. “The conceptual stage was done initially with a digital hand sketch, which could easily be used as an underlay within SOLIDWORKS to build up the solid CAD data.”

 

Appleton’s brief to Sinclair encompassed three key elements: to create a family look across the product range; to ensure it would be possible to use the skills and capabilities of Toro’s existing manufacturing partners, while also adding improved value in terms of features; and to design the products to facilitate shipping.

As Sinclair explains: “The gardening market is highly competitive and price driven, so maximising the number of units per pallet was key to the project’s success. Using SOLIDWORKS, we could fine tune the design to exactly fit the products within the envelope. The product is designed to be stackable with interlocking base features, which makes it ideal for end of aisle display in a hardware store. The crank handle also folds away to further reduce the palletisation footprint.”

“With the prior model we were only able to pack 27 products per pallet,” Appleton adds, “whereas now we can fit 36. Not only does that reduce our shipping costs, it also helps minimise waste material which is an improvement in terms of environmental sustainability.”

 

Sinclair’s final design incorporated the Pope brand leaf silhouette into the styling of the Handy Reel’s side panels – establishing new visual branding which has since been carried through the entire Pope product range. “I think the brand has gained considerable strength through the robust brand language – we’ve set a benchmark that cannot be easily copied,” Sinclair elaborates.

Once the native files had been rendered, the design review process began. This being a collaborative project, it was important to be able to share data between designers and vendors, and SOLIDWORKS made that process easy.

“The same CAD data was used to create initial visual prototypes, produce engineering drawings and cut tools,” says Sinclair. “This helped validate the design, in that each stage of the process was accessible. For example, store buyers who wanted to stock the product were able to see actual prototyped examples of what the finished version would look like, before giving the green light for the detailed design stage to begin.”

Creating the model in SOLIDWORKS also made it easy for Sinclair to experiment with alternative colour paths. “Using this method, store buyers could easily decide what colour-ways they wanted before placing orders,” he explains. The detailed manufacturing information – tooling, mould design and mould flow input using SOLIDWORKS Plastics and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation – was input at Toro Australia’s end by Appleton and his team.

The next step was to create a 3D supermodel – “we apply tooling shrinkage if we need to, create the documentation we need – we like to have quality data so we’ll do that on a 2D drawing, pick the key dimensions that have to be described and send out via PDF so our non-tech teams can look at them,” says Appleton.

“We then do instructions and graphics via the marketing team, and the basic SOLIDWORKS data goes across and off to printers. We’ll also use the SOLIDWORKS model for early marketing material before we get final photography – a fully rendered model so everyone can see what the product looks like. Finally, the data gets archived, all the manufacturing data is written up and we send the package off to the quality assurance team so they can manage the quality requirements at the vendor and the warehouse, again all within SOLIDWORKS.”

With SOLIDWORKS having facilitated the successful collaboration between design, marketing and store buyers, Pope’s Handy Cart and Reel was delivered on time and at the right price point for the market – as evidenced by its domination of its product category over the summer months in 2017/18.

Reference: https://www.industryupdate.com.au/article/support-key-collaborative-design-consumer-products

At Central Innovation, we offer the very best design technology to the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Where no solution exists, we create one.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between technology, and what you can get out of it.

We don’t just provide industry-leading software such as  SOLIDWORKS, ARCHICAD or Solibri: but the training, technical support and resources to transform the way you work.

We do more than provide the pieces of the puzzle: we help you integrate your hardware,  software and people to streamline processes. Replace manual process with system integration solutions. Remove inefficiencies. Improve collaboration.

It’s something we’ve been doing for almost 30 years. Our commitment to customer service is second to none: we help you get the best out of your technology.

For a truly unique solution to your unique challenges, please contact us. Or read about some of the great services and solutions we offer.

Historically, architectural design has relied on envisioning the building based on sketch, physical models and drawings. However, as the existing conceptions of practices continue to be broadened and challenged, innovation is now a key element for the architectural services sector to meet the challenges of fast-moving change.

