BIM for facility life-cycle management: beyond the hype
Dear Readers,
One year ago, we announced that Siveco was tripling its investment in China (the original announcement is here). The main purpose of this investment was to strengthen our Maintenance 4.0 solutions for ultra-high buildings and infrastructure projects. Here is what I said at the time:
“The team will focus on the development of software solutions and related consulting services for ultra-high buildings and eco-cities, which are priorities for the Chinese government in the coming years. The new facility will showcase our application of Industry 4.0 principles to building maintenance and the convergence of cloud computing, mobility, Building Information Models (BIM) and energy management.”
As observed by many, most use of technology is misguided. I have spent the last two weeks visiting major infrastructure clients in Beijing and Hongkong, everywhere we see partly disconnected SCADA systems, empty BIM models and the all-too-common useless “EAM” system (“EAM” has become a code-word for expensive useless maintenance systems, while we maintenance people like to talk about “CMMS”).
Incidentally, the use of BIM (Building Information Modelling) for facilities lifecycle management (another fancy word for maintenance) is the theme of this newsletter: BIM is fast becoming mandatory in large buildings and infrastructure projects, but its actual usage for operation and maintenance remains an open question. Thanks to our R&D investment during 2015 we have developed fully integrated BIM-CMMS solutions based on bluebee® cloud for large mobility driven projects and on Coswin 8i for plant maintenance. At the same time, even before “BIM” was invented, we have been using 3D and 2D CAD drawings as important source of data for maintenance. It is now very easy for us to combine this know-how and our technological solutions to deliver BIM data preparation services and the supporting IT infrastructure: we make BIM useful for maintenance people!
This month’s issue contains two Reliability articles: “BIM and Facilities Management: why and how?” covers the realistic use of BIM for maintenance. “Preparing maintenance from the construction stage” explains Siveco’s approach to O&M data preparation during the construction of a facility, in coordination with the BIM model. Our Customer Story features our client CNOOC using our integrated solutions for their new office buildings in Beijing. Tips & Tricks showcases bluebee® cloud’s integration with Revit. The Partner article presents similar integration done with industrial 3D modelling specialist Cadmatic. As usual, the Siveco People section proves that our China team has been busy and you can read our Latest News.
Bruno Lhopiteau
General Manager
Siveco China
General Manager
Siveco China
