Brazilian construction has its origins in centuries-old building processes. On most construction sites, we find rudimentary, slow and imprecise design and execution processes, with a high potential for budget and deadline overruns. Added to this worrying condition is the amount of waste generated, the proper disposal of which is still a challenge for most cities.
There are many reasons for this and the scenario is still very much inclined to maintain the status quo, but there are companies that are challenging all the limitations and difficulties of the market in search of more advantageous solutions for the client, for themselves and for Brazil. This is the case of Kronan Tecnologia em Construção Civil Ltda, a company that has adopted BIM modeling technology for project design and execution and has Trimble's Tekla Structures as a great ally in carrying out its projects.
Based on its founders' vision of the need to act differently, avoiding the stress generated in people who decide to build, Kronan then seeks to prevent the client's dream from becoming a big, long nightmare, as Mariana de Arruda Stucchi, the architect in charge of the company's design department, tells us. The practical experience of one of its founders in building his own house using traditional methods was enough to turn the trauma into a business opportunity. "Kronan was born to bring a new, highly technological solution that takes into account the client and their dream, making the user experience light, fast, peaceful and happy," says Stucchi.
The Good Example from Outside and Culture Change
Based on the excellent results obtained in developing reference countries, it didn't take long for the company to understand the key to their success: the BIM project culture, which guides all phases of project development right through to final delivery. Stucchi's statement reinforces this thesis: "We have always been impressed by the incredible speed and precision with which designers in our reference countries create, detail, plan and manage all the information related to the projects they carry out."
Once the benchmark had been established, the company simply had to follow the good example from abroad and implement the change in the local work culture_: "At Kronan, the design already takes place in a BIM culture, collecting structured information that expresses the user's wishes, designing the project's forms with three-dimensional modeling and already in the initial phases taking advantage of Tekla's detailing power to quickly obtain all the optimized constructability solutions, from the manufacture of the building elements to the logistics and completion of the work_", says the architect.
Advantages in Results and the Road to No Return
Designing projects based on models brings with it a great advantage: understanding the project as a whole and in detail by all the professionals involved is achieved much more quickly, there is much less scope for misinterpretation and other areas of the construction process also benefit, such as coordination of purchases, distribution of manufacturing batches, shipping and so on. In addition, compatibility gains an important ally in the search for projects without interference or intercurrences, as Stucchi points out: "In most of the projects that Kronan is involved in, the power of Tekla gives us the opportunity to coordinate the other project specialties with high precision. With mastery of this tool, everything becomes very agile and precise."
Once the technology has been adopted and the work process is efficient, profitable and predictable, there is no room for regression, as Stucchi points out: "We can no longer imagine Kronan without using this tool to its full potential. The tool has met our expectations and allows us to continue evolving in the technical and managerial areas."
The Project Life Cycle and a New Reality
The design and execution processes of a project need to be connected to the local reality, and in this respect, model-based processes offer enormous flexibility. In addition, it is common knowledge that we still have major challenges at a national level in terms of training the workforce, industrialization of construction and so on, as Stucchi points out: "Given the simplicity of the workforce and the locations where work takes place, which are not always well connected, most of the information is still transmitted and recorded in physical documents, such as tables and drawings."
Regardless of the conditions imposed on it, BIM offers resources so that everyone can actively participate in projects. Using the digital resources available, such as models embedded in tablets, controlling tasks and notes on smartphones or even obtaining up-to-date documentation directly from the model project in the cloud is already a reality, as the architect details: "Kronan uses the documents generated from Tekla in practically all areas, from the initial budget to the manufacturing and assembly details, including countless management and administrative information". And she goes further: "The management team, however, has already become accustomed to acting directly on the information model in the cloud."
Added to this integration scenario are the parts manufacturing and production process management stages. The information generated and made available by the shared model is taken in its entirety to the other departments and processes that make up the production chain, by means of data files in various formats, as required: "All the information related to supplies, stock, manufacturing, issuing invoices and everything else, is built on data extracted directly from Tekla and its management is structured in an ERP system," he concludes.
Reviews as a Challenge Overcome and the Future in the Field
Revisions or alterations to the project, whether due to demands from the end client, changes in the design and execution conditions or even mistakes made during the process, are commonly associated with stressful situations, conflicts between the parties and headaches that increase as the construction phases progress.
However, the technology of design processes based on models with a high level of development and detail (ND or LOD greater than or equal to 400) that BIM provides, presents a huge competitive advantage in this regard too. The result is described by Stucchi: "With the security in which projects are being carried out, they have become much less frequent, but when they do occur, they are extremely easy to deal with."
The architect concludes by highlighting the use of projects obtained from the base model in the cloud as a way of eliminating the risk of inconsistencies between versions, but that care must be taken with any documentation already extracted and in use by the field team: "As all participants have access to the same model in the cloud, you can practically eliminate the risk of the traditional incompatibilities generated in revisions. It is still necessary, however, to take the same care when reviewing documentation that is in the field."
The opportunities for expanding the business model in Brazil are numerous, and new technologies and increased productivity go hand in hand. There are still, as we know, a number of challenges and obstacles beyond the control of companies, but the construction sector is definitely undergoing a major transformation. "We see a lot of opportunity to expand the use of BIM tools in the field, both on construction sites and in the factory, for direct use by the workforce and field supervision," he concludes.
