Project Overview
In House Staff: BSI Engineering, Cincinnati Ohio
Projects: Process Chemical, Aviation, Commercial Properties and Manufacturing Facilities
Project Duration: 5 years, multiple projects
Challenge
As one of the fastest growing engineering firms in Cincinnati expanded into multiple complex projects across diverse industries, the team faced challenges such as ineffective collaboration, significant design coordination issues, and time-consuming manual updates. Without a structured QMS and BIM plan, teams struggled with workflow inefficiencies, data silos, and costly design clashes. Recognizing these challenges, our General Manager, who was a direct employee, helped initiate and guide the development of a BIM Execution Plan. This plan aimed to streamline workflows, enhance cross-disciplinary collaboration, and ensure design accuracy.
Key Solution Elements
- BIM Plan Development: Created a BIM execution plan encompassing project objectives, data-sharing standards, and clearly defined team roles.
- Software Implementation and Setup: Integrated Revit, Navisworks, and ACC across all teams, establishing a shared data environment and consistent workflows.
- Clash Detection with Navisworks: Proactively identified and addressed design conflicts early, significantly reducing on-site rework.
- Real-Time Collaboration via ACC: Used Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) to enable seamless communication and instant model updates for all stakeholders.
- Ongoing Training and Support: Provided hands-on training sessions and continuous support to ensure team proficiency in each software platform.
Solution
NTG’s General Manager played a key role in helping establish, implementing and enforcing a QMS and BIM management plan with a comprehensive set of quality-checking procedures. To achieve this, NTG’s General Manager worked with the leadership team at BSI to develop three essential groups within the company: the SOP Committee, CAD Committee, and Future Development Team. These teams collaborated to create and enforce the BIM Execution Plan by focusing on the following:
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Crafted SOPs to standardize tasks, define roles, and clarify responsibilities, minimizing ambiguity and facilitating seamless collaboration across project phases.
- Custom Workflows: Developed workflows to optimize task sequences, streamline communication between disciplines and improve project efficiency.
- Back-Checking Procedures: Implemented back-checking protocols to identify discrepancies early, enabling timely corrections that reduced errors and rework.
- Training Plan: Built a comprehensive training plan to equip team members with the skills needed to effectively use BIM software and adhere to the BIM Execution Plan.
Process
Assessed current project workflows, pinpointed inefficiencies and set clear BIM goals.
Defined BIM standards, such as file naming conventions, data exchange formats and clash detection schedules.
Established Revit as the primary tool for creating detailed 3D models of architecture, structure and MEP systems.
Held weekly clash detection meetings to identify and resolve issues before construction, saving time and reducing errors.
Configured ACC to enable centralized document management, real-time model updates and streamlined communications.
Delivered regular training sessions and provided support to maintain consistent BIM processes.
The Result
Implementing the QMS and BIM plan with Revit, Navisworks and ACC led to significant improvements in project delivery:
- Clash Reduction: Achieved a 90% reduction in clashes through proactive clash detection, minimizing delays.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Real-time data sharing through ACC reduced communication breakdowns and improved decision-making.
- Time Savings: Reduced design and coordination time by 15%, keeping the project schedule on track.
- Cost Savings: Avoided over $2 million in rework costs by detecting design issues early.
- Improved Model Accuracy: Leveraged Revit to create highly accurate models, enhancing construction quality and client satisfaction.
Client Testimonial
"Nate Decker was instrumental in organizing and leading all the different discipline Designers at a relatively fledgling Engineering company at the time, he helped set up the Quality Program for checking design drawings. He helped establish CAD standards and 'setup' procedures that ensured project execution for years to come, enabling the company to successfully grow to more than 250 engineers & designers. I recommend him highly, and can't thank him enough for what he did."
— Phil Beirne, RETIRED President at BSI Engineering