Just like Crocs or Carhartt, digital twins are all the rage right now, offering a new way to simulate, monitor, and optimise physical assets. But here’s the catch: not every client needs—or even wants—a digital twin. There’s a lot of buzz around digital twins, but the key is to align these powerful tools with what the client actually needs, not…
process
In my previous posts, we explored the challenges faced by engineering teams working with offshore design support offices and how lean principles can help streamline workflows. This week, we’ll look at specific lean solutions we implemented that can transform engineering workflows and achieve better outcomes. Streamlining Information Flow One major issue identified was the disorganised flow of information, leading to…
In my recent post “Lean Management in Design and Construction“, I provided an overview of how lean principles, originating from the Toyota Production System, can drive significant efficiency and performance improvements in the workplace. This week, I want to look into a specific application – optimising workflows between a local engineering team and their offshore design support office. The team…
In a previous post, “Extracting IFC Metadata Directly in Power BI Using Power Query,” we explored how to use Power Query in PowerBI to directly extract metadata from IFC files using a Power Query shared by Shift Construction. If you haven’t read that post, I recommend checking it out first for context. A few people reached out as they found…
If you work with Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files and want an easy way to access and analyze the metadata, there’s a great article you should check out. “How to extract data from IFC files” by Matthew Osment on Medium demonstrates how to use Power Query in Power BI to directly extract metadata from an IFC file. Matthew also provides…
Metadata management within Building Information Modeling (BIM) deliverables presents a consistent challenge, often stemming from varied factors such as unclear project requirements, the experience level of modelling teams, and the degree of early involvement by BIM professionals in project planning phases. This challenge, however, is not insurmountable. The Standardised Data Tool, accessible to any user with a Revit or Civil3D…
An old colleague shared this fantastic Excel file with me when I needed to bulk rename files. Our IT policies didn’t allow us to install useful tools such as Better File Rename. The Excel file contains VBA macros that list folder contents and rename files, and it has now become my go-to method to bulk rename files as you can…
I was asked about a problematic Revit model with 57,000 purgeable material assets. “Just purge them”, you say, but the problem is that even using a shift+click to select the assets locked up the user’s Revit for around 30 minutes while Revit thought about its life choices. I had experience previously purging elements using the performance advisor, but that doesn’t…
ChatGPT exploded onto the scene around a year ago now, by now you have surely heard of it, but if you’re a little unsure as to what it is, ChatGPT is an AI model designed to generate detailed text responses. The quality of these responses heavily depends on how well the prompt is crafted. A good prompt requires clear, specific…
Billable hours have historically been a measure of productivity and profitability in professional services, especially in the AEC industry; however, this obsession is now proven to stifle innovation and threaten market stability. We can draw parallels between the AEC industry and the Big Four accountancy firms, whose practices shed light on the darker side of billable hours. A recent study…