Social networking is coming to construction. So far, it is not a Twitter-like feed of 140 characters or less, nor is it free of charge. But it could be a highly useful tool to help firms engage each other more openly, cut risk and ease tension in a time of economic distress. One such innovator, Textura Corp., appropriately derives its name from the Latin words for “build” and “intertwine.” In just three years it has built a base of 38,000 users—and 25% of ENR Top 400 general contractors—into an innovative bill-pay site. Textura has turned the tedious business of bank
Hoping to quickly stake out digital territory, some construction industry firms are trying out the newest social media tools. After the initial rush of enthusiasm, they soon realize signing up for everything all at once may not exactly pay off. Eventually they were able to glean from their early experiences a thoughtful approach to these rapidly populating applications. Photo: HOK HOK brought bloggers from its international offices to its St. Louis headquarters for hands-on training. Todd Andrlik, vice president of marketing and public relations at Leopardo Companies, Hoffman Estates, Ill., says industry firms should consider why social media works, what
If technology’s worth comes from what you do with it, a new system leveraging digital pens and common printers to mate marks on paper with their authoring files may be valuable indeed. Slide Show ‘Plots’ contain a wealth of routing data. The tech bits are not new, but the workflow developed around them is. Bentley Systems Inc., Exton, Pa., announced ProjectWise Dynamic Plot V8i on May 27. When users of the ProjectWise content management and collaboration system use the dynamic plot option to print, a background pattern is produced on the paper. It is like a microscopic bar code on
A shiver went through the contractor world in mid-May after the product manager for Autodesk’s Constructware, a heavily used, hosted construction-project management tool, was quoted in an interview saying new feature development was being halted in a cost-cutting move, although the product would be maintained and supported. The statement, at first confirmed by Timothy Douglas, the company’s construction solutions manager—then reversed by Jay Bhatt, senior vice president of Autodesk’s AEC Industry Group—set off alarms across the industry. Some contractors and owners for whom Constructware is mission-critical for running big, multiyear projects, interpreted the comments as an indication San Raphael-based Autodesk’s
At a time when companies struggle to reduce “optional” expenses like conferences and travel, one organization of determined visionaries still attracts strong participation as it drives efforts to bring efficiency-enhancing technologies to the workplace. FIATECH, an industry consortium heavy in the capital facilities sector but drawing increasing interest from other areas of construction, fielded a strong turnout of technology leaders at its annual conference in Las Vegas on April 6-9. Attendance was down about 17% from previous records, but those who came despite the recession said now is the time to integrate improvements to position their companies for the next
Two software vendors, CMiC and Vico Software, are forming a partnership to develop integration between their offerings for “enterprise resource planning” and building information modeling. The effort, if completed, would result in a framework for design and construction users of BIM tools to integrate BIM data with business functions, such as procurement and contract management, throughout the construction cycle between all operational departments of a firm, say the vendors. The goal is a product that will allow BIM information to flow seamlessly across an entire organization, not simply within an organization’s specific project. This would eliminate the need for re-entering
Saint Patrick’s Day brought a boatload of new “green” bulding energy-performance analysis tools, including a trio of emmigrant products with long resumes, to U.S. architects, consultants and engineers. In announcements on March 17, both Bentley Systems, Exton, Pa., and Autodesk Inc., San Raphael, Calif., introduced significant and quite different tools to a practice both companies expect will grow rapidly. “I think there is huge demand,” says Huw W. Roberts, Bentley’s global marketing director. “All design firms are integrating this kind of design analysis and addressing these issues. The demand for this will be 100%.” “It is becoming a bigger part
Tekla Corp. may lack the global recognition of its fellow Finn Nokia, but in the 3D-modeling software world it is every bit as familiar. Having cut its teeth in steel fabrication, the Espoo-based firm spread into engineering design and now offers modeling to construction managers. Related Links: Software Firms See User Needs Driving New Development Digital-Modeling-Standard Effort ‘SOS’ Tekla’s launch of worksite-management software began 18 months ago in Finland, where Tiina Koppinen was an early user. “It is a very important step to take modeling to the site,” says Koppinen, a project manager helping develop building information modeling at Skanska
The National Building Information Model Standard project committee is in dire need of volunteers to help it develop open building-information-model standards to foster interoperability among products of different software vendors. The buildingSMART alliance of the National Institute of Building Sciences, which is organizing the effort, is intent on delivering NBIMS at no cost to users. Related Links: Software Firms See User Needs Driving New Development Forty Years of Grassroots Development That is not an easy thing to do. Much of the standard will be published in the form of information-delivery manuals. Progress in developing the manuals is based on the
One future vision for virtual design and construction tools is for a "highly automated and seamlessly integrated environment" across all phases and processes of a project’s life cycle. The vision belongs to the FIATECH Consortium, which is devoted to opening up digital standards production to the world by developing the tool to achieve interoperability for interoperability standards. Related Links: FirmStretchesWorksharing to BIM Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box FIATECH wants a digital world in which all data is available to "whomever needs it, whenever it’s needed and wherever it’s needed," says Ric Jackson, director
RSS
