Kalzip offers an insight to the benefits of BIM for a manufacturing company

Here at WAN we have been looking at what BIM has been doing for the architecture profession and how products such as Autodesk’s Revit have been changing the way practices are working. From a different industry perspective, Kalzip, one of the largest tailored steel manufacturers in the world, has given us an insight into how BIM aides their business and gives an interesting look from outside the world of architecture.

So how are Kalzip adapting to changes in the industry? Using BIM has helped Kalzip to develop the way in which they interact with their clients and the notion of collaboration that has come from the industry adopting BIM is one the key driving forces for its implementation. The advantages of this have been seen through various stages of modelling and testing phases of the steel work Kalzip design.

Advances in BIM compatible software have significantly changed the way in which Kalzip’s products are designed, through 3D modelling complex forms can be designed easily to meet the demands of architects’ designs and can be tested for structural integrity all in a virtual world. Using BIM allows Kalzip to work out the feasibility of a form and the levels of supporting structure that need to be applied; all information can then be transferred to the clients to allow them to adapt their designs all through the collaborative means of BIM.

The design stages translate through to the manufacturing stages where the BIM models can be converted in to drawings for machines to produce the products, eliminating the risk of error and guaranteeing efficiency in production and construction.

BIM also allows Kalzip to address and resolve many areas that need to be considered in the products they produce before manufacturing even begins. The list includes: all acoustic performance properties, U-values, structural performances, extreme weather performances, thermal expansion properties, fire properties and many more. BIM is changing Kalzip and allowing it be more efficient, produce highly resolved products and keeping them at the forefront of the highly important advances in the design and construction industries.

Matthew Goodwill
Editorial