The urgency for innovation can be seen in the statistic provided by the NSW Architect Registration Board , which sees Australia’s $100 billion built environment sector expecting to reach AUD 7.1 billion by 2020.

The building and architecture industry is undergoing significant changes driven by specialised design software solutions such as Building Information Modelling (BIM).

The advent of BIM has transformed the architectural design from paper sketches into a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a building that can be communicated across all agents of the project.

BIM has been a major driver in the transformation of architectural processes through the intelligent 3D software that allows architects to envisage what a completed design will look like in detail ahead of time. Across all stages of planning, designing, constructing and managing buildings, BIM increases efficiency and cross-discipline integration.

Architecture design processes

BIM incorporates time and costs into the model which allows users to manage information intelligently. Throughout the lifecycle of an architectural design project, there is a plethora of interactions between multiple parties which can add to the complexity of the process.

Projects modelled in BIM can include the real products and materials that will be used to build them, incorporating physical properties, characteristics and cost into the model.

This streamlines the process of design and communicates complicated information accurately to everyone involved. The advantage of BIM lies in allowing the joint work of architects, clients, builders, engineers and other stakeholders to occur within a single intelligent and shared process, making it a critical tool for the digital age.

Designing for the environment

With global greenhouse emissions growing by two per cent in 2017 , building sustainable architecture has been always a hot-topic amongst architects. Environmental ratings, such as Green Star, encourages organisations to adopt designs which emit the least carbon emissions.

Building sustainable designs with BIM increases integration and efficiency to streamline the construction process and significantly reduce the chance of human error.

Fewer physical materials are used during the construction stage which can cut costs and wasted resources. BIM-based products also allow architects to measure and analyse the effects of daylighting to conduct an energy analysis of maximising the sustainability of a building.

Road ahead

Despite general consensus indicating that implementation of BIM has stalled due to the lack of effort made to mandate adoption or develop national standards, BIM is still recognised as strong drivers to accelerate the economy. By obtaining a built asset for less, clients can invest more in their buildings which can overall improve the economy and reduce waste.

Currently, a BIM task group in Queensland is taking on a three-pronged approach to protect the future for architects. By raising the awareness of BIM with extensive knowledge of all components in the software, an architect will be able to use it to its full potential.

Additionally, as understanding BIM is becoming one of the critical skills for the current practice of architecture and design, the workforce needs to adopt those changes. Training is a crucial element to the approach of improving adoption and driving change in the design industry.

A great example which shows the effects of increased adoption of this methodology is with Neeson Murcutt Architects, Durbach Block Architects and CHROFI, which reacted to the demand of these critical skills by effectively implementing BIM training programs.

This resulted in increased capabilities in delivering high quality design to current date standards, showing how crucial the expertise on design tools is for the growth and development of the industry. Clearly, a key priority for businesses is to adopt BIM as part of their design process.

BIM is an invaluable process offering an abundance of benefits to the architecture and design industry. Projects which leverage BIM capabilities of integration, cost-efficiency and flexibility have better chances of success at every stage of the project.

Australia’s current design landscape is falling behind the world average due to lack of training, knowledge and skilled resources to utilise the software.

However, learning from the example of Neeson Murcutt Architects, Durbach Block Architects and CHROFI in their adoption of BIM, Australia’s design industry has a strong potential to drive value.

Reference https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/features/comment/how-bim-is-changing-the-face-of-architecture

At Central Innovation, we offer the very best design technology to the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Where no solution exists, we create one.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between technology, and what you can get out of it.

We don’t just provide industry-leading software such as  SOLIDWORKS, Archicad or Solibri: but the training, technical support and resources to transform the way you work.

We do more than provide the pieces of the puzzle: we help you integrate your hardware,  software and people to streamline processes. Replace manual process with system integration solutions. Remove inefficiencies. Improve collaboration.

It’s something we’ve been doing for almost 30 years. Our commitment to customer service is second to none: we help you get the best out of your technology.

For a truly unique solution to your unique challenges, please contact us. Or read about some of the great services and solutions we offer.